Plans are
being made to retire promising officers in the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy and
the Nigerian Air Force, SaharaReporters has learned.
The officers
being lined up for the sack are those in line to rise to the headship of the
three Armed Forces and other senior positions, but whose promotions have been
impeded by the retention of senior officers who have already overshot the
mandatory 35 years of service, are above the prescribed age for continued stay
in service, or both.
This website
recently published a story, “How
Service Chiefs Illegally Extend Careers Of Course Mates,” which
exposed a number of senior officers long overdue for retirement, but who are
still in service because of their closeness to service chiefs or are strongly
wired to sources of power in the Presidency.
Responding
to the story, Major-General John Enenche, Director of Defence Information
(DDI), admitted that some officers had been kept in service despite having
spent more than the stipulated 35 years or older than 56 years stipulated in
the Armed Forces Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Service (HTACOS) for
commissioned officers. In a statement issued on 13 June, the DDI said
Paragraph 02:10 (d) of the HTACOS allows for extension of service
beyond the stipulated number of years.
“In very
exceptional cases, an officer’s career can be extended beyond one year for as
long as necessary. Extension of service for officers can only be approved by
the Service Council/Board, comprising the Honourable Minister of Defence, Chief
of Defence Staff, the Service Chief, Service Director at Ministry of Defence
and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence. Extension of service can also be
at the discretion of the Commander-in-Chief,” said the DDI.
Policy
guidelines on the matter, he claimed, have always been followed.
The DDI,
however, claimed inaccurately, that only a few of the officers listed in the
story as having overshot the prescribe age limit and years of service are still
in the Armed Forces.
SaharaReporters’
investigations showed that what led to the reduction in the number was the move
by the Navy to quickly disengage all its officers named in the story.
The cull,
SaharaReporters was reliably told, will be followed by another one affecting
brilliant young officers considered as threats to the positions of the service
chiefs and their candidates occupying positions into which younger and money
competent officers should, by right, move into. As a result, panic has gripped
the ranks of young officers, who seem set to be thrown out the Armed Forces for
nothing other than being competent and to make candidates of the service chiefs
breathe more easily in positions they inappropriately occupy.
The service
chiefs, SaharaReporters was also told, have been propping up their less
qualified candidates to replace the generals that should have retired. This, we
gathered, is being worked on in case the plan to retire more competent officers
does not come to fruition.
Major-General
Enenche’s claim that only a few beneficiaries of service career extension
mentioned in the story remain is unlikely to stand any scrutiny.
SaharaReporters’ investigation showed that Major General JG Hamakim, a
pharmacist, remains the Director-General of Nigerian Army Resource Centre. He
has already overshot the age ceiling of 56 years, when Major-Generals must
retire and clocked 35 years in service on 24 June. He is also widely considered
of as not very conversant with field concepts, combat doctrinal maneuvers and
applications.
Also in the
same category is Major General AO Amusu, incumbent Commander, Nigerian Army
Medical Corps. He equally clocked 35 years in service on 24 June and is deemed
to be impeding the elevation of qualified officers, many of whom are consultant
surgeons and with field experience in ECOMOG and other military operations.
In the Air
Force is Air Vice-Marshal J Gbum, current Chief of Policy and Plans at Air
Force Headquarters. He is above 56 years, having been born on 15 May
1960, and has spent more than 35 years in service. He was commissioned on 12
September 1981.
Similarly
mentioned in the report published by SaharaReporters was Air Vice Marshal AA
Iya, Chief of Training and Operations at Air Force Headquarters. He had started
his terminal leave in September 2015 and was scheduled for final disengagement
on 25 December 2015, when his course mate, Air Marshal Sadique Abubabkar, the
Chief of Air Staff, recalled him and gave him a one-year extension. Born 25
December 1959, he is above the age limit of 56 years and was commissioned on 15
May 1982.
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