Despite agitation by the national assembly and Nigerians for the sack of the service chiefs because of their lack of strategies put an end to insecurity in the country the federal government said yesterday gave reasons why service chiefs who had served out their tenure may not be replaced soon.
The service chiefs, namely Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar were appointed in 2015.
Their tenure was renewed in 2018 amidst speculations that their tenure was extended in 2019.
The ‘Revised Harmonised Armed Forces of Nigeria’s Terms and Conditions of Service 2017 (HTACOS) officers’ states that service chiefs may hold appointments for two years while the president may extend the tenure to another two years from the date of the expiration of the initial two years.
It, according to ThisDay, further states that the service chiefs should not be pressurised to leave their position and where such is the case, they may seek redress to “the highest possible level.”
Part 1, Section 11.08 of HTACOS states: “An officer appointed the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff and Chief of Air Staff shall be a four-star general and may hold the appointment for a continuous period of two years.
“The commander-in-chief may extend such an appointment for another period of two years from the date of expiration of the initial two-year period.”
Section 11.09 of the document states that “the foregoing notwithstanding, the President/C-in-C reserves the prerogative to extend the tenure of a CDS/Service Chief irrespective of his age or length of service.”
The HTACOS states on page 38 that “notwithstanding, the provisions of paragraphs 11.01 and 11.02 above, no commissioned officer shall be called upon to retire, relinquish or resign his commission or transfer to the reserve, nor shall pressure be exerted on him to do so except by the authority of the appropriate Service Council/Board.”
Section 11.07 of HTACOS states: “Where an officer has objection on being called upon to retire or resign, he may seek redress up to the highest possible level.”
Paragraph 11.09 affirms that “the foregoing notwithstanding, the President, C-in-C reserves the prerogative to extend the tenure of a CDS/Service Chief irrespective of his age or length of service. Paragraph 11.10 states that “a career in the Armed Forces of Nigeria is a primary one since the Services require only able-bodied persons. It follows then that quite a number of officers are bound to retire when they can still be usefully engaged in other professions outside the military.”
Speaking at a public presentation of ‘CAN, Religion and Power in Nigeria,’ a book written by a former general secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Samuel Salifu, the secretary to the government of the federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha said it would not injurious to national security should the service chiefs be sacked now.
“You don’t sack people like that. There are processes and I believe that, at the ‘opportune’ time, those processes will be followed. You don’t just wake up and say sack people, it doesn’t happen like that.
“We are in a very difficult time. We need everybody to be on board. We need synergy within the intelligence community; within the military formations that will help fight this war.
“We are in a very difficult situation and when we begin to create cracks and divisions, who will be the beneficiaries? The adversaries are the ones that are going to exploit those deficiencies and further the cause of destabilising the nation.
“At this moment, what we need is for everybody to be on the same page, fight the battle of securing the nation for protecting lives and property and ensuring that every Nigerian has the opportunity to live a prosperous life. I think that should be our main focus,” said Mustapha.
Commenting on the book, the SGF described it as a “reservoir of information on the country’s past struggles.”
In his remarks, the president of CAN, Rev. Samson Ayokunle, called on the federal government to exercise its best against the insurgents and other threats to Nigerians security.
“It will be good to make sure that those in government fight violence in Nigeria. Because if they fail to accomplish a Nigeria where there is peace and security, it will be sad and it will be part of their history forever and ever,” the cleric said.
