By Ihechi Enyinnaya
Nigerians have hailed Pesident Muhammadu Buhari for the sack of Service Chiefs and tge appointment of new officers as replacements.
Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the appointment of new Service Chiefs.
Wike, in a statement by his Commissioner for Information and Communications, Pastor Paulinus Nsirim, noted though the appointments came late, the President should be commended for listening to the voices of the people.
He challenged the new appointees to see their appointments as an opportunity to re-engineer the nation’s security architecture, which had suffered a tremendous setback in the last five years.
The new Service Chiefs should not politicise security by aligning with politicians. What the country needs now is competence and professionalism that will reduce insecurity to the barest minimum,” he said.
A former deputy national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has attributed the rising spate of insecurity in the country to the retention, for far too long, of the immediate past Service Chiefs by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Frank, who was reacting to what he called a belated sack of the Service Chiefs and the appointment of new ones on Tuesday in a statement in Abuja, lamented that Buhari wasted a whooping one term and a quarter of his administration (about six years) without achieving any decisive victory against Boko Haram, murderous herdsmen, bandits and kidnappers.
“It became apparent early in the life of this regime that the set of Security Chiefs now sacked by Buhari had no zeal to fight.
“They lost battle after battle as the men in their various theatres became lameduck easily attacked by the insurgents as a result of insufficient armaments as a result of the corrupt officers at the helms of affairs up till on Tuesday.
The new Service Chiefs are: Major-General Leo Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Major-General I. Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral A.Z Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff; and Air-Vice Marshal I.O Amao, Chief of Air Staff.
This was announced on Tuesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina who noted that the service chiefs have also retired from service.
Those involved are the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
Buhari Will Do What Is Best, Presidency Reacts To Call For Removal Of Service Chiefs
President Buhari appreciated the outgoing Service Chiefs for what he calls their “overwhelming achievements in our efforts at bringing enduring peace to our dear country,” wishing them well in their future endeavours.
He congratulated the new Service Chiefs and urged them to be loyal and dedicated in the discharge of their responsibilities.
The replacement of the Service Chiefs by President Buhari comes after numerous calls for their sack over the increasing insecurity in the country.
As far back as July, the Nigerian Senate had called on the service chiefs to step aside.
The Senate reiterated its call in December after 43 farmers were killed in Zabarmari, Borno State, by Boko Haram terrorists.
Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, in a Channels Television interview, stressed that the President was breaking the law by keeping the Service Chiefs, who had been in their positions since 2015.
“The President is breaking the law, the law says if you are 60 you must go, it is automatic,” Shekarau said.
“If you are 35 years in service, you must go. In fact, they are not staff of Mr. President, they are the staff of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and there is a rule.”
Members of the main opposition, Peoples Democratic Party, have also serially called for the top military officials to be replaced.
The Presidency had said President Muhammadu Buhari would make the decision when “the time is right.”