The Minister of Defence, Brig. Gen. Dan-Ali has described the recent retirement of 38 army officers as part of ongoing reforms in the military, rather than a witch-hunt. He made this statement in response to questions from newsmen after a lecture titled  ‘Defence Management: the Nigerian Experience’ at the National Defence College, Abuja, on Monday.

He asked Nigerians to not be misled by the false information already making rounds and to also ignore the exaggerated numbers about the retirement of the officers, adding that no innocent officer was retired unjustly.

Dan-Ali’s response is in sharp contrast to earlier reports that the military sacked 200 military officers which sent shock waves through the nation. Many saw the act as a fulfilment of the promises made by the Buhari administration to sanitise and improve the level of professionalism in the armed forces, mostly because of the initial reasons cited in the first statement from Army headquarters, and signed by the Acting Director, Army Public Relations. It was released at 12:45am, on Friday. “The Nigerian Army wishes to inform the general public that quite a number of senior officers of the Nigerian Army were retired from service yesterday,” it read.

Those retired were mainly some Major Generals, Brigadier Generals, Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels and a Major. Their retirement was based on service exigencies. It should be recalled that not too long ago some officers were investigated for being partisan during the 2015 general elections. Similarly, the investigation by the Presidential Committee investigating Defence Contracts revealed a lot. “Some officers have already been arraigned in court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). People should therefore not read this out of context. The military must remain apolitical and professional at all times.”

What the army is trying to do with its statements is tie this purge of officers with partisan politics and corruption because there is speculation that some of the officers sacked allegedly believe they were targeted because of their ethnicity and perceived affiliation to the Peoples Democratic Party and former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Col. Ojogbane Adegbe, ADC ( aide-de-camp; military assistant to a senior military officer,government officer, a member of a royal family, or a head of state) to former President Goodluck Jonathan, and Col. Nicholas Achinze, who was ADC to Sambo Dasuki national security adviser to President Jonathan were both allegedly retired. Col. Tonye Minimah, a younger brother of the former Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Kenneth Minimah who was a Chief of Army Staff during President Jonathan’s administration, was also retired. At least three Major-Generals from the South-South geopolitical zone were also listed; one of which is Major-General Letam Wiwa, a younger brother of the late environmental rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa. However, there is no evidence that he was ever investigated for corruption.

It is also suspected that Lieutenant -Colonel FD Kayode, who served in Gombe State, the only Northern state in which the PDP won overwhelmingly in last year’s general elections, was reportedly retired on the suspicion that he aided rigging of the election in favour of the PDP.

The list of officers for compulsory retirement was compiled by the office of the National Security Adviser, which, on Friday,  passed it to the Minister of Defence, Major General Dan Ali (rtd). who then handed the list of those to be retired to Chief of staff of the Navy, Air Force and the Army.

Most of the officers affected are experienced hands.Whether this will negatively affect the army’s technical capacity in the on-going war on terror and insurgency in the Niger-Delta will be revealed in the coming months.

While this will serve as a deterrent for young officers who have the intention or have engaged in activities outside their constitutional mandate, it will also be a push for the soldiers currently deployed across battlefields fields in the North-east and South-south, because they will believe in the principle of accountability, which for a long time has only seems to have applied to younger officers and soldiers.

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