Just days after it promoted 150 officers, the Nigerian Army has sent 51 senior military officers, including former Commander of Nigerian Army Infantry Corps, Jaji, Major General MD Isa, on compulsory retirement.
Last week`s promotion which saw the elevation of 22 Brigadier Generals to the rank of Major General, 37 Colonels to the rank of Brigadier General and 91 Lieutenant Colonels to the rank of Colonel is widely viewed as a deliberate ploy by the Jonathan administration to create a shift in loyalties, ahead of 2015.
Criticism has trailed the retirement of Major General Mohammed D Isa, former Corps Commander, Infantry Jaji, who was redeployed over the bomb blasts that rocked Jaji Military Cantonment in Kaduna State
However, Army spokesman, Brigadier General Mobolaji Koleoso delinked Major General Isa’s retirement from the panel of inquiry that investigated the Jaji cantonment bombing, saying his retirement was instead about his age.
Also retired were 11 other Major Generals, including Major General Obi, the AU/UN Mission Commander in Sudan who returned to the country last month, 26 Brigadier Generals and 12 Colonels.
The Army authorities asked the affected senior Army officers to proceed either on compulsory or voluntary retirement.
Only last week, the Army Council announced the promotion of 150 senior officers and the elevation of 22 Brigadier Generals to the rank of Major General.
Reacting to the allegation of forceful retirement levelled against the exercise, Army spokesman Brigadier General Mobolaji Koleoso described those circulating news of forceful retirements as people who do not mean well for this country.
He explained that the administration of the Nigerian Army, as in any organisation, is governed by rules and regulations.
“All the 51 officers retired have been notified earlier in the year of their retirement and most of them had voluntarily written regarding same,” he said.
“Subsequently, the Army Council approved their retirement from service, having attained the mandatory age ceiling for each rank. Retirement from any noble profession, especially from the Nigerian Army, is considered a noble exit that every officer hopes and prays for. To now turn around to give such a milestone exercise a negative flavour is, to say the least, mischievous.”
Brigadier General Koleoso added that the Nigerian Army will continue to abide by extant rules and regulations, and “advised anybody aggrieved over the decisions of the Army Council to take advantage of the relevant provisions in the Harmonised Terms and Condition of Services Officers 2012 (Revised) to appeal to the Commander-in-Chief, through the Chief of Defence staff, and stop banking on ethnic and religious sentiments to pursue personal ambitions.”
