ACF’s Insatiability: Despite Plum Positions Given,They Still Grudge Nigerians On Rejoicing Over Service Chiefs
The Oasis Reporters
February 1, 2021
It is so easy to hold the opinion that the spokesman of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Mr. Emmanuel Yawe was speaking tongue-in-cheek when he commended President Mohammadu Buhari for finally heeding the call of Nigerians by sacking the Service Chiefs.
The ACF spokesman however added that Nigerians should not rejoice yet.
But why ?
They wanted new service chiefs, which they got.
So why ?
President Buhari had on Tuesday sacked 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.
He replaced them with 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.
On this, Yawe told a newspaper correspondent that indeed, the Service chiefs had overstayed their welcome; “I understand that some Junior Officers were retired prematurely because the Service Chiefs refused to move out of the way. I think the country is better for it.”
Yawe said that whether the change will bring the desired improvement in the country’s security situation was a different ball game, as it will depend on their replacement.
He said, “It will depend on the people that will be used to replace them. If the people coming in will perform well, the country will be better for it, but if they’ll perform as poorly as the ones that have just left, then we are in deep shit; we may be running from frying pan to fire.
He added that “President Mohammadu Buhari, like the other one we had when we returned to democracy is a retired General, so he knows the workings of the military. So, some of us that are not so conversant with military matters should be careful to comment on it.
“But there were complaints generally, ACF had also complained about the security situation in the country, particularly in the North; people are being killed, kidnapped, and robbed. Even in the President’s home state, over 300 students were adopted. So, these things were not correct. It was on the basis of the level of insecurity that people were complaining and asking the President to change the Service Chiefs because they were not performing. Now that he has changed them, I think he has done the correct thing and yielded to the cries of the people.”
Meet the newly appointed Service Chiefs.
Frame 1: Major-Gen. Leo Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff
Frame 2: Major-Gen. I. Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff
Frame 3: Rear Admiral A.Z Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff
Frame 4: Air-Vice Marshal I.O Amao, Chief of Air Staff. pic.twitter.com/TGl4GbUTDF
— Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) January 26, 2021
An online media, TheCable had stated that Attahiru Ibrahim, the new chief of army staff (COAS), was sacked as theatre commander after flopping in the battle against Boko Haram.
In July 2017, Tukur Buratai, the outgoing COAS gave Ibrahim 40 days to deliver Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau dead or alive.
He did not deliver Shekau — dead or alive — but the country experienced increased suicide bombings and attacks on military formations.
In June, barely a month after Ibrahim took over, Boko Haram insurgents attacked Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
The month after, a group of geologists and technologists from the University of Maiduguri were ambushed by Boko Haram insurgents at Magumeri area of Borno state.
About 12 soldiers who escorted the academics were reportedly killed. Some members of staff of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on the team were also killed in the brutal ambush.
Months after the army chief had ordered the capture of Shekau, the sect, using four female suicide bombers, attacked Muna Gari, a suburb of Maiduguri, killing about 14 persons.
In December 2017, six months after he was appointed, Attahiru was removed and deployed replaced by Rogers Nicholas, a major general who was formerly in charge of logistics at the army headquarters.
Ibrahim is the new Chief of Army Staff. But he may succeed if the needed logistics are supplied to him and hid men sufficiently motivated.
Additional reporting : The Cable
