President Buhari Set To Fire Jonathan’s Service Chiefs
President Muhammadu Buhari will today meet all the service chiefs as their new commander-in-chief.
President Muhammadu Buhari will today meet all the service chiefs as their new commander-in-chief.
Military sources say the service chiefs are likely be asked to go (retire) or they may voluntarily opt to give way to new blood following the president’s wish for them to relocate their Command and Control Centre to Maiduguri, the Maiduguri State capital and epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Although some military watchers were expecting the president to appoint
their replacements last Friday shortly after his inauguration as
president, this was not to be for strategic reasons, but today’s meeting
may be the last they would have with him.
According to an informed military source, President Buhari’s plan to
relocate the Command and Control Centre to Maiduguri, to rev up the
fight against the Boko Haran insurgency, did not receive the support of
the military high command.
In his maiden speech last Friday, Buhari argued that victory over the
Boko Haram would remain a mirage until the service chiefs relocate to
the theatre of operation.
On the insurgency, Buhari had said: “Progress has been made in recent
weeks by our security forces but victory cannot be achieved by basing
the Command and Control Centre in Abuja. The Command Centre will be
relocated to Maiduguri and (will) remain until Boko Haram is completely
subdued.”
Although the speech was hailed by those who were at the Eagle Square,
however, military sources who spoke with some journalists yesterday in
Abuja were not happy with the directive.
“It is an attempt to frustrate and humiliate our chiefs before sacking
them. Some is us have analysed the speech and our conclusion is (that)
President Buhari did not appreciate the efforts put in place in fighting
the terrorists.
“In the whole speech, he did not commend us at all but instead seemed to
agree with the cynics that we have not been observing human rights in
our operations and he went further to praise our counterparts in
neighbouring countries who are not in the theatre of operation,” said a
top military source who craved anonymity.
“As if that was not enough, President Muhammadu Buhari said he wants our
Command and Control Centre to relocate to Maiduguri; what for? We are
involved in about nine operations in the country; now if the directive
is carried out, then our focus will primarily be on terrorism at the
expense of other criminal activities such as kidnapping, armed robbery,
piracy, pipeline vandalism and others.”
He added that that such a directive was alien to military procedure anywhere in the world.
Speaking further, our source, a serving general, said: “How do we ask
our service chiefs to be in the same place with their commanders? Where
is the respect? If he wants them to go (retire), he should simply tell
them. Instead, he is coming with blackmail: if they refuse to go, he
would say he wanted them to remain but they ignored his order; and if
they go, they might be subjected to humiliation and frustration before
being kicked out of the service.”
When asked if the service chiefs had met with the president over the
issue, our source explained that Buhari did not confer with them before
issuing the order.
“How would they meet him without his invitation; it is tomorrow they
would be meeting for briefing, and we don’t know (what will happen) –
maybe he would ask them to go or ask them to obey his directive before
giving them the boot.”
The service chiefs assumed office on January 16, 2014. They include the
chief of defence staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Sabundu Badeh; the chief
of army staff, Lt-Gen Kenneth Minimah; the chief of air staff, Air
Marshal Adesola Nunayon Amosu, and the chief of naval staff, Vice
Admiral Jibrin Usman.
Day One: Buhari operates from Defence House
Rather than operate from Aso Villa as is the custom, President Muhammadu
Buhari yesterday marked his first official working day from the Defence
House, Abuja.
This development, according to his senior special assistant on media,
Malam Garba Shehu, was necessitated by on-going renovation of the Villa.
Shehu, while explaining the development to journalist at Defence House,
noted that the president could not move to the presidential villa
because certain workers at the official residence of the president
“claim renovation is going on; that the place is being cleaned up for
his (Buhari’s) occupation.”
Shehu, however, hinted at the discomfiture the situation was causing the new president.
“The contractors are working probably at their own pace. If I need to
know, or if you need to know this, probably, we have to talk to someone.
“I’m not saying he (Buhari) is comfortable where he is at his rented
house, but he is operating from there. The moment the Villa is ready, he
will move (there).”
Responding to questions by journalists, Shehu said he had no idea when Buhari would appoint his ministers.
“It is not something anybody will rush because you know that the
National Assembly has to approve. When are you going to have the
National Assembly in place? That is the question. Unless you are
Governor (Ayodele) Fayose, you cannot take your ministerial list to the
outgoing parliament,” he said.
The president had been operating from his rented apartment in Aso Drive,
Asokoro, before moving to the Defence House, the official residence of
the president-elect.
Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari meets NSA
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday held a closed-door meeting with the
National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.)
The meeting, which took place at the Defence House in Abuja, LEADERSHIP
gathered, was aimed at assessing the security situation in the country
against the backdrop of renewed attacks by Boko Haram.
Investigations also revealed that the meeting centred on ways of
carrying out the president’s plan to move the military central command
to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, which he stated in his inaugural
address.
After the meeting with the president, Dasuki, however, declined to tell reporters what had transpired.
Boko Haram: Buhari visits Chad, Niger tomorrow
President Muhammadu Buhari will tomorrow make his first foreign trip to
the republics of Chad and Niger as part of his initial steps to find a
solution to the Boko Haram insurgency.
Special senior assistant to the president on media and publicity, Garba
Shehu, said the two-day trip starting tomorrow will focus on matters of
insecurity, with the cooperation of Nigeria’s neighbours seen as crucial
to ending the menace.
“The president has Niger and Chad ahead of him. This will be his first
trip outside the country on obvious matters of security,” he said.
Buhari had acknowledged the contributions of Nigeria’s neighbouring
countries in the fight against Boko Haram in his inauguration speech
during his swearing-in.
He also indicated his intention to relocate the military command centre
to Maiduguri, Borno State, the epicentre of Boko Haram activities, to
battle the insurgents more frontally.
But Boko Haram carried out attacks some 12 hours after the new president
took the oath of office, hitting homes in Maiduguri with
rocket-propelled grenades early Saturday morning.
Later that day, a suicide attack at a mosque in the city killed at least
26 people. Suspicion immediately fell on the insurgents.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration had long complained
that Nigeria’s neighbours were not doing enough to contain Boko Haram as
the terrorists fled military pursuit by crossing porous borders.
A four-nation offensive that also includes Cameroon has won significant
victories since February but there are fears of Boko Haram regrouping,
especially in remote border areas.
Chadian President Idriss Deby had publicly frowned at Nigeria’s
counter-insurgency efforts under Jonathan and called for greater
cooperation.