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From John Onalo, Abuja
EVEN as the recently retired Military Service Chiefs were said to be
overdue for pull-out ceremonies, allegations of deep-seated
corruption and lack of commitment towards rooting out the militants
in Niger Delta are responsible for their Waterloo.
Our correspondent gathered from military headquarters, Abuja, that
until the sack of the service chiefs and appointment of their
successors, the presidency was inundated with petitions on
discriminatory promotion as well as allegations bordering on
management of funds. The posting and promotions of some officers in
the Army generated a lot of ill-feeling between the former Chief of
Defence Staff and Chief of Army Staff.
Recently, 28 Army Officers who served in United Nation Peace Mission
went on protest in Akure and held their commander hostage because
the top brass of the military withheld $1,228 being paid to military
personnel of Nigeria extraction that served in Liberia as monthly
allowance from the world body for six months.
Barrister Femi Falana who later raised alarm over the solitary
detention of the aggrieved officers, said the detainees were
responsible for fending for themselves while on foreign mission.
Despite neglect while on foreign mission, they were detained for
protesting against ill-treatment.
The top military hierarchs allegedly paid them $3,000 dollars and
diverted the rest to private puckets after the aggrieved officers
stayed in Liberia for over six months.
Under the leadership of the sacked service chiefs, it was further
gathered that officers in-charge of armoury sold 30,000 A.K. 47 and
5, 000 General Purpose Machine Guns to the militants after they were
secretly carted away from Central Ordinance Depot Kaduna.
On July 7, 2008, our correspondent gathered from the presidency that
a group of middle rank officers wrote petition against their
commanders. In the petition, the concerned officers described all
segments of commanders as “greedy and shameless,” adding that their
insensitivity to the plight of troops led to the death of 45
soldiers in motor accident in Damaturu while returning from peace
mission in Darfur Region.
The petitioners told the presidency that “the present crop of Army
Commanders “are the worst in the history of in the history of
Nigerian Army.” It was equally gathered that a group of Air Force
officers petitioned the chief of Air Staff over discriminatory
promotion.
Besides indices of “alleged corrupt practices, the positions of the
Service Chiefs caved into retirement valley because some of them
held views that were at variant with that of Aso Rock on ways to
dislodge the militants in Niger Delta.
The former Chief of Defence Staff, General Andrew Azazi who hails
from Bayelsa State was reported to have said that the youth
restiveness in Niger Delta required political solutions rather than
military expedition.
The statement was published at the time when several soldiers were
being killed by the militants in Niger Delta region.
Azazi also shocked the presidency when he said the service chiefs
were not consulted on the need to beef up security during the
handing over of the Bakassi Peninsular to Cameroun.
The cumulative effects of these incidents compelled President
Yar’adua to sack the service chiefs at the eve of the retreat for
militant military officers in Kaduna. The funds for the retreat were
released and disbursed before the sack.
It would be recalled that the former Chief of Defence Staff, General
Andrew Azazi, Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Luka Yusuf and Chief of
Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ganiyu Adekeye were retired.
They were replaced by Air Marshal Paul Dike (Chief of Defence
Staff), Air Marshal Oluseyi Petinirin (Chief of Air Staff and
Major-General Abdulrahaman Dambazau the first service Chief to hold
Ph.D, (Chief of Army Staff).
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