The Nigerian government is on course to splurge a whopping N700 million to force 29 Major-Generals and Brigadier-Generals to retirement, according to sources at the Defence Headquarters.
Reports of the forceful retirement immediately started to swirl in the Nigerian media after President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointment of Major-General Farouk Yahaya as the Chief of Army Staff after the death of Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru in a plane crash on May 21, 2021.
It is a long-standing military tradition that all the major-generals who are senior to Yahaya will be retired.
Some of the 29 military officers are reportedly being forced out because they are of Course 35 and Course 36 and the new army chief, is of the Course 37 set.
But an exclusive published by SaharaReporters noted that the 29 Generals’ retirement benefits would cost the federal government huge sums if the 2017 Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service of the Officers and men of the Armed Forces are anything to go by.
The report said all 29 Major-Generals “are entitled to a brand new Peugeot 508 car, one cook, two residential guards, one service orderly and one service driver.”
They are also entitled to medical allowances to the tune of $15,000 annually.
It was also reported that 29 Major-Generals and Brigadier-Generals have already gone on a terminal leave which ends on June 30 ahead of their retirement.
“The brand new vehicles for the exiting generals will cost N464 million while the other logistics and employment of personnel for them will cost N200 million in total. The money will come from extra-budgetary allocations to the armed forces,” a source at the military Headquarters in Abuja was quoted as saying.
He added, “Some of them are lobbying but the rule is the rule. Generals in Course 36 have to be retired forcefully, since Major-General Yahaya is of the 37th Regular Course.”
According to a document obtained by SaharaReporters, Seniority Roll Nigerian Army Officers 2021 (Revised), the President bypassed no fewer than 24 top senior Nigerian Army officers to appoint Yahaya as the COAS.
Yahaya’s appointment prompted many to accuse President Buhari of ethnic and religious sentiments, saying most of officers in line of seniority after Attahiru’s death are from the South-West, South-East or Christians.
Closely following Attahiru are; “Maj Generals J.O Olawumi from Ekiti, J.O Akomolafe from Kwara, C.O. Ude from Enugu, J. Oyefesobi from Ogun, M.O Uzoh from Abia, C.C. Okonkwo from Imo, M.S.A Aliyu from Zamfara, U.M Muhammed from Niger and B.M Shafa from Ogun.”
Others are; “N.E. Angbazo from Nasarawa, Y.P. Auta from Kebbi, A.S. Maikobi from Bauchi, B. Ahanotu from Anambra, S.A. Yaro from Bauchi, J. Sarham from Kano, H.E. Ayamasaowei from Bayelsa, O.F. Azinta from Enugu, B.A Akinroluyo from Ondo, KAY Isiyaku from Niger, AT Haman from Borno, A.M. Aliyu from Gombe, H. P. Z. Vintekaba from Taraba, K.O. The Kadiri from Lagos, and IM Yusuf from Yobe.”
The 55-year-old new army chief was commissioned into the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps on September 22, 1990.
The online news platform reported that after Buhari’s appointment of the present crop of service chiefs in January, “at least 20 generals from the three services who were members of courses 34 and 35 were retired to pave way for them.”
A separate report by TheCable however, said the military may not be retiring the 29 major-generals at the end of their ongoing one-month leave.
According to the report, “major-generals will undertake a one-year course in any local institution of their choice after the conclusion of the leave.”
TheCable citing sources in the military noted that “after they have completed the course, new roles may be created for them at the defence headquarters, headed by Lucky Onyenuchea Irabor, a full-star general and chief of defence staff.”
SCOOPER recalls how the defence headquarters had recently denied the reports of mass retirement in the Nigerian army due to Yahaya’s appointment.
The military made this known in a statement by Bernard Onyeuko, the DHQ spokesperson.
Onyeuko who addressed reporters in Abuja said, “At this point, you are all aware of the appointment of the new chief of army staff, Major General Farouk Yahaya.”
“This has stirred up a lot of rumours in the media about mass retirements in the military.
“I wish to use this medium to dispel such unfounded rumours as retirement is only on a voluntary basis for senior officers who desire to do so.
“At this point, no retirements have been authorised by the military high command.”
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