The
recent retirement of 51 top officers of the Nigerian Army has caused a
raging controversy as those affected have indicated their reluctance to
pull out of the service.
The
affected officers had written to the Army Council to appeal for service
extension but their appeals were turned down by the council.
Some
of the affected officers had written to the council to appeal for
extension in order to use the extra period to build their own houses.
But
the Army Council turned down the requests for lack of strong reasons
and on the grounds that granting them would be destructive to
established norms in the army.
Members
of the council were of the view that granting an extension to departing
officers of the service would encourage corruption in the military
which was said to be injurious to national development.
There
were fears that putting a retiring top officer, whose preoccupation is
to build a house for retirement in a strategic formation could be
counter-productive.
The
Army Council comprises the Minister of Defence, the Chief of Defence
Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of
Defence, and others.
The
President, who is represented in the council by the Minister of
Defence, is chairman of the council which sits once in every four
months.
The 51 retired officers include 12 majors-general, 24 brigadiers general and 15 colonels.
When
our correspondent contacted the Director of Army Public Relations,
Brig.-Gen Bola Koleosho, he said that he had no comment on the issue of
the retirement.
Koleosho
had said during a press conference a fortnight ago that the army
carried out the directive of the council in accordance with the rules
and regulations of the service.
Investigations
showed that the reluctance of the retired officers to go resulted in
the compulsory retirement of 18 of the top officers by the army.
With
their compulsory retirement, the affected officers cannot serve the
nation as governors, senators, or members of the House of
Representatives, or in any other capacity.
The
army spokesman said during the press conference that the affected
officers could write to the Army Council for a rconsideration of the
decision to retire them compulsorily.
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