120 generals, brigadiers, colonels,retired

79

Amid the security crises confronting the country, the high command of the Nigerian Army has directed over 120 major-generals, brigadiers, colonels, lieutenants, captains and others to proceed on compulsory retirement.

 

The affected officers, who include those who failed their Senior Staff Course Examinations, were ordered to submit their letters of voluntary retirement or face summary retrenchment.

 

Saturday PUNCH was informed that the exercise was in accordance with the Public Service Rules and the Armed Forces of Nigeria Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service, 2017 (Revised).

 

It was gathered that the number of senior and middle level personnel that would be required to leave the service might be higher than 120 as those concerned were being given their letters of compulsory retirement in batches.

 

Our correspondent learnt that the first batch was given a deadline of December 24, 2022, to tender their retirement letters.

 

It was further gathered that the affected personnel would proceed on the mandatory three-month pre-retirement leave from January.

 

Sources informed our correspondent that the majority of the concerned officers had complied with the directive to avoid hostile actions from the authorities.

 

The development has, however, generated consternation in the Army with many querying the rationale behind the mass retrenchment.

 

An officer accused the military authorities of disobeying a directive from the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, that the exercise should be suspended till after the 2023 elections.

 

The source stated, “Over 120 top officers were served letters of mandatory retirement by the Army authorities. The affected officers include major-generals, brigadier-generals, brigadiers, colonels, captains and other middle-level officers, who were unable to pass their promotion examinations after three attempts.

 

“But there are two rules guiding this issue: if one fails to pass his promotion exams after three attempts, he could be considered on the basis of the years he has spent on the rank.

 

“Though the authorities informed us that those who failed to pass their exams would be considered on the basis of age on rank, they reneged on this and instead directed us to put in our voluntary retirement letters. This is not fair.”

 

Despite protesting the failure of the Army high command to comply with the rules, it was learnt that the personnel were compelled to tender their notices of voluntary retirement with the option to complain or appeal later.

 

Another source, who confirmed the development, said the letters issued to the affected officers were signed by the Military Secretary, Army, Major General J. Abdussalam.

 

Apart from those who failed their promotion examinations, the source said those who had disciplinary cases and those who had spent the mandatory 35 years in service were equally affected.

 

He said, “The officers who were asked to submit letters of voluntary retirement were more than 100. The military directive was contained in a letter dated October 24, 2022 but it was served on them sometime in November.

 

“They were given a deadline of December 24, 2022 to tender their letters otherwise the Nigerian Army would compel them to go on compulsory retirement.  They are to commence their terminal leave from either February or March 2023.

 

“The reasons for the disengagement are varied. Some had to do with age on rank or cases of indiscipline and other reasons known to the Chief of Army Staff and the Military Secretary (Army).

 

“Some failed promotion examinations three times. For example, some brigadier-generals failed their promotion exams to major-general during their third and last attempt this year.”

 

Findings indicate that some of the officers had been lobbying top retired military officers, including a former Chief of Staff, for assistance.

 

However, there are indications that the aggrieved officers might have appealed to the CoAS, Lt Gen Farouk Yahaya, and the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for extension of service in line with Chapter 11, Section 2(e) of the HTACOS.

 

The section states, “An officer called upon to retire, resign or to relinquish his commission shall, if he so desires, appeal to Mr President, the C-in-C (Commander-In-Chief) through the CDS (Chief of Defence Staff) within 30 days to have his case reconsidered.”

 

But some of the affected officers, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, explained that they did not file any appeal because they were given assurances that the exercise might be reviewed.

 

Speaking in confidence to Saturday PUNCH, a Major disclosed that he did not take advantage of the 30-day appeal window provided by the HTACOS because there were signs that the authorities might withdraw the directive following the discontent and anger it had generated in the Army among those who had not attained the mandatory retirement age or service years.

 

“We have submitted our letters of voluntary retirement as directed by the high command, but there are positive indications that we may be considered for reprieve, particularly those of us who have not spent up to 35 years in service,” he said optimistically.

 

The Director of Information, Nigerian Army, Brig Gen Onyema Nwachukwu, did not respond to requests for comments on Friday, but a retired military officer and security expert, Col Hassan Stan-Labo, pointed out that retirement was routine in the military.

 

“The army has a well laid out HATCOS regime, which applies to its personnel. So, it (retirement) is very normal; it is an annual thing; retirement, promotion and discipline are annual events in the Army calendar,” he stated.

 

Asked if the annual retirement of personnel without commensurate recruitment would not affect the Army’s operational capability, Stan-Labo said, “The Army cannot sacrifice anything for discipline. That you are holding an important position in relation to the ongoing war does not make you indispensable. There is a saying in the Army that nobody is indispensable.

 

“So, if at any point you think you are too much; you can be laid aside and another person will do it. Thank God Nigeria has a population of over 250 million, so we don’t lack manpower except that they are not recruiting as much as we expect in relation to the ongoing campaign. We expect that turnover will be high, so recruitment should be high.”

(Punch)

79 thoughts on “120 generals, brigadiers, colonels,retired

  1. Excellent blog here! Also your website rather a lot up fast! What host are you using? Can I am getting your associate link on your host? I want my website loaded up as fast as yours lol

  2. I’ve been exploring for a little bit for any high-quality articles or blog posts in this kind of area . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this site. Reading this info So i’m satisfied to express that I have a very just right uncanny feeling I found out exactly what I needed. I so much definitely will make certain to don?t fail to remember this web site and give it a look on a continuing basis.

  3. Hey there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this article to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!

  4. First off I want to say fantastic blog! I had a quick question that I’d like to ask if you don’t mind. I was curious to know how you center yourself and clear your thoughts before writing. I have had a difficult time clearing my mind in getting my thoughts out. I do enjoy writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are wasted just trying to figure out how to begin. Any suggestions or tips? Thank you!

  5. I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your site. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjoyable for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme? Excellent work!

  6. I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one nowadays.

  7. Good day very nice blog!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Superb .. I will bookmark your website and take the feeds also? I am satisfied to find so many useful information here in the publish, we’d like develop more strategies in this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .

  8. Hey! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this site? I’m getting tired of WordPress because I’ve had issues with hackers and I’m looking at options for another platform. I would be awesome if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.

  9. Thanks for the marvelous posting! I genuinely enjoyed reading it, you will be a great author.I will be sure to bookmark your blog and will often come back in the foreseeable future. I want to encourage you to continue your great writing, have a nice day!

  10. Howdy are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and create my own. Do you need any coding knowledge to make your own blog? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

  11. Hello there, You have performed a great job. I will definitely digg it and personally recommend to my friends. I am sure they will be benefited from this site.

  12. Good day! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could find a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having trouble finding one? Thanks a lot!

  13. Hi there, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam feedback? If so how do you prevent it, any plugin or anything you can suggest? I get so much lately it’s driving me insane so any help is very much appreciated.

  14. I have been surfing online more than three hours nowadays, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty value enough for me. Personally, if all site owners and bloggers made just right content as you did, the net shall be much more useful than ever before.

  15. With havin so much written content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright violation? My site has a lot of completely unique content I’ve either authored myself or outsourced but it appears a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my authorization. Do you know any methods to help protect against content from being ripped off? I’d definitely appreciate it.

  16. First off I want to say wonderful blog! I had a quick question that I’d like to ask if you don’t mind. I was curious to know how you center yourself and clear your mind before writing. I have had trouble clearing my mind in getting my thoughts out. I do enjoy writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are wasted just trying to figure out how to begin. Any ideas or tips? Kudos!

  17. I do consider all the ideas you have introduced on your post. They are very convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are too brief for beginners. May just you please extend them a bit from next time? Thank you for the post.

  18. Hey there! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with SEO? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good gains. If you know of any please share. Thanks!

  19. Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your site? My website is in the very same area of interest as yours and my visitors would definitely benefit from a lot of the information you present here. Please let me know if this alright with you. Cheers!

  20. Pretty great post. I simply stumbled upon your blog and wanted to mention that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing for your feed and I hope you write again soon!

  21. Thank you a bunch for sharing this with all people you really understand what you are talking approximately! Bookmarked. Please also visit my web site =). We may have a link exchange contract among us

  22. Good day! I know this is kinda off topic however , I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My website discusses a lot of the same subjects as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other. If you might be interested feel free to send me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Excellent blog by the way!

  23. Nice blog here! Also your site loads up fast! What host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *