- A former military administrator has said that the call for the sack of the service chiefs should be ignored by President Muhammadu Buhari
- Colonel JIP Ubah (retired) said commanders are not changed in the middle of an ongoing war
- The retired colonel said such moves could be counterproductive and might lead to a setback in the ongoing operations
Some security experts across the country have backed the retention of the service chief by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The experts said terminating the tenure of the service chiefs would be counterproductive in the ongoing war against terrorism in the country.
A former military administrator of Kebbi state, Colonel JIP Ubah, said the Service Chiefs in the country had been engaged in the war against terrorism and other violent militant groups.
Ubah said any attempt to change them now would ultimately affect the gains made so far.
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He also said the considering global practices in the fight against insurgency, war commanders are not changed in the middle of warfare.
He said such moves could be counterproductive and might lead to a setback in the ongoing operations.
Ubah said: “The Boko Haram war in Nigeria is a very dynamic one that requires the deployment of strategy and well-thought-through tactics. This is what the current service chiefs have done in the past years that have seen to the gains recorded so far.”
“I believe that the tempo they have built must be sustained towards to final onslaught against the insurgents,” Ubah said.
The retired colonel also said that if there is indeed a change in the leadership structure now it would afford the insurgents the time to regroup and carry out offensive because the new leadership would require time to settle down and in unconventional warfare.
The retired colonel said such moves could be counterproductive and might lead to a setback in the ongoing operations
Also speaking in an interview, a top security official who pleaded anonymity said Nigerians must understand the security challenges facing the country are such that requires an astronomical level of vigilance,
The official said those calling for the sack of service chiefs are doing it out of ignorance.
I would say such calls are borne out of ignorance because they don’t belong to the security sector. If only they can have a peep into what goes on within the security architecture in the country, they would come to appreciate the efforts of the present leadership of the Armed Forces,” the official said.
In addition, Professor Dubem Askari of the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, said the call for the sack of service chiefs was the handiwork of those not kind to the history of Nigeria.
Askari noting that the years of misrule, massive corruption, and squandering of development opportunities by successive governments have not only pauperized large segments of the population, but they have also left frayed nerves, forcing frustrated Nigerians.
He said: “So it is not a function of sacking the service chiefs, it is rather a function of the understanding enormity of the task at hand and appreciating the efforts of the Nigerian Military that have been drafted into internal security operations alongside their constitutionally recognized role of preserving the territorial integrity of Nigeria.”
