The military authorities may have decided to purge itself with a view to injecting fresh blood into the armed forces and arresting the menace of terrorism occasioned by the outlawed Boko Haram sect.
According to LEADERSHIP Weekend findings, a mass purge in the Army and the Navy is affecting senior officers from colonel up to major-general and their equivalents and began in the last few weeks. Some of the affected officers are said to be grumbling.
A credible military source stated: “Since the exercise affects those who are not due for retirement, some of the victims are not happy and they are grumbling since they were not prepared for it but, as you know, since this is a military affair, there is little or nothing they could do.”
On the reasons for the exercise, the source explained that it may not be unconnected to the on-going security challenges in the country and the need to inject new blood who could tame the monster of terrorism.
“It may have to do with the effort being made to put the round peg into the round hole regarding the security challenges but, whatever may be the reasons, the victims are not happy.”
But speaking with LEADERSHIP Weekend, the director, army public relations, Brigadier General Olajide Laleye, debunked the information and disclosed that retirement from the Army and other forces is routine and has rules and regulations guiding it. “Let me tell you that the chief of army staff cannot retire anyone from the Army without the approval of the Army Council whose chairman is the minister of defence. And not only that, there is a process: for any colonel who is not promoted at the age of 52 or 53, know that he would be retired. The age for the brigadier-general is 57 and if at the age of 60 he is not promoted, he is due for retirement.”
Laleye explained that there is no game of suspense or surprise in the retirement exercise because whoever is due for retirement would be communicated. He disclosed that the exercise is a routine one depending on the policy of the chief of army staff.
“To a COAS, retirement is a quarterly exercise; to another, it is every six months, while to another it could be a yearly exercise and names of those affected would be sent to the Army Council which membership includes some civilians like the minister of defence and the permanent secretary.”
No comments:
Post a Comment