 |
Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-General Azubuike Ihejirika
|
It has
emerged at the weekend that a combination of factors, chief among them
adherence to the age-long military tradition of seniority and the issue of the
North-east zone vis-à-vis representation in the body of service chiefs
influenced last Thursday's change of guard at the helm of the nation's
military.
Other
factors regarded as given in the military – loyalty and track record of the
officers – according to THISDAY checks within military and security circles,
also placed crucial roles in the appointments.
It was
learnt that the first factor – seniority – paved the way for Vice-Admiral Ola
Sa'ad Ibrahim to emerge as successor to Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, who
retired as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).
Ibrahim is
the immediate-past Chief of Naval Staff.
He is a Course 17 officer while the Chief of Army Staff (COAS),
Lt-General Azubuike Ihejirika, graduated from the Nigerian Defence Academy
(NDA) a year after, as a Course 18 officer.
Military
sources told THISDAY that if the President had yielded to pressure on him and
had appointed Ihejirika as Petinrin's successor as strongly speculated, the
action would have immediately led to the retirement of Ibrahim.
Ibrahim's
record is said to be so glittering that some military personnel had expressed
fear that it would have generated bad blood within the Navy if he was
forcefully retired to give way for his junior just because he is not from the
dominant arm of the armed forces, the army.
Meanwhile,
President Goodluck Jonathan is also said to have enjoyed Ihejirika’s
unblemished loyalty as COAS and was not ready to take chances by removing him
from the position of army chief considered very strategic and making him CDS.
Sources described Ihejirika's reappointment as a vote of confidence on him by
the President.
The other
factor, which also influenced the appointments – zonal balancing – is said to
be an area that had probably given President Jonathan some sleepless nights
before he effected the recent changes.
This,
however, opened up the exit route that led to the retirement of Chief of Air
Staff, Air Marshal Ibrahim Dikko Umar.
For
instance, a careful analysis of the leadership of the country's defence and
security network before the change of guard shows that the office of the
National Security Adviser to the President (NSA), that of the Inspector-General
of Police (IGP) as well as the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) were occupied by
the North-west.
The
North-east has been without a service chief since the retirement of the
immediate past IGP Ringim.
Other zones
were, however, represented. The South-west held the office of the CDS;
North-central produced the occupant of the office of CNS; and the South-east
produced the COAS.
Although the
South-south did not have a service chief, it was consoled with the office of
Director-General of the State Security Services (SSS).
However, in
the new formation, every zone has a seat. The CDS, North-central; COAS,
South-east; CAS, South-south; CNS, North-east; IGP, North-west; and acting
Minister of Defence, South-west.
THISDAY had
reported last week that Petinrin was actually due for retirement a year ago.
But he had a presidential extension of a year that fell in September, but was
further extended by one month and again by a further one week. Before the
changes, there was a groundswell of opinions, although in hushed tones, in
favour of the ceding of the office CDS to the Navy.
This is how
the defence portfolio has fared since democracy returned 13 years ago.
The CDS under
the Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar administration, Air Marshal Al-Amin Daggash
(rtd), handed over to Admiral Ibrahim Ogohi as the first naval officer to
occupy the position.
Ogohi
retired and handed over to Gen. Alexander Ogomudia, who later passed on the baton
to Gen. Martin Luther Agwai and then to Gen. Owoye Andrew Azazi.
The mantle
of leadership, however, fell on Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike. He was the second officer from his service to
have the defence porfolio. Dike handed over to Petinrin.
The new appointments,
to a number of Nigerians, are surprise picks. This is because none of them had
featured in the public postulations in the run-up to their emergence.
For one,
Ibrahim stayed out of the fray as he was even away on leave until his return to
Nigeria about two weeks ago.
President
Jonathan in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr.
Reuben Abati, had named Ibrahim as the new CDS while Ihejirika retained his
position.
Ezeoba
emerged as the new Chief of Naval Staff while Badeh took over as the Chief of
Air Staff.
According to
the statement, the President thanked the outgoing service chiefs for their
meritorious and commendable service to the nation and wished them well in their
future endeavours.
A security
source, who pleaded not to be mentioned, said the retirement of Petinrin had
necessitated the changes, saying “the President felt there is no need to delay
the retirement unnecessarily but in carrying out the changes, the issues of
seniority and loyalty of the officers concerned to the nation were crucial
factors.”
The new
appointments may mean the feared massive retirements in the services is out of
the question as it is only the Air Force that would suffer minor shake-ups at
the top, especially course mates of Umar who the President had retained at the
headquarters of the NAF and Defence Headquarters.
For the
Navy, Admiral Ezeoba is directly next in seniority to Admiral Ibrahim.
One positive
implication of the appointments in the military is that as much as there will
not be noticeable attrition of very senior officers as in past appointments,
the exercise will lead to promotions and new appointments, at least for the
senior officer cadre because the new chiefs will assume duty adorning new
ranks.
Ezeoba's
trajectory in the Navy is historical because for a long time, he remained the
only surviving member of the famous Course 22, whose course-mates died in the
Ejigbo, Lagos C-130 aircraft crash in September 1992.
Until his
appointment as CNS, Ezeoba was the Chief of Administration, Defence
Headquarters.
Also, Air
Vice Marshal Badeh, who hails from Vimtim, Mubi North Local Council of Adamawa
State, was until his appointment the Air Officer Commanding, Training Command,
Kaduna.
The new CDS,
Ibrahim, was born on June 15, 1955. A graduate of the NDA, Kaduna and the Armed
Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, he trained with the Royal and Indian
navies. He is a navigation and direction specialist. He holds a bachelor of law
degree from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU). He was at the Royal College of
Defence Studies, the United Kingdom (UK) as a member in 2002, where he, in
addition, obtained a master’s degree from the Department of War Studies and
Public Policy at the Kings College, University of London.
Ibrahim had
tours of duty on Nigerian naval ships in various capacities and is decorated
with the Command of Sea Badge for successful command at sea on various Nigerian
naval ships.
He was a
directing staff and a chief instructor at the Department of Maritime Warfare,
Armed forces Command and Staff College, Jaji.
He was
secretary to the CNS before being appointed to command the naval operations
base, Nigerian Naval Ship Beecroft in 2001.
In 2003,
Admiral Ibrahim served as Commander, Naval Task Group, Operation Harmony in the
Eastern Naval Command, Calabar, before he went to the National Defence College,
as a directing staff.
He left the
National Defence College for the Naval Headquarters as navy secretary in August
2005. He returned to the College as director, curriculum and programmes
development in May 2006.
It was from
this appointment that he headed back to the naval headquarters as chief of
administration and subsequently chief of training and operations.
In February
2009, he was appointed Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, the
appointment he held till his elevation as the CNS on September 8, 2010 and
subsequently, CDS last Thursday.
No comments:
Post a Comment