For the first time since he was accused of executing an ethnic agenda in the recent promotion, recruitment, retirement and redeployment in the Army, Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika has dismissed reports that the decisions were influenced by ethnic considerations, adding that the retired Jaji Cantonment Commander had a fore knowledge of the bomb attack on the military base.
Speaking at the first quarter of 2013 Chief of Army Staff conference in Abuja on Monday, Ihejirika regretted that politics was being brought to bear on the operations of the Army, saying that merit, rather than ethnic colouration informed the decisions.
To absolve himself of the accusation, Ihejirika, who said the Army was more stable now that he met it, explained that the only one officer, out of the personal aides attached to him, is an Igbo person and that the officer joined him a few months ago.
He advised people to refrain from reading ethnic meanings to decisions taken by him and consequently introduce into the Army, unprofessional ideas that are of great disservice to the nation.
General Ihejirika stressed that the military service all over the world was a call to service and should not be seen as a civil service thing or a place for business as usual.
On the bombing of Jaji Cantonment in November 2012, the Army Chief disclosed that the report of the board of enquiry had revealed that retired Major General M.D Isah knew about the incident beforehand but failed to take appropriate measures to nip the bombing in the bud.
Ihejirika revealed further that in his pretence that he knew nothing about the bombing of the cantonment under his supervision, the retired officer travelled for a conference the day before the bombing and did not issue directives to his subordinates.
He added that the retired officer and others knew the plotters of the bombing because one of them went to the National Assembly to make an oral report and was asked to go and put such into writing but never went back to the lawmakers.
He stated that investigation into further details of the bombing was still going on and that some people may be prosecuted for their involvement in the incident.
The Army Chief recalled that in the inglorious past of the nation, disloyal officers in the Army had always staged coups and counter-coups in order to achieve their selfish objectives, which, he said, they ended up not realising.
He disclosed that those whose motive was to dismember the country would have succeeded in killing over 100,000 soldiers, stressing that the unity of the country was not negotiable.
He warned those whose stock-in-trade is to employ lobbying and blackmail to get promotion and favourable postings to desist, as such era is gone for good in the new Army under his watch.
“When we commenced operations in Maiduguri against the Boko Haram terrorist sect, text messages were sent round to the fact that the Chief of Army Staff has deployed a General of Igbo extraction to avenge the killing of Igbo during the civil war.
“But it is on record that the Boko Haram sect claimed that they were fighting to avenge the death of their leader and other members killed in various encounters.
“From the operations that are taking place, are people not being killed as alleged? Even though the operation being conducted is coordinated by leadership of the Defence Headquarters, but it is being interpreted wrongly to whip up sentiments by making reference to the civil war fought and resolved many years ago, in fact when some of them were not born,” Ihejirika said.
Corroborating Ihejirika, Army’s new spokesperson, Brigadier General Ibrahim Attahiru, who condemned what he called an attempt to split the Army, described the reports as the handiwork of disgruntled elements within the system, using politicians to achieve their self-serving desires and also negatively affect the cohesion in the Army by creating chaos in the country.
“It is a great disservice to the nation for anyone to choose, through deliberate falsehood, to link the routine activities of promotions and postings in the Nigerian Army with ethno-religious considerations.
“This faceless group, if they had no ulterior motives, would have sought to air their grievance through official channels of communications which are available for redress by any genuinely aggrieved persons over a policies or actions of the NA.
“The Nigerian Army through the vision of the COAS emphasised the use of merit to reward hard work and performance as against the past parochial interests which have largely influenced postings and appointments,” he stated.
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