New Telegraph

Sack of service chiefs’ll be Buhari’s biggest New Year gift to Nigerians – Northern elders

 

Our Reporter

For the umpteenth time, members of the Coalition of North East Elders for Peace and Development have tasked President Muhammadu Buhari on the urgent need to sack the nation’s Service Chiefs, saying the move will be the greatest New Year gift to Nigerians.
This was as the coalition further enjoined him to ensure strict adherence to the federal character principle, in replacing the Service Chiefs who, many argued, deserved rest, having spent over five years.
Those that favour the sack of the military high command, have continued to predicate their position on the worsening security situation in the country.
According to the elders, sacking of the military heads was the only way the president could convince them of hope for positive results in the ongoing war against insecurity in the region.
While noting that appointment of almost all the current security chiefs from the North was morally reprehensible, the elders, nonetheless, said President Buhari still had the chance to right the perceived lopsidedness, by assemblying a new team with federal character “flavour”.
In a statement, the Northern elders operating under the auspices of Coalition of North East Elders for Peace and Development, reiterated their earlier position that the Security Chiefs were not indispensable, hence the immediate need for their replacement.
Claiming further that the continued stay of the security chiefs was not adding value to the nation’s security management team, the elders lamented that the rising spate of insecurity in the North was being downplayed by the media.
According to the group, “many people are dying daily in the North as a result of banditry and insurgency but the situation is being underreported.”
Appealing to the president to listen to the voice of reason by relieving the Security Chiefs of their offices, the coalition said such action, coupled with increment in defence budget was one of the ways to go for Nigeria’s security situation to regain its glorious place in history.
It was their considered view that the President should engage feesh hands in the security architecture, saying such action could not only bring back the high morale but also zeal and vigour in addition to career development in the military.
Notwithstanding, the group said sending the Service Chiefs packing from their offices without increment in the nation’s defence budget could also not get the country out of the wood, as according to it, robust budget funding which would lead to the military having necessary tools to stand taller than their adversaries was imminent.
“We listened to the New Year speech of Mr President to Nigerians with rapt attention believing that he was going to give us a New Year gift in new service chiefs but the president to our disappointment, was silent on this key issue in the lip of every Nigerian,” the statement said.
The statement added: “At the moment, the most important thing to every Nigerian is security. They want their lives to be protected first. The National Assembly has since understood this and that is why as representatives of the people, they have since been calling for a more robust, efficient and effective security management for the country.
“They recognise that this cannot be achieved without emplacing a complete new security architecture in place. That is why the two chambers of the legislature came up with resolutions seeking replacement of service chiefs but after many months of this genuine and patriotic call by the people’s representatives, President Buhari is yet to accede to their request. This is unfair to Nigerians whose lives are being cut down on daily basis.”

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