President Muhammadu Buhari has sacked all four service chiefs in a highly anticipated move even as the army appeared clueless on how to crush the ravaging Boko Haram militants.
Contrary to expectations, there has been an uptick in the activities of the deadly militants which are most intense in the Northeast but made occasional forays to Northwestern states of the Kano, Kaduna.
In this move, the incumbent Chiefs of army, navy, air force and defence were swept away with the names of their replacement expected to the announced later on Monday (today).
Replacements would be announced later on Monday, the presidency spokesman told Reuters.
Since his inauguration in May, Buhari has moved Nigeria’s defence command centre to Maiduguri, the birthplace of the jihadi sect, and is setting up the headquarters for a multi-national joint taskforce in Chad’s capital N’Djamena.
In June, Amnesty International accused Nigeria’s military of systemic human rights abuses and the deaths of 8,000 prisoners and called for an investigation into many top military officials including the army and air force chiefs.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan was heavily criticised for his inability to deal with the six-year insurgency in the northeast of Africa’s biggest oil producer which has killed thousands and displaced 1.5 million people.
Army morale hit an all time low under Jonathan and it was not until the start of 2015 that the militants were finally pushed out of most areas with the help of foreign mercenaries, troops from neighbouring countries and new equipment.
But Nigerians saw Jonathan’s victories as too little to late.
The outgoing officials are: Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Alex Badeh; the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Kenneth Minimah; the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshall Adesola Amosu, the spokesman said.
This shakeup in the military is the first major step by President Muhammadu Buhari administration since its inauguration on May 29, 2015.
The new administration has been criticised for a sluggish start as it seems to be taking too much time to put together an administration especially in the face of humongous challenges.
