COAS Appointment: Tension In Army, Top Generals To Go

By James Orji

The appointment of Major Gen. Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff, COAS, shattered all predictions as he was not among top favourites.  His choice as Army Chief by President Muhammadu Buhari, following the death, last week of Lt. General Ibarhim Attahiru, in a plane crash in Kaduna has also created tension in the Army because of the looming sack of top Generals that are his seniors.

Most importantly, President Muhamamdu Buhari’s choice of Yahaya broke the heart of not a few Nigerians who had expected the new COAS to be from the South east, in line with clamour by Igbo that one of their own be picked as a member of the elite class of Service Chiefs.

With his appointment, therefore, analyst insist that heads will roll among serving Generals, in line with the military tradition where it is expected that senior officers will resign when their junior is appointed to a very sensitive post.

Since the former Army boss died in an ill-fated military aircraft on Friday 21, top Army Generals had lobbied the Presidency for the post, with different officers positioning themselves to take over from the late Attahiru, who himself was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari earlier in January.

Among those favoured to become COAS are Majors General Ibrahim Manu Yusuf, a former Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, MI Aliyu of the Defence Intelligence Agency, DIA, Benjamin Ahanotu, Danjuma Ali-Kefi, amongst others.

These Generals will be forced to leave the military now that a junior officer has been appointed to take over command of the Army.

A statement, on Thursday by Brig. Gen. Nwachukwu Onyema, the Acting Director, Defense Information, announced Yahaya’s appointment by President Buhari.

Onyema said “The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Mohammadu Buhari has appointed Major General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff.

“Prior to his appointment, Major General Yahaya was the General Officer Commanding 1 Division of the Nigerian Army and the incumbent Theatre Commander of the Counter Terrorism Counter Insurgency military outfit in the North East, code named Operation HADIN KAI.”

A tweet from the Presidential Aide, Social Media, Bashir Ahmad, had earlier announced Yahaya’s appointment.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Major General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff,” Ahmad said.

Before Buhari finally appoint Yahaya, presidential sources had told the magazine that none of the Generals favoured by public opinion will get the job. This, they say was in line with the president’s tradition to surprising pundits.

One source had informed the magazine when asked if the president was planning to appoint any of the four Generals mentioned above, that the decision ”is left to the president to decide. Yes, they are all qualified but you know Mr President, he may as usual come up with another surprise. All I can tell you is that a new COAS will be appointed soon because nature abhors vacuum.”

That decision, according to those with the knowledge of the military, has now put at least 30 Generals in a quagmire as they are expected to retire voluntarily or be fired from their posts by the Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, due to the fact that many of them are senior to the new COAS who is of Regular Course 37 in the Nigeria Defence Academy, NDA. Yahaya was commissioned an officer in 1990.

“Only Generals from Course 35 and few others from Course 36 who are favoured by the new COAS will be allowed to remain in the force. At least, he is expected to make over 30 appointments, with the president’s approval that will assist him in his new role as the Commander of the Army,” a top military source said.

“In total, over 30 Generals from both Courses 35 and 36 will be sacked to pave room for the new appointees by the COAS.  This may be painful considering the huge resources that the country has spent to train these officers, but that is the tradition, because it is the COAS that will choose those he feels he can work with,” he stated further.

Other sources told the magazine that General Yahaya is very popular among the officers. Citing the jubilation among both officers and men following his appointment, analyst insist that President Buhari must have considered many factors, including his pedigree as an Artillery officer and his track records as the Theatre Commander, Counter Terrorism Counter Insurgency military outfit in the North East, code named Operation HADIN KAI.”

“General Yahaya was appointed by the former COAS, Tukur Burutai into that position, and when General Attahiru came on board, he retained him even when other Commanders where redeployed. That should tell you something, that President Buhari must have spotted what many people are not seeing, before appointing him COAS,” another source who crave anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter said on Friday.