By Tosin Olatokunbo
President Buhari has disclosed that there are more competent northerners in the military and that the region got top appointments because they are more in the armed forces. He said he appoints top military commanders based on their competence.
The Service Chiefs are Major-General Lucky E.O Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Major-General Ibrahim Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff; Air-Vice Marshal Ishiaka Oladayo Amao, Chief of Air Staff.
The president spoke on Arise television on Thursday while fielding question on the state of the nation.
Buhari has been serially criticized for appointing northerners to top positions in the military which many say contradict the federal character law, which says government positions should be equitably distributed.
Buhari said “You’re saying someone who had gone through military and police training all his life should not be appointed to lead the military or police department he works with just because we must balance appointments? What are you saying?
The president said the other zones should encourage their people to join the military if they want to be appointed to sensitive positions., noting that he will not bow to pressure to look beyond the North to appoint top military heads.
According to him “the system didn’t restrict anyone from joining the military or the police, and if you decided not to join, we will not force you but you too will not force us to bring someone who is not qualified in training and experience when it comes to leadership of these institutions just because we want to balance some appointments……..”
The appointment of Service Chiefs has been done by the president without the South East in mind, analysts say, noting that this has been partly responsible for the spate of insecurity in the region because the Igbo feel marginalized in the country.
Following the death of former Chief of Army Staff, COAS Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru in a plane crash in Kaduna last month, some well-meaning Nigerians and groups such as Ohanaeze Ndigbo had urged the president to appoint his successor from the South East to douse tension in the region.
The Igbo social-political group appealed to Buhari to use the opportunity of the death of the former COAS to appoint a south-easterner as the new Army boss to correct the imbalance in the appointment of service chiefs.
The group said “We are not lobbying for a South-East officer as a replacement for the late COAS, but we are drawing the attention of President Buhari to evaluate the privileges of being unpredictable and reversing the wrong suspicions that he is biased against southern Nigeria leading the army.
“Every geopolitical zone should be represented in the security council to boost national integration and restoration of confidence among other Nigerians that the President belongs to nobody but everyone.”
“We are convinced that only a south-easterner will swish the magic wand to disassemble all the unpatriotic coalitions reaping from the budgetary allocation mapped out for security purposes by recycling insurgency.
“We are unmistakable that the northern cartel is the major beneficiaries of the insecurity and rebellion. If Buhari is determined to end the security challenges confronting the nation, he should break the spell and terrify those immoral elements pressurising him to undermine the south and re-appoint another northerner as COAS. Definitely, the promising direction to re-assert himself as the people’s President is for him to ordain a southern COAS,” Ohanaeze said.
In spite of the appeal, President Buhari appointed General Farouk Yahaya as the Chief of Army Staff. He is from Sokoto state.
