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| Senator Ali Ndume |
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army,
Senator Ali Ndume, has given reasons why President Muhammadu Buhari cannot
afford to change or appoint new service chiefs for now.
He told medium in an interview that Buhari could not
afford to change the military leadership because Nigeria was in a complete
state of war.
The Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel
Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Air Staff,
Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar; and Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete
Ekwe Ibas.
Ndume told this medium that the president could not
but retain the service chiefs because Nigeria is in a state of war, not only in
the North-east, but all over the country with serious military deployments to
quell crisis and maintain peace
He said: “We are in war. Definitely, we are in war. We are fighting the
insurgents in the North-east and in the North-west.
The military is so much involved and are being
deployed in so many zones of the federation. The security situation is such
that that the military is involved almost in all parts of the country. So, we
are in war.
“The military is so involved in so many security
challenges. In fact, in almost the 36 states, in fact, this is a pointer that
we are at war.
“Coincidentally, the president is a retired army
general and he knows this war situation better than most Nigerians; and he
knows when to change his army commanders and when not to do that. As a
commander-in-chief, he understands this war situation better than we the
civilians.
“I’m sure he is doing the right thing as the
commander-in-chief and when he finds it necessary, he will effect changes.”
He stated that he didn’t think that changing the service chiefs would solve the
insecurity in the country.
“I don’t think that changing the service chiefs will
be the solution to the insecurity in the country. I don’t think that this war
is not won because the service chiefs are still there and have not been
changed.”
