NATIONAL: Let service chiefs recommend their successors, Fayemi tells Buhari

 CHAIRMAN of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Kayode Fayemi, has urged President Buhari to let the service chiefs participate in what he called their “transitioning” by recommending suitable replacements for themselves.

The Ekiti State governor noted that this would not give the service chiefs a sense of rejection but that of “transitioning them out of their current responsibilities into retirement”.

There have been renewed calls for the sacking of the country’s service chiefs following the gruesome slaughtering of at least 43 rice farmers at Zabarmari in Borno State last week.

Speaking yesterday on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, the Ekiti State governor said, “The service chiefs have served the country well, they’ve given their best and they’ve been committed. I know them personally and I know how well they are committed to ensuring that we get rid of this insurgency but the point I am making is that if you have done something, the same thing for five years, and you have even gone beyond your retirement age… of course, once you are a service chief, you may argue that there is no retirement age but the military has protocols, the military has processes and from time to time, one of the real considerations is renewal of the leadership.

“My approach is for Mr President to ask them in their role as service chiefs who understand the military very well, who know their men very well, to even be the ones to suggest some of the best men that may step into their shoes.

“It’s not about sacking them; it’s about transitioning them out of their current responsibilities into retirement. A part of me even feels that there may be some of them that would rather exit now but they wouldn’t want to be seen as jumping ship if they have not been directed by Mr President but I am not the president of Nigeria and the president has within his rights to determine how he wants to direct this.

Fayemi said the 36 state governors would meet with President very soon and convey the feelings of the people on the insecurity in the country to him.

“Our own as governors and field commanders in the 36 states is to let him know the feelings of our people about security in the country and that we will do when we have the meeting.”

Fayemi had said, in the wake of the Borno massacre, that the Nigerian army was overwhelmed and overstretched and in need of support from armies of neighbouring countries in Lake Chad basin who are well versed in fighting what he described as “asymmetric warfare.”

Speaking during an interview yesterday former Kano Central Senator, Rufai Hangar said the president was retaining the service chiefs because he was afraid of coup.