Justice for retired army senior officer

On June 10, 2016, Nigerian Army
Spokesman, Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman,
informed Nigerians that thirty eight senior
army officers were retired based on “service

exigencies”.
His statement defended the retirement on
the basis that: “It should be recalled that
not too long ago, some officers were
investigated for being partisan during the
2015 general elections. Similarly, the
investigations by the Presidential Committee
investigating the Defence Contracts revealed
a lot. Some officers have already been
arraigned in Court by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
People should therefore not read this out of
context. The military must remain apolitical
and professional at all times. We must
applaud and support this laudable initiative
by the government.”
The Army Chief, Lt General Tukur Buratai
and the Defence Minister, Brigadier-General
Dan-Ali (retd) in attempts to justify the
retirements, noted publicly that all officers
were granted a fair hearing and given
opportunities to defend themselves before
being retired. The Army, through one Gen
Nicholas on June 14, 2016 during an
interview on Channels News TV, stated
categorically that all the officers were
allowed to defend themselves during the
investigation process.
Recently, the media has been awash with
stories that not all the officers were granted
fair hearing. However, some of the affected
officers alleged a witch-hunt, stating that
the Army did not give them fair hearing.
Further investigations revealed that as many
as twenty officers were not given fair
hearing. It is now public knowledge that
more than half of those retired were not
called before any panel of inquiry. They just
found their names on the Internet, falsely
accused and were retired!!!
If this is true, then we have a situation that
has created more questions than answers.
First, did the Army Chief and the Minister of
Defence deliberately mislead the President
and Nigerians, when they said everyone
retired was granted fair hearing? This is very
serious and places grave doubts on the
credibility and sincerity of the whole
exercise.
Second, was the retirement a witch-hunt? If
so, it implies that some of the retired
officers were innocent. It does not augur
well for the military if its officers can be
summarily retired without recourse to laid-
down administrative and judicial procedures.
It would, therefore, be grossly unfair and
unjust to retire innocent Nigerians from their
careers in which they and government have
invested heavily.
President Muhammadu Buhari is a man of
high integrity, and Nigerians elected him into
office based on his proven track record.
Furthermore, as a man who has been a
victim of injustice in the past, he should not
allow Nigerians to be treated unjustly under
his leadership.
As the Commander-in-Chief, if indeed there
were irregularities in the processes leading
up to the retirements, he should
immediately intervene and direct the Army
to reinstate those affected. While Nigerians
support the laudable initiatives by
government, the same Nigerians do not like
injustice.
Over to you, Mr President.