The Defence Headquarters has given top officers who are seniors to the newly appointed service chiefs till Monday to voluntarily retire from service.

The order was contained in a memo dated June 26, and signed by Maj Gen Y. Yahaya on behalf of the Chief of Defence Staff.

It was directed to generals, brigadiers-general, air vice marshals, and rear admirals in the Nigerian Army, Air Force, and Nigerian Navy, who are senior to the new service chiefs.

It is a tradition in the military that when a junior is appointed as a service chief, seniors to those appointed would proceed on retirement in order to maintain service discipline.

Tinubu had announced the immediate retirement of General Lucky Irabor who was the Chief of Defence Staff; the Chief of Army Staff, Lieut Gen Farouk Yahaya; the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, and Air Marshal Oludayo Amao, the Chief of Air Staff and replaced them with new military chiefs.

The new service chiefs are Maj Gen Christopher Musa who is the Chief of Defence Staff; the Chief of Army Staff, Maj Gen Taoreed Lagbaja; the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla while Air Vice Marshal Hassan Abubakar was appointed the Chief of Air Staff.

DIG Kayode Egbetokun was appointed as the acting Inspector-General of Police and Maj. Gen. E Undiandeye, Chief of Defence Intelligence.

Also, a former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, was appointed National Security Adviser.

While the new CDS is a member of 38 Regular Course, the COAS, the CNS, and the CAS are members of 39 Regular Course.

The DHQ memo with reference number DHQ/I5/PLANS/801/13 directed all officers with seniority on commission above that of Nigerian Defence Academy Regular Course 39 to submit their applications for voluntary retirement from service with immediate effect.

This, it said, was meant to preserve and uphold the tenets of the military profession which values hierarchy and service discipline.

The memo, copied to the army, navy, and air force headquarters, read in part, “It would be recalled that the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently appointed new CDS and Service Chiefs on June 19, 2023.

‘’In order to preserve and uphold the tenets of the military profession which values hierarchy and service discipline, it is important that all officers whose officer cadet courses run seniority above that of the current Service Chiefs disengage from the Service.

“Consequently, I am directed to respectfully request services to direct all officers with seniority on commission above that of NDA Regular Course 39 to submit their applications for voluntary retirement from Service with immediate effect. I am to add that affected officers are to submit their applications to their respective Service Headquarters no later than Mon July 3, 2023.”

When asked about the number of Army officers that may be affected by the directive, the spokesperson for the army, Onyema Nwachukwu, said, “I am not able to generate such statistics now until it unfolds.”

In his response, the Nigerian Navy spokesperson, Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan, said, “I think on this, acting DDI (Director, Defence Information) DHQ can be reached to speak for the AFN. Already there were speculations in some print media on this. Nevertheless once cleared and permitted, it’ll be disclosed.’’

The spokesperson for the Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Ayodele Famuyiwa, declined comment, saying he is handing over to his successor on Monday.

The acting DDI, Brig Gen Tukur Gusau could however not be reached for comment on the directive and total number of generals likely to be affected as he did not respond to calls and a text message sent to his phone.

Commenting on the directive, retired Col Foluso Saka said it was time the military establish a corps for retired personnel to utilise the experiences of especially those with technical skills.

Retired officers’ corps

He said, “I am aware it is the tradition of the military to retire some top officers when their junior is appointed but I am of the view that there should be a corps or something like a reserve for retired military personnel instead of asking them to just retire.

“The military can fall back on them should they need their services or be made to train and nurture the young ones. Their services, especially those highly skilled among them, should not be allowed to waste, they can be put to use for the benefit of the nation. A lot of resources have been expended on them to acquire the knowledge they have.”

A security analyst, Timothy Avele, said the retirement might not have an impact on the ongoing military operations across the country. He however said that the security challenges facing the country require modern approach.

He noted, “It won’t have much effect if they are being replaced with more technologically compliant young energetic officers. Times have changed; bearing the rank of a general is no longer enough to fight modern security challenges, though experience counts.”