Constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome SAN has faulted the presidential statement that congratulated the outgone service chiefs for “overwhelming achievements” while in office.
In a press statement on Tuesday, the presidency had announced the immediate resignation of the service chiefs and the appointment of their successors.
“Those involved are the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar,” the statement read in part.
The statement quoted President Buhari as thanking the outgoing Service Chiefs for what he called their “overwhelming achievements in our efforts at bringing enduring peace to our dear country,” wishing them well in their future endeavours.
Reacting in a statement on Wednesday, Ozekhome said it amounted to insulting Nigerians for the president to be congratulating the service chiefs for “overwhelming achievements” while the nation is still battling terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes.
The senior lawyer maintained that the service chiefs performed abysmally, noting that their failure caused at least 23 out of the nation’s 36 states to establish local security outfits.
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Ozekhome said, “Buhari’s more shocking aspect of the removal of the Service Chiefs from office, which has so far shocked Nigerians, is where he said he was congratulating them for their ‘overwhelming achievements in our efforts at bringing enduring peace to our dear country’. ‘Enduring peace?’ Is this genuine peace, or peace of cemetery or the grave yards?
“My dictionary tells me that peace means tranquillity, calm, calmness, law and order, harmony, placidity, rest, armistice, friendship, brotherhood, serenity, contentment, amity, reconciliation. Can any Nigerian hold the Holy Bible, Holy Quran, or piece of iron (depending on your faith), and swear, that we have any of the above? I think not. I believe not. Then the President added the clincher, the diadem: the ‘Service Chief’s overwhelming achievements’.
“If Mr President meant ‘overwhelming achievements’ in massive failure, I would concur. But, if he meant ‘overwhelming achievements’ in securing our country, I would not only disagree, I would say that is the unkindest oxymoron and irony, of all. I beg to differ sir, Mr President.
“The new Service Chiefs appear younger and lower in rank than their pot-bellied predecessors.
“Is this change of batton merely cosmetic? Is it new wine in old calabashes? Has anything suddenly changed in terms of new equipment, surveillance and intelligence capacity and capability? Does the hood make the monk? Can a book’s worth be known by the beauty of its cover? No. It is not yet Uhuru.
“What all this boils down to is that Nigeria needs to re-engineer, refurbish, rethink, reform and re-order her total security apparatchik. Indeed, it needs a complete overhauling, such as to bring it in line with modern international best practices in security engagement.”