The Minister of Defence, Brigadier General Mansur Dan-Ali has finally spoken up on the reason behind the compulsory retirement of 38 senior officers in the Nigerian Army.
Dan-Ali while explaining the reason behind the compulsory retirement said the affected officers were found to be corrupt and guilty of professional corruption.
Speaking yesterday, June 13, while fielding questions from journalists after presenting a paper to the participants of National Defence College (NDC) Nigeria Course 24 in Abuja, the Defence Minister said: “What I mean by professional corruption, I mean if you are partisan you are professionally corrupt and you will be asked to go, so that is exactly what happened, so all those that were indicted were asked to go.”
Speaking further, he maintained that the dismissed officers were given a chance at fair trial before the final verdict on their punishment was reached. He said: “Of course they were giving fair hearing, a board called them and they went and testified. Don’t forget that in the military there is no half way of doing things, the moment you are found wanting, you have to succumb and you will go.”