President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday, sent
packing his service chiefs and appointed new ones in their place.
Investigation conducted by a national daily
revealed that the President's became necessary because of the cold war going on
among the service chiefs, which has affected the counter-insurgency war in the
Northeast against the Boko Haram sect. There were reports that the then chief
of defence staff, Admiral Ibrahim and some of the service chiefs were having
issues. This had led to the then chief of army staff, Lt. Gen. Ihejirika’s (who
had been after his job) scheming against him and in the process, hijacking the
prosecution of the war against terrorism.
According to a reliable source, when President
Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, the CDS was
mandated to preside over the prosecution. “But since it is the army that
constituted most of the Joint Task Force operation team, the Army Council
wanted to be in charge and this was allowed by the Presidency. The JTF was
sacked; the army chief took over the war and set up the 7 Division of the army
in Maiduguri. Although Ihejirika claimed setting up the 7 Division would bring
the war to an end, it has not.”
Another source said whenever there was a victory
over the insurgents, the army, through the 7 Division claimed the victory and
this did not go down well with other security agencies like the Nigerian Air
Force who are also deeply involved in the operations. Continue after the cut....
Another security source also disclosed that
Ezeoba, though relatively new on the seat, was removed as a result of the
seemingly endless oil theft in the Niger Delta where he hails from.
On why the president did not wait for NASS
approval of the new service chiefs as directed by the Federal High Court in
Abuja, a source said that it was due to the sensitivity of security and for
political expediency.
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