The Nigerian Army has cleared the air on speculations that its recent retirement exercise of its officers was biased.
Spokesman of the Army, Usman Sani, explained in a statement on Monday that the Army is professional institution that carries out its exercise “based on highest standards of discipline and conduct,” stressing that its “personnel must remain professional, neutral and apolitical at all times.”
The statement said it is aware of “some mischievous elements” trying to “whip up sentiments” about the retirement exercise, saying it is “quite unfortunate because all the affected officers were retired based on Service exigencies and in line with the Armed Forces Act, CAP A20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.”
The Army also said in the statement that it is aware of speculations and rumours regarding the number and names of the senior Army officers affected in the recent retirement exercise.
It said “this is worrisome as some individuals and media houses went to the ridiculous extent of publishing outrageous figures and names of serving officers as being retired. This is unethical and unfair.”
“We wish to state that only 38 senior officers were affected by the retirement exercise. For the avoidance of doubt the following is the statistics of the officers retired compulsorily; 9 Major Generals, 10 Brigadier Generals, 7 Colonels, 11 Lieutenant Colonels and a Major,” the Army explained.
