Ohanaeze backs removal of service chiefs

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has thrown its weight behind call for the removal of the current service chiefs.

The group said the Service Chiefs continued retention was becoming a national and international embarrassment to the nation.

Senate had on Tuesday requested for the removal of Service Chiefs.

In a statement issued by the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo which was made available to our correspondent.

Nwodo said that the response by the Senior Special Adviser to the Presiding, Femi Adesina, to the call was unacceptable and an insult to Nigerians who are receiving the brunt of the attacks and killings.

Chief Nwodo wondered why the Federal Government has remained intransigent on the service chiefs and refused to save the nation from undeserved calamity.

Reacting to the recent killing of Nigerian Army officers and soldiers by bandits in Katsina and five aid workers by Boko Haram, the President General regretted that innocent lives of young Nigerian men and women and even foreigners were being wasted daily due to the refusal of the Federal Government to do the needful.

The pan-Igbo group asked what was special about the current service chiefs that made them indispensable, adding that it was unconstitutional to keep a worker in service long after he is due for retirement.

Chief Nwodo observed that the continued retention of the service chiefs went against the grain of military service which he said breeds bad blood among the officers whose careers are stunted by the action.

The Ohanaeze President General said that it was not surprising that there are overt dissensions in the military with soldiers resigning in their numbers due to dissatisfaction and disaffection coupled with the alleged corruption in the force.

Chief Nwodo remarked, “the situation now suggests that there is more to their retention than the interest of the country which the Federal government needs to explain to Nigerians.”