Mixed reactions as President names new service chiefs, NSA......SEE PHOTOS

Firstclass newsline~in a sweeping shakeup of the nation's security
sector, President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday approved the appointment
of new service chiefs and a National Security Adviser.
The appointments of the new service chiefs were contained in a
statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and
Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina.
Adesina later told one of our correspondents that the appointment of
new service chiefs was part of the government's strategies to crush
the Boko Haram insurgency.
Buhari had earlier in the day sacked the service chiefs and the NSA he
inherited from ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.
The new appointees, according to Adesina's statement, are, Chief of
Defence Staff, Maj.Gen. Abayomi Gabriel Olonishakin; Chief of Army
Staff, Maj.Gen. T.Y. Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral
Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas; Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Sadique
Abubakar; and Chief of Defence Intelligence, Air Vice Marshal Monday
Riku Morgan.
They replaced former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex
Badeh; former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah; former
Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin; and former Chief of
Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, who were all sacked earlier on
Monday.
The new NSA is Maj.Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd.). He replaced Col.
Sambo Dasuki (retd.)
Meet the new men of power
The new CDS, Olonishakin (N/6901) hails from Ekiti State and until his
appointment, was the Head of the Nigerian Army Training and Doctrine
Command in Minna, Niger State.
The new CAS, Buratai, hails from Borno State. He was, until his new
appointment, the Commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force,
which has its headquarters in Ndjamena, Republic of Chad.
Buratai had previously served as Commander of the Nigerian Army's 2nd
Brigade in Port Harcourt, Rivers State; and Commander of the Nigerian
Army School of Infantry in Jaji, Kaduna State.
The new CNS, Ibas (NN/0746), hails from Cross River State. He enlisted
into the Nigerian Defence Academy as a member of the 26th Regular
Course in 1979 and was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in 1983.
Ibas had previously served as the Naval Provost Marshal; Chief Staff
Officer, Naval Training Command; Chief of Administration, Naval
Headquarters; Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command and Chief
of Logistics, Naval Headquarters. Until his appointment as the CNS, he
was the Chief Executive Officer of Navy Holdings Limited.
The new Chief of Air Staff, Abubakar (NAF/1433), hails from Bauchi
State. Before his new appointment, he had previously served as Chief
of Standards and Evaluation, NAF Headquarters; Chief of Defence
Communications and Air Officer Commanding, NAF Training Command. He
was the Chief of Administration, NAF Headquarters, until his new
appointment.
The new Chief of Defence Intelligence, Morgan, hails from Benue State.
He was commissioned into the Nigerian Air Force as a Pilot Officer in
June, 1982. He once served as the Air Officer Commanding, NAF
Logistics Command.
The new NSA was a member of the Nigerian Defence Academy's 21st Regular Course.
Before his retirement from the Army, he held several command and staff
appointments including, Commander, Guards Brigade; Deputy Commandant,
National Defence College; Chief of Defence Intelligence, Chief of
Defence Logistics and Commander, Training and Doctrine Command.
Adesina said the new service chiefs would hold their appointments in
an acting capacity until confirmed by the Senate.
He quoted the President as thanking the outgoing service chiefs and
the NSA for their services to the nation and wished them well in their
future endeavours.
Buhari had similarly sacked the former Director-General of the
Department of State Services, Ita Ekpenyong, last week and immediately
announced Lawal Musa Daura as the replacement.
Daura, 61, from Katsina State, returned to the government secret
service from retirement.
'President in a hurry'
Meanwhile, the Labour Party, in one of the reactions to the sacking of
the former service chiefs, said on Monday that Buhari acted in a
hurry.
The National Chairman of LP, Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, in a statement in
Abuja, said, "It is my candid opinion that Mr. President should have
exercised a little restraint in sacking the service chiefs; he should
not have taken that action in a hurry. He should have considered the
totality of what is on ground. But the fact of the matter is that his
action may have also been informed by the security report he had. We
do not know what is available to him, which made him take that action
hastily the way he did it.
"But whatever the information in possession of the President, it is
our candid opinion that the President should have waited for some
time, to still try the service chiefs before they were bundled out of
office. Buhari should have waited because he seems to be acting on the
basis of trial and error. Probably, they must have advised him
regarding the removal of checkpoints.
"Buhari made pronouncements and removed the checkpoints; no sooner had
he removed the checkpoints, then insecurity escalated and Boko Haram
started unleashing terror. The government had to eat its word and
returned the checkpoints. It is not good enough for a government that
has been advocating change."
'New chiefs overdue'
But security experts endorsed the sack of the former service chiefs by
the President, noting that the sack had been long overdue.
A retired Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Tsav, noted that the former
service chiefs were partisan, stressing that Jonathan "spoilt them
with money and there was no control or supervision."
He noted that the new service chiefs might perform better than their
predecessors, adding that he learnt that the new chiefs were core
professionals.
A security analyst, Ben Okezie, said the sack of the erstwhile
security chiefs was the right thing any new Commander-in-Chief would
do.
Okezie said, "Sacking the service chiefs is the right thing any new
Commander-in-Chief would do. Why it was delayed was because they were
prosecuting an asymmetrical war and the President was understudying
them so that he could know how to plan with the new security chiefs.
"I don't know much about the new security chiefs until we study their
antecedents and know their track records. Using the NSA to judge the
others, one can say Buhari must have done his research well before
appointing them. The appointment of the NSA shows that the President
knows what he is doing."
Also, the National Coordinator of the All Progressives Congress United
Kingdom, Mr. Ade Omole, commended Buhari for sacking the service
chiefs.
"It will help boost the morale of our valiant soldiers who are
battling Boko Haram," Omole said.
'Buhari never removed checkpoints'
But Adesina said Buhari never ordered the dismantling of military
checkpoints, contrary to the stories making the rounds.
He said the President's directive was that soldiers should be removed
from checkpoints located in non-essential areas.
Adesina said, "Military checkpoints were never taken away in the first
place. I was at that meeting where the President gave an instruction
on what to do with the military checkpoints. He never said they should
be dismantled.
"What he said was that they should remove soldiers from checkpoints in
non-essential areas. The President gave an account in that meeting. He
said one day before he became President, he was coming from Minna and
shortly before entering Abuja, the many lanes on the road merged into
one lane and there was a long traffic.
"He said when he eventually got to the point where the problem
started, he saw one soldier who stood there and was just controlling
traffic. He said he parked and introduced himself to the soldier and
asked him if what he was doing was effective because he was just
waving vehicles to pass.
"So, the President said if those manning the checkpoints had equipment
to detect things, it is better. He said they should remove soldiers
from non-essential checkpoints because the soldier that he saw was not
better than a traffic warden.
"He said they should not reduce soldiers to traffic wardens when they
can use them in some other places. Checkpoints were never dismantled."
The President's spokesman said it would be wrong and unfair for
anybody or group to insinuate that Buhari had not been concerned about
the increasing cases of attacks by members of the Boko Haram sect in
parts of the country.
He told a source on Monday that the Buhari administration was
determined to end the insurgency as soon as possible and that a lot
was being done to achieve this.
He said the Monday's change of the nation's service chiefs and the NSA
by the President was also part of the strategies aimed at tackling the
sect.
He said, "A lot is being done by this administration to end terrorism
in affected parts of the country.
"This rejig of the security apparatus is not unconnected because fresh
impetus and energy will be needed to tackle insurgency.
"So, nobody can say this government is not concerned about the spate
of bombings and killings. Nobody can say that this government is not
determined to end insurgency."
Adesina said the President had spent the better part of his first two
weeks in office working hard to find a solution to the problem.
No word from new chiefs
The newly-appointed service chiefs and the new NSA on Monday declined
comments on their new status.
Shortly before their appointments were formally announced, they were
summoned to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, for a meeting with
President Buhari.
While that meeting was going on, the former NSA, Dasuki, was driven
into the premises.
He went into the President's office and left after about 15 minutes.
While the meeting was underway, the appointments were made public.
By the time they emerged from that meeting with the President, the new
service chiefs and the NSA declined comment when State House
correspondents approached them.
When they were asked what they would be bringing on board, especially
with the increasing cases of attacks in parts of the country, the NSA
pointed to the new CDS.
The CDS however kept mum. But when reporters persisted in hearing from
the new men of power, the new NSA simply said, "We will talk later"
and walked briskly out of the premises.
Retirements loom in the Army
The appointment of Buratai as the new Chief of Army Staff would lead
to possible retirements in the Army because there is a difference of
five years in hierarchy between the former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.
Gen. Kenneth Minimah, and his successor.
Apart from a few members of the Course 25 who are still in the
service, there are also other officers from Courses 26, 27, 28 and 29.
Buratai's emergence may affect some of them.
Investigations revealed that about 30 major generals who are either
senior in hierarchy or who belonged to the same course as Buratai may
retire from the service.
It is the tradition of the Army that a senior is not left in the
service to salute his subordinate.
A source, who confided in one of our correspondents, said that not all
the major generals in that hierarchy would go as some of them who are
junior to the Chief of Defence Staff, who is of Course 26, could be
moved to the Defence Headquarters and other tri-service institutions
of the Armed Forces.
However, the situation could be different in the Nigerian Navy where
the new chief, Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, who belonged to Course 26
and the predecessor, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, of Course 24, have
only a few officers between them.
It was learnt that about five senior officers between the two were
retired recently thereby giving the indication that the appointment
might not culminate in retirements in the Navy.
A similar situation obtains in the Air Force as the new chief, who
belonged to the Cadet Military Training, Course 5, is rated as a
Course 26 member, which is the immediate junior to his predecessor,
Vice Marshal Adesola Amosu, of Course 5,
A security source said on Monday that all those who belonged to the
same Course as the former Air Chief would retire with him, except Air
Vice Marshal Monday Morgan, who has been appointed the new
Chief of Defence Intelligence.
Firstclassnewsline.net