Retirements loom in the Army
FOLLOWING 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.
