According to a report by The PUNCH, a significant number of high-ranking officers, including generals, brigadiers-general, air vice marshals, and admirals in the Nigerian Army, Air Force, and Nigerian Navy, may be compelled to retire. This decision follows the recent appointment of new service chiefs by President Bola Tinubu on Monday.
In addition to the forthcoming retirements, numerous officers will be promoted to fill the vacancies created by the retiring generals as part of the services’ reorganization under the new service chiefs. This development comes six months after the retirement of 24 major generals and 38 brigadier generals in December, who had served the nation for 35 years.
President Tinubu announced the immediate retirement of General Lucky Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Lieut Gen Farouk Yahaya, Chief of Army Staff; Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff; and Air Marshal Oludayo Amao, Chief of Air Staff. These positions were then filled by the appointment of new military chiefs.
The newly appointed service chiefs are Maj Gen Christopher Musa as Chief of Defence Staff, Maj Gen Taoreed Lagbaja as Chief of Army Staff, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla as Chief of Naval Staff, and Air Vice Marshal Hassan Abubakar as Chief of Air Staff. Furthermore, DIG Kayode Egbetokun was appointed as the acting Inspector-General of Police, and Maj. Gen. E Undiandeye became the Chief of Defence Intelligence. Nuhu Ribadu, a former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Chairman, who was recently appointed as the Security Adviser to the President, was elevated to the position of National Security Adviser.
In accordance with protocol, Maj Gen Musa will be promoted to a full four-star General rank, while Lagbaja will receive the three-star rank of Lieutenant General. Ogalla and Abubakar will also receive equivalent ranks of Vice Admiral and Air Marshal, respectively. However, the President’s official decoration of the new ranks will require confirmation by the Senate.
The retirement of senior officers across the three services is in line with military tradition, which dictates that officers senior to the service chiefs should retire. This tradition is based on the understanding that senior military officers are unlikely to take orders from their juniors. The new service chiefs, being members of the 39 Regular Course, are junior to some generals who are members of Course 37 and Course 38.
According to sources, approximately 100 top officers from the Army, Air Force, and Navy could leave the service in the coming weeks due to the tradition that senior officers should not serve under their juniors. A retired general explained that many senior officers, particularly those from Course 37 and Course 38, are likely to retire. The exact number of senior officers expected to retire is uncertain, but it could be as high as 100.
It should be noted that RC 39 officers will not be affected by the retirement exercise as they will be transferred to the Defence Headquarters, considering that the Chief of Defence Staff is from RC 38. However, officers from RC 37 and 38 will likely leave the service. In previous instances, some officers were retained by the Chief of Army Staff, Lieut Gen Farouk Yahaya, who was from RC 37, but now he will be retiring alongside his coursemates.
Regarding the number of officers in a regular course, there is no fixed figure. Over time, some officers may have been removed from the course due to retirement, death, accidents, illness, and other factors. Therefore, the course members who reach the top levels of the military usually represent only around 20 to 30 percent of the officers who initially enrolled together.
