Jonathan: Unhealthy Rivalry Cost Former Service Chiefs Their Jobs

FROM LEFT: CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFF, AIR MARSHAL ALEX BADEH; GOV. MURTALA NYAKO OF ADAMAWA;



PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN; CHIEF OF AIR STAFF, AIR VICE MARSHAL ADESOLA AMOSU AND SUPERVISING MINISTER OF DEFENCE,



MR LABARAN MAKU, DURING THE INAUGURATION OF AIR FORCE COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL IN YOLA ON TUESDAY (28/1/2014).

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said he sacked the immediate past Service Chiefs because of unhealthy rivalry, which he claimed led to the successful attack by Boko Haram fighters on the Air Force operational base in Maiduguri, Borno State.

The sacked Service Chiefs included the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Ibrahim; Lt General Azubuike Ihejirika, Chief of Army Staff, COAS, and Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba, Chief of Naval Staff.

In a warning to the yet-to-be cleared newly appointed Service Chiefs, the President warned that any form of unhealthy competition between them that threatens national security would not be tolerated.

Speaking while commissioning the Air Force Comprehensive School in Yola, Adamawa State, on Tuesday, the President also hailed the new Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, an indigene of the state, saying he has been a prudent manager of resources.

He said: “We will work with them to make sure that we overcome these challenges. One of the reasons that made me to uplift the present Chief of Defence Staff from the Chief of Air Staff is that I noted very carefully in terms of managing resources, he tried.

“And I believe that with him now taking charge as the Chief of Defence Staff, working with other men that have been properly briefed about how they conduct their work; I know that the Nigerian armed forces will be a different armed forces”

“I urge you to cooperate. Sometimes we use to hear some kind of mutual and individual competition among service chiefs and security personnel. But this time around, we will not tolerate any unnecessary competition that will bring retrogression to this country”.

Continuing, he said: “We charge you to work together because our country is exposed to cancer and I told the former Chief of Defence Staff when I came back from meeting in France, that was the time they attacked our five helicopters and a journalist ask me, Mr. President is it not shameful? And I asked him, ‘if you were me, how will you have felt?’ And I believed we will no longer experience that kind of situation. That happened because of some obvious lapses.

“We will make sure we work with the national assembly, we will work with the service chiefs and other senior military personnel, we will work with our traditional rulers and governors and senior citizens to see that we move our country to next level”.

Speaking earlier, the new CDS said that the fight against insurgency is surmountable even as he charged security agencies to remain focused.

He also pledged his continued loyalty to the defense of the nation in line with the provisions of the Constitution of Nigeria.

According to him, the Air Force Comprehensive School project, which he said was the brainchild of the Air Force, was executed on five hectares of land within a period of seven months through direct labour.

In his address, Governor Murtala Nyako, who was among the dignitaries that received the president at the Yola International Airport, apologized for the not-too-impressive reception accorded Mr. Jonathan as the streets were deserted, saying it was due to the security situation in the state.

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