The
presidency said it noted the resolution, but excoriated the senators for
offering the unsolicited advice.
The Buhari
presidency promptly Tuesday replied the Nigerian Senate over its resolution
asking the Service Chiefs to step aside over the deteriorating insecurity in
Nigeria.
“(the)
appointment or sack of Service Chiefs is a Presidential prerogative, and
President Muhammadu Buhari, in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed
Forces, will do what is in the best interest of the country at all times”,
presidential spokesman Malam Garba Shehu said.
Senator Ali
Ndume sponsored the resolution passed on Tuesday.
Ndume is the
chairman of Senate Committee on the Army and is representing Borno South, where
an 11 year-old insurgency war is raging.
All the
service chiefs, Gabriel Olonisakin, chief of defence staff; Tukur Buratai,
chief of army staff; Sadique Abubakar, chief of air staff; and Ibok-Ete Ekwe
Ibas, chief of naval staff; are all overdue for retirement.
But President
Buhari has kept them in office, even when security challenges are mounting.
On Saturday,
no fewer than 23 Nigerian soldiers were ambushed and killed in Katsina by ‘bandits’.
In Borno,
insurgents often raid villages, killing wantonly.
It was this
concern that prompted Senator Ali Ndume to move the motion.
He cited
order 42(1) and 52 to seek the leave of the Senate to Present a Motion on
rising number of casualties among the Nigerian Army and other security agencies
recently to ambushes.
“The spirit
of this motion is that our armed forces are trying very heard. The good is
still not enough. We need to continue to encourage and provide for them. They
lay their lives on behalf of all of us and it is very sad that some of them
have deserted the war front”, Senate President Ahmad Lawan said.
He then
suggested that the Joint Committees should get to the root of about 200
soldiers who have deserted.
He also
offered condolences to the families of the fallen heroes”.
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