Tony Nyiam, a retired colonel said far from resigning, the outgoing service chiefs were sacked. “Except for one or two, they have been fired for poor performances.”
According to him, the new chief of defence staff is an intelligent, professional combat-tested military officer but with the existing structure, he will ab-initio occupy a redundant position.
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Maintaining that the extant structure makes the chief of army staff the most powerful instead of the CDS, Nyiam said: “The lack of combined or unified command or joint command under the CDS is the cause of rivalry among the armed forces and duplication of their war efforts.
“The change of the service chiefs is just a tip of the iceberg; it will come to nothing if we continue to have political leadership failures and inappropriate strategic military direction. The military is stretched and lack of improvement in the weaponry of the troops would pose a challenge to the new team,” he said.
A security expert and Professor of Counselling and Criminal Justice, University of Ibadan, Oyesoji Aremu, said there should be no any euphoria as regards the newly appointed service chiefs as they have a lot to do in ensuring the security of our national space.
He said, “The sack of the service chiefs by President Buhari is not only long overdue given the series of calls made by the National Assembly and well-meaning leaders of thought, it is also very instructive given the continued slide of internal security especially in the last few weeks.
“It also shows that Mr President listens to Nigerians in spite of perceived contrary opinions.
“Expectations are high even as the agenda is set for the new service chiefs. One, the new helmsmen being war commanders themselves and vast in experiences would appreciate the enormity of the challenges ahead of them.
“It is expected of them to hit the ground running by engaging in operational and reconnaissance evaluation while at the same time increasing the tempos of warfare in the hot spots especially in the North East and North West.
“Two, they have to look inward by setting up the machinery to reappraise the welfare and morale of the officers and men. It is no gainsaying that the morale is low and this perhaps accounted for some failed operations. For the front line officers to be more committed to the war to secure our internal space(s), they have to be well motivated.
“Three, more than ever before, in the country’s coordinated war against Boko Haram elements, bandits and kidnappers, there is a strong need for seamless synergy, intelligence sharing that will culminate in robust agencies collaborations.
“On this, the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies would have to be carried along and seen as co-security partners. This could improve security dynamics expected of our security agencies.
“And four, the new service chiefs should covet the support of members of the public, while at the same time, the public should support our security chiefs. The war against insecurity is for all,” he said.
On his part, a former Director at the Department of State Security Service (DSS), Mike Ejiofor, congratulated President Buhari for finally taking the decision.
“We believe strongly that with these new appointments, fresh ideas will definitely be injected in the fight against insurgency, banditry and kidnapping. It is a welcome development. The new service chiefs should prioritise and see how they can defeat the insurgency.”
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