Why generals are reluctant to leave army – Investigation JANUARY 5, 2013 BY FIDELIS SORIWEI, ABUJA

The recent retirement of 51 topofficers of the Nigerian Army has caused a raging controversy as those affected have indicated their reluctance to pull out of the service. The affected officers had written to the Army Council to appeal for service extension buttheir appeals were turned down by the council. Some of the affected officers had written to the council to appeal for extension in order to use the extra period to buildtheir own houses. But the Army Council turned down the requests for lack of strong reasons and on the grounds that granting them would be destructive to established norms in the army. Members of the council were of the view that granting an extension to departing officers of the service would encouragecorruption in the military whichwas said to be injurious to national development. There were fears that putting a retiring top officer, whose preoccupation is to build a house for retirement in a strategic formation could be counter-productive. The Army Council comprises the Minister of Defence, the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, and others. The President, who is represented in the council by the Minister of Defence, is chairman of the council which sits once in every four months. The 51 retired officers include 12 majors-general, 24 brigadiers general and 15 colonels. When our correspondent contacted the Director of ArmyPublic Relations, Brig.-Gen Bola Koleosho, he said that he had no comment on the issue of the retirement. Koleosho had said during a press conference a fortnight ago that the army carried out the directive of the council in accordance with the rules and regulations of the service. Investigations showed that the reluctance of the retired officers to go resulted in the compulsory retirement of 18 ofthe top officers by the army. With their compulsory retirement, the affected officerscannot serve the nation as governors, senators, or members of the House of Representatives, or in any othercapacity. The army spokesman said during the press conference that the affected officers could write to the Army Council for arconsideration of the decision to retire them compulsorily.