Osita Chidoka’s Sophistry and Amnesia on military appointments
By Olu Taiwo
PART ONE
When subjected to the standard parameters for evaluating aptitude and capabilities, Osita Chidoka no doubt comes across as a very cerebral, smart, well – grounded and distinguished Nigerian. Prior to hitting public limelight following his appointment as Corps Marshal and Chief Executive (COMACE) of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) by then President of the Federal Republic, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the suave and debonair Chidoka had garnered rich and varied experience in Nigeria’s public and private sectors where he excelled. It is to Chidoka’s credit that after serving meritoriously as staff of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) on the completion of the Primary Assignment phase of his mandatory one – year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Scheme, which he undertook at the same FCDA, he went ahead to acquire extensive and very valuable experience working at strategic levels when he served as Personal and Special Assistant to some top government functionaries at the federal level. After cutting his teeth in Abuja, Chidoka sought and found greener pastures when he worked with Mobil Producing Nigeria, which is one of the leading International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria and a subsidiary of the prestigious US – based ExxonMobil Corporation, from where he transited to the FRSC.
It was, therefore, no surprise to many observers when the scholarly Chidoka was appointed Minister of Aviation by President Goodluck Jonathan, who literally conscripted him from the FRSC to serve on the Federal Executive Council.
Given his vast exposure and very impressive antecedents, it is naturally expected that someone of Chidoka’s robust pedigree would exhibit maturity, restraint and caution in his public utterances. Unfortunately, unfolding events invalidate and make mockery of the presumption that Chidoka is capable of comporting himself well in his public comments. This perception is underscored by the explosive and utterly reckless statements made by the former Minister of Aviation when he was interviewed recently by one of Nigeria’s leading broadcast media outlets, Channels Television. The outing was, to say the least, an embarrassing performance that fell far short of expectations. As a matter of fact, it is sad, if not tragic, that Osita Chidoka could advance the puerile, divisive, ill – informed and seditious arguments he canvassed so irresponsibly in the course of the said interview to support his ignorant and tendentious views in condemnation of how President Bola Tinubu exercised the prerogative of his office to appoint the incumbent Chief of Army Staff, (COAS) Lieutenant General Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja.
Not only were Chidoka’s unguarded comments shocking, they also bordered on sedition. To a discerning viewer it takes no rocket science to know that his submissions were patently calculated to incite the military against the government of President Tinubu by portraying the choice of General Lagbaja as COAS wrong, reckless, unmerited, disruptive, motivated by tribalism and a decision which, in his jaundiced estimation, is capable of instigating disharmony in the Nigerian Army.
Let’s start the review of Chidoka’s condemnation of President Tinubu’s choice of COAS by analyzing his submission that in his selection process the President erred by allegedly by – passing members of the Regular Course 37 and 38 sets of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) who were still serving in the Army to appoint General Lagbaja, a member of the Regular Course 39 set of the NDA, as successor to the immediate past COAS, Lieutenant General Farouk Yahaya (rtd). Is Chidoka so forgetful that he did not remember that when the political party he belongs to, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), ruled Nigeria, the progression in the appointment of successive Chiefs of Army Staff featured, in the first instance, a transition from an officer who was a member of the Regular Course 3 set to another who was a member of the Regular Course 7 set? That change of baton occurred when Lieutenant General Samuel Victor Leonard Malu (rtd), who was appointed COAS by President Olusegun Obasanjo in May 1999, was replaced in 2001 by General Alexander Odeareduo Ogomudia (rtd), another appointee of President Obasanjo. Knowing that in the military there is a time – honored code that officers do not serve under their erstwhile juniors when such juniors are appointed Service Chief, has Chidoka ever asked himself what happened to the members of the Regular Course 4, 5 and 6 sets who were still in service but were by – passed when General Ogomudia was appointed to succeed General Malu? Was there no ‘bloodletting’ then, as Chidoka disingenuously characterized what happens when officers retire voluntarily after their junior is appointed a Service Chief and such ‘displaced’ officers could not be ‘accommodated’ at Defence Headquarters (DHQ)?
Since Nigeria returned to civil democratic governance in May 1999 the first time the transition from an incumbent COAS to their immediate successor did not skip the Course succeeding that of the immediate past COAS was when General Martin Luther Agwai (rtd), a member of the Regular Course 8 set, succeeded General Alexander Ogomudia (rtd) and the transition was thus from Course 7 – 8.
But still under Chidoka’s much – beloved PDP, three Courses were side – stepped when General Andrew Owoye Azazi (rtd), a member of the Regular Course 12 set, was appointed to succeed General Martin Agwai (rtd) as COAS. And the PDP was not done yet in its hop – step – and jump approach to appointing Chiefs of Army Staff. When General Azazi was dropped as COAS in 2007 he was neither replaced by a Course mate nor a member of the succeeding Regular Course 13 set. Rather, General Azazi was succeeded by a member of the Regular Course 14 set, Lieutenant General Luka Nyeh Yusuf (rtd), an appointee of President Umaru Yar’Adua who came to office on the platform of Chidoka’s PDP. General LN Yusuf, as the 16th COAS was popularly known, was succeeded in 2008 by a member of the Regular Course 17 set, Lieutenant General Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau (rtd) who was also appointed by President Yar’Adua.
General Dambazau’s successor, Lieutenant General Onyeabo Azubuike Ihejirika (rtd) was not his Course mate either but a member of the Regular Course 18 set. General Ihejirika was appointed in 2010 by the PDP – led government of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. General Ihejirika’s appointment marked the second time the transition from one COAS to another did not skip the NDA Regular Course set which succeeded that of the immediate past COAS as the transition was from Course 17 to 18. But Chidoka was probably not in Nigeria when the same Dr. Jonathan appointed a member of the Regular Course 25 set, Lieutenant General Kenneth Tobiah Jacob Minimah (rtd), to succeed General Ihejirika as COAS. So, how and where did President Tinubu err by not appointing a Course 37 officer to succeeded Lieutenant General Farouk Yahaya (rtd), another Course 37 officer, as COAS, as Chidoka had advocated vehemently on the Channels Television interview? Yet through all of the 16 years that the party was in charge of the affairs of Nigeria, the PDP never opted for a ‘same course to same course’ transition in appointing a COAS.
If the PDP moved from Courses 3 – 7; 8 – 12; 12 – 14; 14 – 17 and 18 – 25 in appointing some Chiefs of Army Staff when it held sway at the Federal level, what crime did President Tinubu commit by skipping members of the Regular Course 37 and 38 sets and moving to the Course 39 set in appointing the sitting COAS? How come what was good for the goose is no longer good for the gander by Chidoka’s perception? And, pray, what did Chidoka mean when he said during the controversial Channels Television interview that “President Tinubu’s departure from the norm by selecting a Chief of Army Staff from Course 39, rather than the established Courses 37 and 38, has resulted in a wave of skepticism surrounding the loyalty of senior army officers”. What makes the Regular Course 37 and 38 sets of the Nigerian Army ‘established’? If one may ask Chidoka again, can he in all honesty regard members of the Regular Course 39 set serving in the Nigerian Army, most of whom bagged their promotion to the Major General rank as far back as 2019, as neophyte two – star Generals? Is Chidoka aware that some members of the Regular Course 38 set serving in the Army were still hanging the Brigadier General rank when a new COAS of the Major General rank was appointed from the Regular Course 39 set in June 2023? So, what makes the set, like the Course 37 set ‘established’ and the 39 set inferior, as Chidoka insinuated rather mischievously?
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Certainly, Chidoka did not mean well in his submissions because it is obvious that President Tinubu complied with rather than depart from the norm. It may, therefore, not be further from the truth to reason that Chidoka’s comments, particularly the claim that the appointment of a COAS from the Regular Course 39 set “has resulted in a wave of skepticism surrounding the loyalty of senior army officers” were calculated to whip up anti – Tinubu sentiments in the Nigerian Army and make the task of commanding the service very difficult for General Lagbaja. This underscores the veracity of the position of this writer that Chidoka’s end game when he appeared on the Channels Tv interview was, ab initio, to incite the military against the President, a grave infraction that should make him a subject of interest to the relevant security agencies.
It may interest Chidoka to know that since the nomenclature of the head of the Nigerian Army was changed from Chief of Staff, Army to Chief of Army Staff, (COAS) in 1975 with the appointment of the legendary Lieutenant General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd), popularly known as General TY Danjuma, as the first COAS, only once has one set of the NDA produced two Chiefs of Army Staff. And that was when General Victor Malu (rtd), a member of the highly revered NDA Regular Course 3 set, was appointed COAS on May 29, 1999 to succeed Lieutenant General Ishaya Rizi Bamaiyi (rtd). The same Course 3 had earlier produced Major General Alwali Jauji Kazir (rtd) as COAS at the earlier stage of General Sani Abacha’s tempestuous tenure as Head of State. General Kazir had succeeded the erudite Major General Mohammed Chris Alli (rtd) as COAS. It should be noted that both Generals MC Ali and IR Bamaiyi were commissioned into the Nigerian Army via its Executive Commission (EC) programme, which is different from the NDA Regular Combatant Course programme as channel for gaining entry into the officers’ cadre of the Nigerian Army. Even then, both officers were not course mates in the EC programme.
After the historic appointment of two COAS from the NDA Course 3 set no other set of the Nigerian Defence Academy has ever produced two Chiefs of Army Staff. Besides, the two officers of the Regular Course set that made COAS were appointed in different epochs of Nigeria’s political evolution and not one in immediate succession to each other. Major General AJ Kazir (rtd) was in charge Ausgust 1994 – March 1996 while Lt Gen Malu (rtd) served from May 1999 – April 2001. This chronicle of command review shows that Chidoka is only being mischievous by propagating the notion that President Tinubu did wrong by failing to appoint a member of the Regular Course 37 set to succeed the immediate past COAS, himself another member of the same Regular Course 37 set, if the benchmark for the period under review is May 1999 – June 2023. Chidoka is too smart to not know this obvious fact of history and may simply be disingenuous if he claims ignorance.
Much as Chidoka berated that decision, moving from Course 37 to 39 in appointing General Farouk Yahaya’s successor is not a novel development. To further underscore this assertion it should be noted that the same pattern was duly followed by the Buhari administration when Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai (rtd), a member of the Regular Course 29 set, and a 2015 appointee of President Buhari, was succeeded as COAS in 2021 by a member of the Regular Course 35 set, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru (rtd), now late. Rather than commend President Tinubu for saving the careers of several Major Generals and their two – star General equivalents in sister services of the armed forces, Chidoka lapsed into grand sophistry to condemn the choice of a Course 39 officer as COAS.
There is no doubt that Chidoka’s characterization of the voluntary retirement of members of the Regular Course 37 and 38 sets as ‘bloodletting’ is lifted from the playbook of the opposition and it is designed to instigate dissent in the Armed Forces of Nigeria. After all, the smart and all – knowing Chidoka must have been aware that members of the Regular Course 37 set serving in the Nigerian Army were already due for retirement after the stage became set for the appointment of new Service Chiefs following the swearing in of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President on May 29, 2023. It may interest Chidoka to know that the extant Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Service (HTACOS) of the Armed Forces of Nigeria require those officers who have worn the Major General rank badges and its equivalent in the Nigerian Navy and Nigerian Air Force for five consecutive years to embark on their terminal leave from service in the next quarter succeeding the December that marked the fifth year of their promotion to the exalted rank. This provision is part of the measures put in place to ensure both career progression and fulfilment for members of upcoming sets of the armed forces so that sitting Major Generals and their equivalents in sister services do not become Methuselah’s who serve eternally, thereby blocking their immediate juniors that are yet to attain the coveted rank from ascending further in the unyielding resolve of military officers to attain the pinnacle of their career ladder.
A sizeable number of the Course 37 officers have worn their rank badges as Major General, the traditional terminal rank for officers of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, for more than five years and knew they were due for retirement, even before the appointment of new Service Chiefs was announced in June 2023. Chidoka’s position, which tended to suggest that these officers were retired prematurely by President Tinubu, is suspect and is obviously designed to achieve a much more sinister objective which the Department of Military Intelligence (DMI) and the Department of State Security, DSS should invite him to explain.
As a one – time top government functionary who had the privilege of serving on the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and who also had the ears of President Goodluck Jonathan, it is disturbing that Chidoka is so forgetful that he no longer remembers that the appointment of Service Chiefs must take into consideration the imperative that the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) must be at least one step higher on the seniority roll of the armed forces in relation to the Service Chiefs he will work with. If President Tinubu had appointed a Chief of Army Staff from the Regular Course 37 set, which Chidoka maintained was the right thing to do, pray, where would he have raised the officer to fill the more senior post of CDS? Would the President have appointed a CDS from a member of the Regular Course 36 set, all of whom had retired from service in 2021 following the appointment of their junior, Lieutenant General Farouk Yahaya (rtd), a member of the Regular Course 37 set, as COAS? And if the CDS must per force be senior to the COAS as well as the two other Service Chiefs as military ethics demand, and he cannot be appointed from the outgoing Course 37 set, does that not automatically put an officer of the Course 38 set in pole position to be appointed as CDS to avoid attrition in the service? And, pray too, if an officer of the Course 38 set were to be appointed as CDS, and he must be senior to the other Service Chiefs to be able to assert the authority of his office, will the next set of Service Chiefs not automatically come from members of the Regular Course 39 set and beyond, as it became imperative when the administration settled for a member of the Course 38 set as the next CDS? Or would Chidoka have suggested that both the CDS and COAS be members of the same Regular Course 38 set knowing that such proposition is preposterous?
Chidoka did not only demonstrate crass naivety and selective amnesia, he was also driven by a malicious intent to stir unrest and provoke disharmony in the Nigerian Army through the warped analysis he offered in his ill – advised Channels Tv interview on the appointment of the new COAS. Were Chidoka abreast of the intrigues that trailed the appointment of the new set of Service Chiefs he must have been privy to a robust campaign to pressurize President Tinubu to appoint a member of the Regular Course 42 set as the new COAS, a decision that would have swept off close to 300 two – star Generals of the Armed Forces of Nigeria into premature retirement. Unfortunately, the otherwise cerebral Chidoka is deeply hooked on the rabid campaign of hate which never sees anything good in any decision, policy or step taken by President Tinubu. As a result he is completely blindfolded to the truth to the extent that he condemned, rather than commend, the President for preserving the careers of hundreds of very senior military officers by electing to appoint the new COAS and the Service Chief of the Nigerian Navy and Nigerian Air Force all from the NDA Regular Combatant Course 39 set. Yet if President Tinubu had chosen to appoint the CDS from the Course 41 set and the Service Chiefs of the three services of the armed forces from Course 42 he would have not done anything unprecedented or abnormal.
To be Concluded.
Olu Taiwo is Military Affairs Analyst
