Orji Kalu, the Senator from Abia North, sent a message to President Bola Tinubu. He warned against the practice of promoting younger military officers over their senior counterparts when appointing high-ranking military positions.
Kalu made these comments on Thursday during a debate on a bill that aims to repeal the Armed Forces Act and replace it with a modern, constitutionally compliant, and operationally effective legal framework for the Nigerian Armed Forces, set for 2025. He directed his remarks to the President and Commander-in-Chief.
In his speech, Kalu pointed out that promoting junior officers to top military positions over senior officers not only lowers the morale of the senior officers but also wastes the resources invested in training them, who are then forced to retire early. He specifically criticized the recent pattern of appointing the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, and Chief of Air Staff from lower ranks.
Kalu said, “Presidents should stop appointing officers for these top military roles above their senior officers who are still serving.
For example, you appoint an officer who trained in Course 41 as Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, or Chief of Air Staff, while some of their senior officers who trained in Course 39 and Course 40 are still in service.”When you make such appointments from below the ranks, all the senior officers who are still in service are forced to resign early.” This situation has affected hundreds of senior officers over the years. Unfortunately, nobody is paying attention to the huge financial resources involved in training these officers.” So I want to draw attention to this development and appeal to the President, who is the Commander-in-Chief, to…”
However, his remarks were interrupted by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, who was presiding over the session. Jibrin said that the issue is a sensitive one and urged the Senators to speak carefully.
He added, “We should be careful in this matter because it’s strictly a matter of military tradition that we do not fully understand.”The bill, which started the debate, was sponsored by the chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Abdulaziz Yar’Adua.
Despite the lawmakers cutting the debate short, the bill was passed for second reading and later sent to the Senate committees on Defence, Army, Navy, and Air Force for further legislative action.The committees were asked to submit their reports within four weeks.