Ex-CDS Irabor bows out of service
By Emma Ogbuehi
The immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor (retd), has officially pulled out of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
He bowed out at a ceremony held at the Mogadishu Cantonment, Asokoro, Abuja, on Friday.
The pull-out ceremony is part of the military tradition to honour retiring generals. The event involved a march past by the officers of the Nigerian Army among others.
Past Chiefs of Defence, Army, Navy, and Air Staff, among others, attended the event.
Irabor was appointed CDS in January 2021 and retired alongside others on June 19, following the appointment of new service chiefs by President Bola Tinubu.
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Senior Military Officers given till Monday to resign
Irabor’s retirement is in line with the recent appointment of his juniors as service chiefs. According to military tradition, senior officers are unlikely to take orders from their juniors, thus the new appointments necessitate the compulsory retirement of about 100 top officers, including Generals, Brigadiers-General, Air Vice Marshals, and Admirals in the Nigerian Army, Navy, and Air Force from the Force.
Consequently, the Defence Headquarters has directed all Senior officers with “seniority on commission “above Nigerian Defence Academy Regular Course 39 to proceed on voluntary retirement.
The notice of resignation was made known in a statement from the Defence Headquarters signed on Monday by Maj-Gen. Y. Yayaha for the Chief of Defence Staff.
The directive read:
“I am directed to respectfully request services to direct all officers with seniority on commission above that of Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) regular course 39 to submit their applications for voluntary retirement from service with immediate effect.
“I am to add that affected officers are to submit their applications to their respective service headquarters no later than on Monday, July 3, 2023.”
The affected senior officers who are expected to file in their voluntary retirement are officers above the NDA regular course 39. However, the new Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Christopher Musa is a member of 38 regular courses, the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja, the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear admiral, Emmanuel Ogalla, and the Chief of Air Staff, and Air Vice Marshal, Hassan Abubakar are members of 39 regular course.
