A former Governor of Borno State and serving senator, Kashim Shettima, spared no punches at the service chiefs during an Arise television interview.
Shettima, who was the immediate governor of Borno state, said the service chiefs have outlived their relevance and hence, should be sent out of their posts.
The service chiefs are heads of Nigeria’s defence architecture, including the Defence Chief, Gabriel Olonishakin, Army Chief, Tukur Buratai, Air Force Chief, Sadiq Abubakar and Inspector General of the Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu. With the exception of Adamu who was appointed in January 2019, the others have been on the posts since 2015.
Shettima said the service chiefs have to go because their ideas are no longer working.
“Why I was agitating for the removal of the security chiefs has to do with the fact that they have given their best but their best is no longer good enough. Shehu Shagari had three service chiefs in his four years of stewardship.
“Obasanjo in his second coming started with Victor Malu, he had Alex Ogbemudia and subsequently he had Martin Luther Agwai before he had Azazi as his Chief of Army Staff.
“Jonathan and Yar’Adua started with General Yusuf. Subsequently, they had Abdulrahman Bello Dambazzau, then Azubuike Ihejirika and then Kenneth Minimah. In eight years, they had four service chiefs.
“The current Chief of Defence Staff is course 25. He is in his 41st year of service. Is he so indispensable? The current Chief of Army Staff is course 26. The current Major Generals did not meet them in the NDA. Are they so indispensable?
“Nobody is indispensable. And the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. We believe that for morale to be high; there is the need for an injection of people with new ideas, with fresher perspectives to come and address the issues.
“By June next year, Course 35 is going without reaching the pinnacle of their careers. So justice, equity, fairness and even commonsense demands that these service chiefs should go.”