The
Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika yesterday
revealed the report of the board of inquiry set up to investigate the
twin blasts at the Jaji military cantonment late last year.
A total of 15 people were killed when
St Andrew’s Anglican Church was attacked in November 2012. The defence
headquarters later set up a board of inquiry to look into the remote and
the immediate causes of the blast.
Air Vice Marshal Ibrahim Kure, the
Commandant of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, and Major
General Mohammed Isa, Commander, Nigerian Army Corps of Infantry, Jaji
were redeployed shortly after the blasts. Isa was thereafter retired
from the army.
Ihejirika said at media conference in
Abuja that based on the report of the board “Gen Isa did not take an
action expected of an officer” prior to the incidents. He (Isa) also
left Jaji for Asaba to attend army conference a day before the blasts.
“When I saw him in Asaba I asked him what he was doing there while his place was on fire,” he said.
The chief said it was untrue that he
gave preferential treatments to Igbos (his kinsmen) in terms promotions
and postings in the army.
“I take the Nigerian fault line into
consideration. The type of army we have now is not the one that we had
before. Is not the one that will take the nation to war.”
He said he has demonstrated fairness
in the postings of officers and “is the first time that General Officers
Commanding Divisions represent geo-political zones.
“For instance General Oshinowo from
South West missed his promotion to major general but when I became chief
I made sure that he got his promotion and posted as GOC, 82 Division
(Enugu) in the South East where I come from. All his brigade commanders
were not from the region then.
“The 2 Brigade in Port Harcourt was
commanded by Brigadier General Buratai (North) now Major General, the
one in Owerri was commanded by Brigadier General Alkali (North East),
the one in Ohafia, very close to my town was under the command of
Brigadier General Abubakar (Niger) while Brigadier General Yusuf headed
the Calabar brigade.
“The Amphibious Training School was
under the command of Brigadier General M. T Ibrahim. Only the GOC was a
Christian from the South,” the Army chief said.
The army chief said in 2011, a total of 25 officers were promoted to the rank of major general and three were from Kano state.
DailyTrust
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