Some residents of Benin, the Edo State capital, have commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the appointment of new service chiefs.
The Presidency had on Tuesday, January 26th, 2021, announced Maj.-Gen. Lucky Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Maj.-Gen. I. Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Adm A.Z. Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff, and Air-Vice Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao, Chief of Air Staff.
Some respondents said that the action of the President was a welcome development, though the action was over delayed as the change of the former service chiefs was long overdue.
Chief Akpodiogaga Emeyese, Special Adviser to the Delta State Government on Community Enterprise said that the president should be commended for rising to the occasion and doing the needful.
Emeyese said this was because for long Nigerians have been clamouring for the sack or change of the service chiefs because the level of insecurity in the country had become too high.
He noted that in a normal clime with the alarming rate of insecurity in the country, the outgone service chiefs ought to have long resigned.
“But Nigeria is a place where nobody resigns, even when the whole world is against you.
“We should commend Mr President for finally taking the bull by the horn,” he said.
He however expressed hope that the new service chiefs would have been appointed based on merits and not on clanish or sectoral interest. According to him, we should begin for once to encourage meritocracy.
“The major problem in this country is favouritism, tribalism, and nepotism. We should begin to preach and practice unity,” Emeyese further said.
Similarly, Mr Peter Esele, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, described the appointment of the new service chiefs as a welcome development.
Esele also opined that the change was long overdue. He thanked the outgone service chiefs for their service to their father land. However, he opined that they did not achieve the mission for which they were appointed.
“Their mission was to get rid of insurgents, but the insurgents had waxed stronger, banditry on the rise, and criminality on rampage. So, I think the president has to do this because those service chiefs had long attained retirement age.
“But be that as it may, it’s better late than never. We thank them for their services, and I’m also happy to see them go,” he said.
Prof. Julius Iyasele, former Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU), UNIBEN branch, said that the action was long overdue, and had even become staled.Iyasele said that this was because there were reasons why there were timeline for every action.
According to him, if you do one thing continually for too long, you might be putting a kind of load on the system.
“Once you are not able to do your job for which you are been paid, then you resign. The president ought to have relieved them of their jobs a long time ago because they were not able to do what they were appointed to do,” he said.
