The military insiders have expressed worry over the working
relationship between the new Minister of Defence, Brig-Gen. Monsur
Dan-Ali (rtd) and the current service chiefs, owing to the fact that he
was their junior in military hierarchy and order of seniority.
THISDAY findings revealed that a friction could occur should Dan-Ali tries to assert his authority over the service chiefs.
Already, some of the officers have expressed misgivings over the
seeming confrontational and controversial manner with which he started
his assumption of office, saying “this smacks of braggadocio.”
Dan-Ali reopened the old wounds recently when he openly castigated the
immediate past Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-Gen. Kenneth Minimah (rtd)
and the Nigerian Army for the manner they handled President Muhammadu
Buhari’s West African Examinations Certificate (WAEC) scandal.
“Where is your integrity when your own Chief of Army Staff (Minimah)
stood up and say his Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (Buhari) has
no WAEC. How? Please let us be sincere with ourselves. Because you
should have stood up and said no, because you are there you cannot. If
you leave the job, is it the end of your life. If you leave the job
there are other ways, better ways God can bless your life,” he was
quoted to have said.
According to one of the sources, this is the first time a Minister of
Defence with military background would have to issue (administrative)
directives and orders to his superiors (the service chiefs).
The source said Dan-Ali, who retired two years ago, was a Short Course
Service equivalent to the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) Regular Course
31, while the COAS, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai, who is the youngest among the
service chiefs is from the Regular Course 29.
“He retired barely two years ago, in 2013, when the services chiefs
were major-generals then. He is of the Short Service Course, equivalent
to the NDA 31st Regular Course and the present Chief of Defence Staff
(CDS) is of the 25th Regular Course. So you can see the gap, and the
Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) is of the 26th Regular Course, the Chief of
Air Staff (CAS) who also came through the Air Short Service is
equivalent of the 26 to 27th Course. Then the COAS who is the most
junior among the current service chiefs, is even of 28th Course. So you
can imagine that they are all senior to this new minister,” the source
explained.
Further enquiries also put a question mark on the military and academic
prowess of the new Defence minister, especially with regard to his
performance at the Bangladesh Armed Forces Command and Staff College.
Another senior officer expressed doubt if he can bring what it takes to
match the sterling experience and intellectual capacity of the service
chiefs most of whom were directing staffs at one time or the other in
different military institutions.
The source expressed doubt if the minister would have the courage and
professional grounds to reject from the service chiefs, “and being their
junior, how will the service chiefs react if their advice are being
discarded by the minister.”
Meanwhile, the officer noted, “you can recall that when they asked him
during the ministerial screening about his performance when at the
Bangladesh Staff College, where he had no grades and he responded that
it was not compulsory.
“So that’s the new minister of Defence for you, one who could not
defend his course and performance. I see him he is not going to last
because the people he is dealing with, have high level of intellectual
framework. They are all directing staffs either in War College or Armed
Forces Command and Staff College. Some were even Directors in Defence
College,” the source stressed.
Also, another officer further explained: “The fear is that President
Muhammadu Buhari wanted to bring down the service chiefs to the 31st
Course before he appointed this present minister but people had to
intervene because the rate of retirement is so high.
“That was why he had to stop at 29th Course, but now that he is
bringing in a 31st course equivalent, is it possible that he wants
these ones to resign out of frustration or annoyance. This is because if
the CDS happens to write a letter to this minister, who ordinarily is
his junior and he cancels it, he may react and not take it lightly. You
know in the armed forces our junior officers give their utmost respect.
So will these ones now be telling their junior sir. When you see him, he
want to force talk in order to assert his authority, I can see a man
struggling to get loyalty from his military seniors.”
“The limitations are many, one most of the service chiefs will not feel
comfortable working with him. So there might likely be friction
because a leader will not want a subordinate to give the impression that
they are better than him. So that is an area of friction because these
men may not be able to give him directly the proper interpretation of
things. We are in a quagmire, I am telling you.”
Investigation also revealed why the former COAS, Lt-Gen. Abdulrahman
Bello Dambazau (rtd), who was initially tipped to head the Ministry of
Defence was dropped for Dan-Ali.
Sources revealed that damning petitions trailed Dambazzau’s nominationSource:THISDAYLIVE.COM
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