Ex-Service Chiefs As Envoys? 

The appointment of immediate past Nigeria’s service chiefs as non-career ambassadors is generating long-standing controversy in the country. Despite the discomposure, President Muhammadu Buhari has forwarded their names to the Senate for screening and confirmation. And as expected, the All Progressives Congress (APC) dominated Senate is very unlikely to upturn the President’s decision to make the retired military chiefs representatives of Nigeria. Their appointments, in the first place, indicate that Buhari did not want them out of office.
The former service chiefs are General Gabriel Olonisakin, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, Air Marshal Siddique Abubakar and Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas. During their time in office, Nigerians ridiculed and derided them and asked that they be thrown out of the office for gross incompetence. The campaign had lasted more than two years since the service chiefs, appointed in 2015, were expected to have statutorily ended their military career.
When former President Goodluck Jonathan was in power, the insurgency was outstanding even when he handed over to the present administration. Nigeria was literally on fire as killings, bombings and maimings were the order of the day. The situation exacerbated under this government. The North East, North Central, North West, and of recent South West have all been undergoing unbearable circumstances.
As many Nigerians were slaughtered senselessly, and sometimes before their relatives, the military failed spectacularly to guarantee peace under their command. Kidnapping became the order of the day in all parts of the country, while highway robbery orchestrated a return. It was for that reason Nigerians wanted them out by all means. Federal lawmakers, governors, civil society groups, faith-based organisations, all pointed to the need for their sack. Officers serving under them sadly became demoralised as some had to quit the force altogether under different guises.
When eventually the service chiefs disengaged and were replaced by other experienced officers, the least expected of the Commander-in-Chief was to show aristocratic disdain for the public by appointing them ambassadors. We indeed seem confused by their appointments and urge Nigerians to request further details on the development. The reason is, there may be more to the nomination than meets the eye. It appears to us that Buhari sees them as absolutely indispensable?
These people just left office as a result of the bitter outcry by Nigerians. It is, therefore, expected that they would take a deserved rest and truly reflect on why Nigerians insisted they should exit the office. Rather than do that, the President decided to give them supplementary glory. There is nothing wrong with bestowing such appointments on people that are retired but not tired; however, these officers have retired and are tired. Assuming that they were not tired, it would have been a different ball game.
The Nigerian Senate that has the constitutional mandate to screen and declare them fit for the position or otherwise and even countries where they are likely to be posted to should reject them as ambassadors even though that may look like a tall order, particularly for the upper legislative chamber. Besides the fact that the appointments are incredibly awkward, hence, the need to be debriefed before being considered for such designation to office, our position is further hinged on the allegations of rights abuses and crimes against humanity levelled against them while they held sway as commanders of the country’s military.
We also hold the view that President Buhari’s administration has flagrantly flouted the recommendation of the erstwhile Presidential Advisory Council on International Relations (PACIR) which pegged the percentage of non-career ambassadors to 25 as against career ambassadors of 75. But as it stands now, the number of non-career ambassadors has surpassed that of the career ambassadors. Non-career diplomats are almost 60 per cent while the career is 40 per cent.
This development has been trailed by widespread condemnation, with many Nigerians suggesting that the President’s decision was aimed at shielding the former military officials from possible prosecution, especially by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in line with Article 29 of the Vienna Convention which protects diplomats from arrest and grants them immunity against civil and criminal prosecution.
The allegations against the military chiefs include the 2015 massacre of more than 350 members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), a Shiites sect, violent attacks on members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), last October’s shooting of innocent Nigerians who took part in the #EndSARS protest at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos, and the extra-judicial killings in Oyigbo, an Igbo settlement in Rivers State, among others.
It should be noted that the diplomatic world is the turf of some professionals, hence the need to have several career ambassadors. The addition of the erstwhile service chiefs shows disdain for professional advice. The government has no reason to frustrate diplomats who had been waiting patiently to ascend the ladder to the last rung by bringing in men who failed in their last tour of duty. If cleared by the Senate, we hope they are not posted to countries that are vital to the interests and development of Nigeria since they are extremely inexperienced.
The military chiefs should be asked to go home and tend to their duties and not prevent others who are deserving of the appointments. Though they were not the first officers to be appointed ambassadors after retirement, having been preceded in such role by the likes of Brig-Gen. George Kurubo, the first Chief of Air Staff, Brig-Gen. Babafemi Ogundipe, a former deputy to General Aguiyi Ironsi and Brig-Gen Oluwole Rotimi, past governor of the old Western State, the officers are completely unfit for the job.