APEX Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, says the appointment of Major Gen Farouk Yahaya as Chief of Army Staff shows President Buhari has no confidence in a southerner.
Farouk replaces the late Lt Gen Ibrahim Attahiru who died in a plans crash last Friday.
Before his appointment, Major General Yahaya was the General Officer Commanding 1 Division of the Nigerian Army and the incumbent Theatre Commander of the Counter-terrorism Counter-insurgency military outfit in the North East code-named Operation HADIN KAI.
But reacting to the appointment today, the Secretary-General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, described the development as unfortunate.
“We congratulate whoever is appointed as Chief of Army Staff. It is very unfortunate that a northerner will never solve the security situation in the North or Nigeria because of the perceived recycling of insurgency that the Nothern cabals are reaping from the large budgetary allocation for the defence of the country,” Isiguzoro said.
“Mr President has again proved that he is a sectional president and he will continue to favour a particular section of the country and the continuous abuse of the principle of Federal Character.
“Appointing this new Chief of Army staff shows that Mr President will never appoint and involve a southerner. Mr President does not have confidence in a Southerner. On that note, we never lobbied for a Southerner to become the Chief of Army Staff.
“We wish the new COAS all the best and he must ensure he changes tactics from what was being obtained before the late Chief of Army Staff, Ibrahim Attahiru was appointed. We know that Attahiru was very competent and willing to see to the end of the insurgency.
“We hope this is not a nomination from the cabal. We hope it is not a nomination to continue to siphon budgetary allocation for defence. We hope this appointment was not manipulated and imposed on President Buhari. Moreover, we hope that military operation in the South-East will put a human face to it and respect human rights and we use this opportunity to call on Mr President to rescind the order of shoot-on-sight and call for the withdrawal of military personnel in the South-East.
“We also call on all agitators to take it easy with their agitations.”
