Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has described the regular retirement of top military officers in new Nigerian governments as a politicization of the military positions and called for an end to it.
Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, an Islamic scholar and medical doctor who retired as a captain in the Nigerian Army, made this assertion during Trust TV’s Daily Politics programme.
This thing (early retirement) started in 1999 when these positions were politicized,” he started.
“They (military establishments) have lost their professionalism. People look at their regional affiliations, ethnic or religious inclination, not only the qualified professional acumen that is supposed to be of such institution”.
The retired captain also mentioned how the position of permanent secretary which was supposed to be for professional civil servants has also been politicized.
“I think we should not touch the military and the judiciary just because there is change of political leadership. Even the civil service is now affected. The position of a permanent secretary is supposed to be purely for professional civil servants, but you find out that it is now also politicised.
“It is very unfortunate. It is a very bad development that we lose officers after training them, some of them abroad. We spend a lot of money to train them on different kinds of warfare, then suddenly, because of ethnic, religious or regional consideration, many of them get retired after the appointment of some officers.
“And we don’t have to put anybody who is a junior just because of his tribe or religion or where he comes from to head such institution, especially in a time when our main problem, the elephant in the room, is the security issue. We need qualified hands, people who have experience, people who understand and are intelligent”, he added.
