CHIEF of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Onyeabo Azubuike Ihejirika, Monday asked Nigerians to help shield the military from political influence.
Stating that “the unity of this country is not one of those things to be negotiated”, the Army Chief added that “anybody who doesn’t like Nigeria can check out.”
He added: “The Nigerian Army has come a very, very long way. Those thinking of dismembering this country will have to first kill over 100,000 Nigerian Army officers and soldiers.”
He said the military, particularly the Army, should not be used to settle political scores “because the Army is apolitical.”
Reacting to reports of lopsided recruitment, promotions and postings in the Army, Ihejirika said during a press briefing and the opening of the first quarter Chief of Army Staff conference in Abuja, that “there is no ethnic or religious consideration in these routine exercises in the Nigerian Army. The motive of the writers appears to be to destabilise the Nigerian Army and negatively affect its cohesion, thereby creating chaos in the country.”