Army, Navy redeploy 202 senior officers

The authorities of the Nigerian Army have announced the postings and appointment of 127 senior officers of the service, while the Nigerian Navy also redeployed 75 senior officers. The redeployment exercise which came barely a month after similar exercise was conducted by the former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Azubuike Ihejirika, affected 36 Major Generals, 52 Brigadier Generals and 39 Colonels. With the new postings, the former Military Secretary, Maj. Gen. EB Awala, is now the Chief of Training and Operations at the Defence Headquarters; Maj. Gen. FM Airende becomes the Director, Training and Evaluations at the DHQ, while Maj. Gen. KC Osuji moves from DHQ to become the General Officer Commanding 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna. Also appointed were Maj. Gen. Nwaoga, Director of Policy, DHQ; Maj. Gen. A Chukwu, Chief of Civil Military Affairs; Maj. Gen. JAH Ewanshia, Chief of Training and Operation, Nigerian Army Headquarters; Maj. MD Abubakar, Commander Infantry Corp and Centre, Kaduna; Maj. Gen. JS Zaruwa, GOC 3 Division, Jos; Maj. Gen. RID Isa, Coordinator Peacekeeping Operations, Ministry of Defence, and Maj. TI Dibi, GOC 81 Div. Lagos. Others include Maj. Gen. Abejirin, GOC 2 Div. Ibadan; Maj. Gen. SN Muazu, Commandant Nigerian Army Peace Keeping Centre, Jaji; Maj. Gen. Atewe, Commander JTF Operation Pulo Shield; Maj. Gen OA Umahi, Director Administration, DHQ; Maj. Gen. TC Ude, Director of Plans, Army Headquarters; Maj. OE Ekanem, Director of Policy, Nigerian Army Headquarters; Brig. Gen. AB Omozoje, Commander, Guards Brigade and others. The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Olajide Laleye, who announced the postings in a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, warned against politicising the military postings and appointments. “It is important to note that postings in the Army is a routine activity that is carried out from time to time to fill existing vacancies emanating from promotion and retirement. “Insinuations and mischievous interpretation of a purely professional, unbiased and thoroughly thought out process should not be trivialized by undue and unfounded speculations,” he said. The Army Spokesman also alerted members of the public of a syndicate that had commenced sale of scratch cards and recruitment forms of the Nigerian Army, stressing that the Army had not commenced any recruitment exercise.