The Coordinator of Advocacy for Advancement of Peace and Harmony in Africa Initiative (ADAPHAI), Sulaimon Suberu has said engaging ex service chiefs has dual positive impacts on the fight against insurgency.
Suberu made this observation in a statement he issued at the weekend, saying President Muhammadu Buhari “has proven to the world that he is a sensitive leader with an enviable trait of rewarding hard-work.”
After their retirement, Buhari had nominated a former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin; a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai; a former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas and a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar as ambassadors-designate.
With their nomination, Suberu noted that engaging the ex-service chiefs with further sensitive responsibilities after retirement has dual positive impacts on the ongoing fight against insurgency.
He noted that Buhari’s decision would naturally boost the morale of those soldiers and officers at the front-line, and increase their confidence in the system to be more committed.
He added that it would also afford Nigeria the golden opportunities of tapping the wealth of knowledge of these ex-service chiefs in tactical diplomacy and global security architecture.
He said serving as non-career ambassadors after meritorious service to curtail a large-scale insurgency with overwhelming success “will bring about dynamism to Nigeria’s foreign policy, especially in the area of pattern of involvement in security issues within the comity of nations.
“It is a common knowledge that one of the greatest banes of victory against the current war to nip terrorism in the bud is the cumbersome process of accessing necessary weapons from producing countries abroad.
“The expertise of these ex-service chiefs in the intricacies of armament will help Nigeria to facilitate negotiation and importation of such military hardware.
“As an organisation saddled with the mandate to propagate peace in Africa as well as the obligation of monitoring and accessing interventions on peace building, we have consistently asserted that there is empirical evidence of high level of professionalism and commitment displayed by the out-gone service chiefs, with a clear-cut achievements from 2015 till this moment.”
