Former Chiefs of Army Staff, Generals Azubuike Ihejirika |
A senior Army officer disclosed that the retired Army chiefs’ refusal to intervene or nip in the bud the activities of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) by working closely with the military may have angered the establishment.
The officer did not however disprove the allegation of malfeasance in the procurement of military equipment leveled against the duo.
There have been controversies over the exclusion of some former top military officers especially the incumbent minister of Internal Affairs, General Andulrahman Dambazau in the probe. The Federal Government was accused of trying to shield some individuals by engaging in selective probe
Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed however, denied the allegation and pointed out in a statement that the investigation spanned between 2010 and 2015. He insisted that there was no witch-hunt in the probe.
But the military officer who pleaded for anonymity claimed that Generals Ihejirika and Minima might have rebuffed entreaties to identify and talk to some elders and other stakeholders in their regions believed to command the respect of their subjects who are members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, to lay down arms and embrace dialogue.
He disclosed that the military, at the moment was yet to get clear intelligence on key individuals who are directly or remotely linked to the members of the groups, their bases and their modes of operations.
He revealed that both Ihejirika and Minimah had been informally approached to assist through relatives and contacts in the two regions to intervene and furnish the authorities with more information about the groups.
“We wanted to know how to go about talking to them? Who are their leaders? Where are they based? What do they want? As soldiers, even though retired, how would they trust them?”
He further stressed, “In fact, they didn’t want to hear or have anything to do with any appeal to talk to anybody. Why would anybody even contemplate approaching them for such an assignment?. They found that insulting. This position reportedly angered these intermediaries.”
Last week, a London based group -Freedom of Information Advocates Initiative, FOIAI, claimed the report on the defence equipment procurement released by the investigating committee was tainted.
The statement, signed by Sharon Adoli-Lawrence, Acting Executive Director, FOIAI, queried the propriety of the chairman of the probe panel retired Air Vice Marshal John Odey to do a report that is widely considered a hatchet job.
He argued “Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Odey (Chairman of the Presidential Investigative Panel) was the Special Adviser (SA) to the then Minister of Defence, Major Gen Aliyu Gusau (rtd) 2014 – 2015 whose role was to superintend and advice his principal on issues relating to arms procurement and other related matters. It is not prudent for AVM John Odey to sit in judgment over a matter in which he was involved.”
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