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The Rights group said Buhari’s refusal to appoint an officer from the South-East zone of the country as Army Chief even when he is the most senior of the Major Generals further “solidify his notoriety as someone who does not believe in one Nigeria.”
*COAS Maj. Gen. Farouk Yahaya
NAN REPORTS
The newly appointed Chief of Army Staff, Maj.-Gen. Farouk Yahaya has on Friday assumed the leadership of the Nigerian Army as the 22nd Chief of Army Staff. President Muhammadu Buhari has on Thursday, approved the appointment of Yahaya following the death of the late Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru in a place crash on May 21 in Kaduna.
The new COAS was until his appointment, the Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai, the military counter-insurgency operation in the North East.
Newsmen report that Yahaya had earlier visited the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor before coming to Army Headquarters for the taking over ceremony. He was received at AHQ by the Chief of Policy and Plan, Maj.-Gen. Ben Ahanotu, who also briefed him before proceeding to assume office.
The COAS however asked for a minute silence in honour of the late Attabiru and other officers who died with him, after which he asked journalists to leave the hall for a closed-door meeting with officers.
Meanwhile, a not-for-profit organization and rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has said it is not surprised that President Muhammadu Buhari settled for another northerner, Maj. Gen. Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff.
The group stated that the President has since 2015 “maintained the illegal and unconstitutional practice of posting only Northern Hausa/Fulani Muslims to head the entire internal security architectures such as Nigerian Customs Service, Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigerian Police Force, Department of State Services, National Intelligence Agency and Nigerian Army which is the largest set of armed segment of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
In a statement endorsed by its Executive Director, Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA described “the shameless nepotistic decision of President Buhari to continue in the illegal and unconstitutional abuses of appointing only Hausa/Fulani citizens into juicy internal security positions in breach of the Nigerian Constitutional provision of federal character as despicable, reprehensible and totally toxic,” even as it blamed the National Assembly for failing to protect and preserve its independence and the sanctity of the nation’s constitution.
Onwubiko said were the federal parliament alive to its responsibilities; President Buhari ought to have been impeached long ago for what he termed his “serial abuses of the constitution.”
The rights group accused the first citizen of violating his constitutional oath of office “by his nepotism as shown clearly by his aversion for respecting the federal character principle even when the President swore an oath of office to “discharge my duties to the best of my ability, faithfully and in accordance with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the law, and always in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity, well-being and prosperity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The Rights group said Buhari’s refusal to appoint an officer from the South-East zone of the country as Army Chief even when he is the most senior of the Major Generals further “solidify his notoriety as someone who does not believe in one Nigeria.”
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