Generals Purge: 500+ Forced Out Amid Rising Insurgency
By: Abudu Olalekan
Nigeria’s fight against insurgents? It’s getting messier. Despite bullets flying and bombs detonating, over 500 senior military officers—think Major-Generals, Brigadier-Generals, even Rear Admirals—got the boot under Buhari and Tinubu. And it’s not just a number. It’s a pattern.
The tradition’s brutal. New service chiefs come in. Boom. Anyone senior to them, or even from their same course, gets shown the door. Army. Navy. Air Force. Doesn’t matter. Between 2015 and 2023, the churn happened. Reportersroom counted over 500 exits based on reports. Military whispers? They say closer to 900. Tough to confirm. The brass? Silent.
First wave hit right after Buhari’s 2015 appointments. Buratai (Army), Abubakar (Air Force), Ibas (Navy). Suddenly, over 100 Army generals vanished. Navy lost 20 bigwigs, including a Rear Admiral.
2021? Another shake-up. Buhari swapped all chiefs. Amao (Air Force), late Attahiru (Army), Gambo (Navy). Boom. 123 Army generals gone. 50 Air Force. 50 Navy. Then Attahiru died. Yahaya took over. Boom again. Over 20 generals from Courses 35 and 36 walked.
Tinubu? Same story. June 2023, new chiefs: late Lagbaja (Army), Abubakar (Air Force), Ogalla (Navy). Boom. 51 Army generals, 49 Air Force, 17 Navy officers out. Last week? Another reshuffle. Oluyede (CDS), Shaibu (COAS), Aneke (CAS), Abbas (CNS). Undiendeye stays. Tradition dictates another 60 generals might soon follow.
Retired General Ishola Williams? Furious. “This is abnormal! Copying military regimes!” he blasted. Imagine decades of service, then overnight: “You’re leaving now.” He wants a smarter system. A Chief of Defence Staff overseeing all chiefs, clear succession plans. “What they’re doing now? Doesn’t speak well of the Armed Forces at all.”
Retired General Aliyu Momoh? He commended Tinubu’s moves but demanded deeper action. “Remove the cabals!” he urged. “The real controllers? Not always in uniform. Give the boys on the ground what they need to fight. Otherwise, removing thousands? It’s just noise. No solution.”
Brigadier General Adewinbi? Resigned. “It’s tradition. We’ve all been victims.” His fix? Use retired generals. “Enlist them in reserves. Their expertise? Gold.”
Group Captain Sadique Shehu? Blunt. “Unsustainable. Structurally flawed.” He counted 960 generals in 2022 for 235,000 troops. “US has 900 generals for 1.3 million soldiers! We’re almost matching them with a fifth the force. A general? Barely five soldiers!” Blame? Poor planning, political meddling, weak oversight. “Ministers pushing their own villagers! No one checks where they fit.” His fix? Slash general numbers. “If we produce fewer, even if the President picks a junior chief, fewer get axed. And the Assembly? Pass laws! Define tenure. Limit choices.”
Major General Lasisi Abidoye? Saw it differently. “Promotion filters. Only eight from my course made Major General.” Routine retirement? Healthy. “Stagnation kills creativity. Two to three years max for a chief. Buratai? Stayed too long.”
Major-General PJO Bojie? Calm. “Routine. Normal. Military tradition.” Dismissed the fuss.
So, while generals exit, insurgents advance. The churn continues. Tradition? Or a flawed system bleeding expertise? Reportersroom.ng digs deeper.
