By Ismail Auwal
The former Governor of Borno State and a serving Senator, Kashim Shettima, has said that common sense dictates that service chiefs should go now.
Shettima said that while calling for removal of the overstaying service chiefs.
Shettima is one of the leaders from Northeast who have repeatedly called for sacking the unperforming service chiefs. He has severally argued on the floor of the senate for Nigerian President to sack the service chiefs. He is also of the belief that no one is indispensable, hence the need for the current service chiefs to be replaced with people who have new ideas and fresh perspectives on how to tackle the security issues in the country.
Shettima said, “Why I was agitating for the removal of the security chiefs has to do with the fact that they have given their best but their best is no longer good enough. Shehu Shagari had three service chiefs in his four years of stewardship.
“Obasanjo in his second coming started with Victor Malu, he had Alex Ogbemudia, and subsequently he had Martin Luther Agwai before he had Azazi as his Chief of Army Staff.
“Jonathan and Yar’Adua started with General Yusuf. Subsequently, they had Abdulrahman Bello Dambazzau, then Azubuike Ihejirika and then Kenneth Minimah. In eight years, they had four service chiefs.
“The current Chief of Defence Staff is course 25. He is in his 41st year of service. Is he so indispensable? The current Chief of Army Staff is course 26. The current Major Generals did not meet them in the NDA. Are they so indispensable?
“Nobody is indispensable. And the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. We believe that morale is high; there is the need for an injection of people with new ideas, with fresher perspectives to come and address the issues.
“By June next year, Course 35 is going without reaching the pinnacle of their careers. So justice, equity, fairness and even commonsense demands that these service chiefs should go.”
