LAGOS, Nigeria
The Nigerian military authorities have retired at least 11 army generals while stressing the move was in no way related to the recent appointment of Major-General Tukur Buratai to the post of Chief of Army Staff.
Eight of the retired generals are major-generals like Buratai, while the remaining three are brigadier generals, according to army sources.
Asked if the raft of retirements came in line with military tradition that dictates that generals senior to -- or holding the same rank as -- newly-appointed army chiefs should be retired, army spokesman Col. Sani Usman insisted there was no link.
“It is not related to the appointment of the new army chief. Some of these generals [who were retired on Friday] retired as long ago as five years," said Usman.
“Those 11 generals were from the Ordinance Corps. They were commissioned into ordinance and were retired from ordinance, regardless of their respective appointments,” he added.
“It is not that they were recently retired,” the spokesman insisted.
