The defence headquarters says the
comment of Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate president, on the possibility of a
military coup is derogatory.
In a statement on Thursday, John
Agim, defence spokesman, asked the public to “disregard the apprehension”of the
lawmaker.
While commenting on the floor of
the senate on Wednesday, Ekweremadu said: “The problem in Nigeria is that our
democracy is receding. Who says army cannot take over, let us not joke with our
democracy that is the issue.”
Ekweremadu said this in response
to the attack on some of his colleagues and actions which the upper legislative
chamber consider undemocratic.
But Agim said though Ekweremadu’s
comment may be sincere, it had the capacity to cast a shadow of doubt on the
military’s loyalty to the president.
The spokesman reminded the public
that in line with reforms to usher-in democracy in 1999, the government had
taken measures to professionalise the armed forces by retiring
politically-inclined officers from service, to meet the demands of an emerging
democracy.
He said the current set of
officers are apolitical.
“In the light of this; the
defence headquarters wish to state clearly that, the Nigerian military has come
of age and is in tune with best international military practices of complete
and total subordination to democratic governance,” the statement read.
“Shortly, after the transition
from a military to a democratically elected government in 1999, officers of the
armed forces of Nigeria, who were quasi-political, were honourably eased out of
service. This was done to avoid
indoctrination of other officers in the military in order to enable the democratic
government commence a re-professionalisation process of the armed forces.
“The process commenced in
collaboration with international organisations such as the United States armed
forces and the British military. By
2009, from the basic military training institutions through units and formation
reorientation programmes to top management workshops and seminars for the
military, it became clear that the armed forces of Nigeria have been
re-professionalised to be totally subordinate to political leadership and
democracy in the country.”
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