Excited Nigerian soldiers dance, fire shots to celebrate removal of Buratai, other service chiefs

It is becoming clearer by the day that the majority of Nigerian military personnel were fed-up with President Muhammadu Buhari’s insistence on retaining the former Service Chiefs.

On Tuesday, Buhari, after years of looking the other way despite the worrisome level of insecurity in the country, removed the quartet.

The Nigerian leader appointed them in July 2015, barely two months after assuming office.

They were Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.

The replacements are Major-General Leo Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Major-General I. Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral A. Z. Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff; Air-Vice Marshal I. O. Amao, Chief of Air Staff.

In a video, soldiers, at an undisclosed location, danced and fired shots in celebration of the removal of the former security heads.

There was similar jubilation at a Naval facility.

247NNU gathered that officers and men of the Armed Forces were delighted that the ex-military heads were substituted after 66 months.

Rufai Hanga, a former Senator, stated that Buhari refused to remove them because he was afraid of a coup.

Olonisakin, Buratai, Ibas and Abubakar were all already due for retirement but Buhari kept them in office.

Owing to his stance, many senior officers exited the service without attaining higher ranks.

Members of the 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd and 33rd Regular Course (RC) were affected.

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