Former Chief of Defence Staff General Lucky Irabor (retd), has warned against playing politics with the military.
According to him, the military enjoys unity and bond not found in any other sector.
Irabor spoke at a reception organised by the Defence Headquarters after his Pulling Out parade on Friday in Abuja.
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He said, “The friendship and unity that exists within the armed forces you cannot find it anywhere and that is why you shouldn’t play politics with the military because, from the 774 LGA of this country, everyone is represented. There is no commander that goes to war with those he claims are his kinsmen.”
He said contrary to belief, no military personnel takes any special injection but for the training and indoctrination which comes from the regimentation.
He said, “The military is a family for those who may not know. It is a family. I have answered so many questions about being given an injection. What is that injection? There is no injection. The injection is training and discipline.
“They also said we operate like a cult, the process alone there is nothing wrong if I say we are in a cult but it is a good cult. In the training establishment when I was a cadet, we spend three years but two years later it became a five-year programme, when it was three years, the admission was every six months and when it became one year, the admission became every year.
“For you to finish a three-year program means that you will have five sets of your senior and five sets of your junior. The bonding that comes with it, you can’t find in any other place and that is why you think is a cult.
“The values and traditions are transmitted from one generation to the other. When you get to the field you see yourself as brothers. I want to use this opportunity to appeal to our friends and the citizens, the investment in members of the armed forces is such that other sectors need to take a cue from.”
Irabor also urged the new CDS to follow up on some of the promises the President, Bola Tinubu made to the military, adding that if those promises were fulfilled it would be to the benefit of the country as well as the service.
He said, “In my last interaction with the president, he made some promises to the military. Let me urge you to follow up on the promises and those promises would be of greater good for the armed forces and the nation”.
Earlier, the Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Christopher Musa, promised that the service chiefs would not relent till peace returned to troubled parts of the country.
He vowed to continue to promote synergy and work collectively to attain peace and stability.
Musa said, “We will not let you down. We will continue from where you have stopped. When I sleep I ask can we meet some of the things you have achieved? I want to assure you that We will continue from where you have stopped, we complete all ongoing projects.
“We will continue the synergy you have started. We will always come to you because of the experience you have. I will not allow your experience to waste. We’ll work together with the citizens of Nigeria. We’ll not relent until there is total peace in Nigeria.”
(Punch)
