There are strong indications that the Nigeria Army headquarters is considering retiring Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha.<\/p>\n
Following a death sentence by a High Court after 14 years in detention, a court of Appeal, last week, set free the Yobe-born Major.<\/p>\n
The judgement of the appeal court sparked a fresh controversy over what should be Al-Mustapha’s new rank, considering that most of his Regular 28 coursemates are now Major-Generals.<\/p>\n
Military sources told Pointblanknews.com that the Army Secretary would “in the next few days” advise Al-Mustapha in writing to voluntarily retire.<\/p>\n
Should the Major fail to comply, added the sources, “we will retire him.”<\/p>\n
Pointblanknews.com gathered that several issues, including “age on rank”, and the fact that the Major has not undegone the requisite training for promotion, stand against Al-Mustapha.<\/p>\n
“Recall that whilst serving as Abacha’s CSO, Al-Mustapha couldn’t be promoted Lieutenant Colonel because he didn’t attend Staff College. There is no way a Major who didn’t pass (Command and) Staff College would be promoted,” he explained.<\/p>\n
“Again, there is the issue of age on rank, that is, your age at a particular rank. There is no way Al-Mustapha would be a Major at this age.<\/p>\n
Any officer who doesn’t attain a particular rank after a certain age is retired. This is pure military tradition,” added the source.<\/p>\n
“It is like awarding a doctorate degree to an undergraduate who was imprisoned 14 years ago for the simply reason that all his classmates at the time now have doctorates,” he stressed.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the Army refuted reports that Al-Mustapha had been promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General.<\/p>\n
In the history of the Nigerian Armed Forces, no serving personnel has been away for 14 years. Al-Mustapha’s release therefore set a precedence on what to do with officers who, for reasons clearly beyond their control, embark on AWOL (absence without leave) for this long.<\/p>\n
Contacted, Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier-General Attahiru Ibrahim told Pointblanknews.com that the matter was being handled “administratively.”<\/p>\n
He said, “It is purely an administrative matter. The army as an institution has extant rules on its operations, so there is no need for anxiety over the matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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