Fear Of Coup: Retired Generals Warn Military To Stay Out Of Politics

Retired generals have backed the current democratic dispensation and warned military elements not to engage in any move that could destabilise the country’s democracy.

The retired generals warned the military to steer clear of politics, saying such a move could lead to a face-off between the military and Nigerians.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, had recently warned military men against being used by politicians to truncate the country’s democracy, saying he had received information that some individuals had been approaching some officers and soldiers for political reasons.

But the retired generals declared their support for the government of the President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, who is now Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

Supporting Buratai’s call, Gen. Alani Akinrinade (retd.), described politicking as a “misadventure” that almost destroyed the military and left the country crawling towards development.

The retired general also warned the military against doing anything that could destabilise the democracy under which the country is now operating.

He said, “It [politicking] is a misadventure that virtually destroyed the military as an institution and left our country crawling in the race to modernity. I suspect the general [Buratai] will feed his information to the intelligence community for evaluation.

“The military knows that even the populace will confront them and I’m not discounting the likelihood that the military itself has diverse reasons to oppose any move to truncate our rickety democracy.”

Maj.-Gen. David Jemibewon (retd.), who also declared his support for democracy, warned the military to completely stay out of politics.

The former Military Governor of the Old Oyo State praised Buratai for saying what he described as “good”, adding that “it is a good one from him because we are now under democratic dispensation and the military should not be seen as interfering in politics. Politicking is not their job. I am in total support of what Buratai said.”

According to Brig.-Gen. Ajibola Togun (retd.), the military was not built for politicking. He, therefore, warned the military not to do anything that would destabilise democracy.

He, however, accused politicians of being the ones who had contaminated the military as an institution in the past, through bribery and corruption.