‘140 generals retired in two years’

About 140 generals were prematurely retired in the last two years, retired Brigadier General Abdulrahman Mansur Dan-Ali has said.

He said this yesterday during the plenary session of the National Conference where delegates commented on President Goodluck Jonathan inaugural speech.

He said despite spending huge resources “in training of these military generals, they were just wasted by retiring them.”

Dan-Ali also said the military is overstretched, saying that of the 36 states of the federation, soldiers are deployed in 33 states, which indicates the level of insecurity in the country.

He observed that despite this, the president’s speech was silent on the security situation in major parts of the country.

“My people feel marginalised because the president ignored insecurity which is their major problem now,” he said.

Instead of addressing the situation, the general lamented, the various security agencies have abandoned their primary responsibilities.

“We are confronted with a situation where the State Security Service (SSS) operatives have been deployed to combat duties, abandoning their primary role of intelligence gathering,” he said.

“The police are permanently stuck in road blocks. They have taken over the duties of Vehicles Inspection Officers (VIO), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and vehicle registration.”

Also speaking, retired Assistant Inspector General of Police Bashir Albasu said insecurity has ravaged the country, deterring most Igbos from travelling to the east for Christmas for fear of kidnappers.

He said the entire country is being affected by insurgency, herders-farmers clash, kidnapping, armed robbery, crude oil theft, communal clashes, among others.