Abhor godfatherism, Army tells newly promoted Generals

The Nigerian Army has charged senior military officers who were recently promoted to the rank of Major Generals to abhor godfatherism and enthrone mentorship in relating to subordinates.

Those decorated include ; KN Garba, Auwalu Jibril Fagge, Aminu Bande,Chika victor Eze, Garba Audu, Kama I Yusuf, U U Bassey, OO Oluyede, J Ochefu Ochai, Boniface I Sinjen, Abdul Ibrabim.

Others were; O.O Soyele, SI Igbinonwanyia, MG Kangye, E.A.F. Undiadeye, I.S Ali, AM Dauda, JO Iwara, TT Numbere, OR Aiyenyigba, NC Ugbo, SG Mohammed, GU Chibuisi, H Ahmed, BU Yahaya, As Ndalolo, AA Fayemiwo, IM Jalo, E Akerejola, HG Tafida, PI Eze, AJ Fagge, AI Taiwo, S Dahiru, ML Augie, BH Mohammed, BA Tsoho, K Yunusa, LM Zakari and R Abubakar, among others.

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, gave the charge during the decoration of the 39 officers with their new ranks, stressing that there will be no room for indiscipline and disloyalty.

Buratai warned against hobnobbing with politicians to lobby for appointments but rather lobby for appointments through hard work, dedication and commitment to the Service and the nation at large.

The COAS who charged them to maintain a state of physical fitness in order to discharge their duties, restated his commitment to the improvement of troops’ welfare and tasked the newly promoted Major Generals to put Troops welfare first in their engagements

“We shall work hard to improve the troop’s welfare. And you should uphold Troop’s welfare sacred. There is more work to be done. We will have to maintain the tempo of strategy. We must work closely with other agencies,” he stated

Similarly, the Chief of Policy and Plans (Army) (COPP), Lt. Gen Lamidi Adeosun, while thanking the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and the Minister of Defence for approving the promotion urged the officers to justify the confidence reposed in them.

According to him, “your decisions will now affect your subordinates, superiors, families and the entire nation hence you must make proper decisions. You cannot afford to make careless mistakes, mentoring is seriously lacking in the system. What we have is god-fatherism. Godfatherism destroys the system.

“A godfather will only protect his god children from doing the hard job. He will shield them and indulge them from doing what is right procedurally and officially rather than cutting corners for them but for a mentor, you make sure all your mentees are guided right.”

Minister of Defence Major General Bashir Magashi (rtd), admonished the Generals to avoid shortcuts, adding that “with the promotion comes greater responsibilities and hence incompetence will be revealed if the promotion was not earned”.