Some of the 38 senior army officers compulsorily retired last month have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to review their cases and reinstate them.
Sources close to some of the officers told Saturday Tribune that the affected officers premised their appeal on the provisions of the law which allowed compulsorily retired military officers the privilege of seeking the intervention of the President who is also the Commander- in- Chief.
They are using the window of opportunity contained in Section 09.02e of the HTACOS Officers, 2012 which states that “an officer called upon to retire, resign or to relinquish his commission shall, if he so desires, appeal to the President and Commander-in-Chief through the Chief of Defence Staff within 30 days to have his case reconsidered.”
The source said he could not state the actual number of the officers who had filed such appeals to the president but stated that he knew they “are many.”
The Army Council had at its meeting of 9 June 2016,approved the compulsory retirement from the Nigerian Army of the 38 senior officers made up of 11 Major Generals, 10 Brigadier Generals, seven colonels, 11 Lt. Colonels and one Major.
The Army in retiring the officers cited partisanship and corruption as the basis for the punitive decision.
While the army subsequently claimed that the officers were given the opportunity to defend themselves, it was learnt that a major plank of the officers’ appeals to the president is what a source described as “lack of fair hearing as they were not heard before the action was taken.”