Strong indications emerged, Wednesday, that President Muhammadu Buhari might have extended the tenure of the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin.
Informed military sources disclosed to the Nigerian Tribune that the government’s decision to extend his tenure had been communicated to the CDS.
The source revealed that the government extended the tenure by another one year, which means, the CDS will formally retire by December 2017, unless otherwise decided by the president.
According to the source, the president decided to allow the team of the service chiefs to continue as they have worked harmoniously without acrimony
The source added that the president’s thinking was that this present crop of service chiefs were a winning team, hence there was no need to dislocate them.
The CDS was said to be retiring last week, by the presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina following a newspaper publication, not the (Nigerian Tribune), that the CDS has been retired by the president, which the presidency denied, but only said he would retire next week, that was last week.
According to Adesina’s statement, the “CDS was due to retire next week, while the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, has some more time to spend in service.’’ax