Why 38 senior officers were retired by Army Council

MORE revelations have emerged on the circumstances surrounding the retirement of 38 Senior Army officers two weeks ago by the Army Council.

Tribune Online can authoritatively report that three issues were said to be considered before the Army Council that approved the retirement of the officers.

The Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Alli, constantly insisted that all the officers were given fair hearing and that anyone that is not satisfied can go to court as they were ready to defend their action.

However, Tribune Online gathered that some of the officers who had attained the mandatory age of 56 years and had been informed by the military secretary department (Army), had already indicated their intension to retire voluntarily as stipulated by the terms and conditions of service.

According to military sources, two of such officers were Major General M O Koleoso and Major General L Wiwa.

The source added that the two officers were not compulsorily retired, as they had already indicated their intension to go.

Tribune Online gathered that the second category of retirees were officers whom large sums of money were found in their accounts and was not commiserate to their earnings.

The source said that the BVN assisted the Army investigators to unearth the officers with such huge amount of money which they could not explain.

The third category the source revealed were those involved in one way or the other in 2014 Ekiti State election and 2015 general elections.

The source disclosed that governors Rochas Okorocha and Rotimi Ameachi petitioned the presidency when the ruling APC won the 2015 election and that such officers should be retired for being partisan.

The said officers were Brigade Commanders during the 2015 elections.