TOUCH NOT IHEJIRIKA - IGBOS WARN GEJ, OTHERS

It has come to our notice that there is a campaign by some unscrupulous and unpatriotic elements whose intentions appear to be bent on destabilizing the Nigerian military and nation at large. This campaign is being propagated in the form of a spurious article being circulated that alleges that the Nigerian Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Onyeabor Azubuike Ihejirika is on some sort of sinister and clandestine operation to “Igbonise” the Nigerian Army. The COAS has been accused of selectively promoting only Igbos at the expense of others. Well, nothing can be further from the truth, and this will be demonstrated in a very clear and dispassionate analysis in rebuttal to the openly biased and ethnically tinged attempt by some disgruntled elements.
What this hatchet job of an article has done is to selectively focus on the promotion of four officers, and then proceed to make bold claims that these promotions were ethnically motivated because the said officers were of Igbo origin, and then conjure up a justification of why their promotions were ethnically motivated by employing a lot of hyperbole and incredulous reach in drawing conclusions from far-fetched inferences. The elements behind this very dishonest article have done this while ignoring the holistic picture of all promotions within the different cadres of the army. They focused on the promotions of Brigadiers Ugwu of the Ordinance Corps, Nwaogbo of the armored corps, Agha Okoro of the Supply and Transport Corps, and Chioba of the Corp of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers only. How can this be a complete picture when 43 Brigadiers where promoted Major Generals in 2011 and 22 promoted in 2012?
Now let’s examine the promotion exercise of 2011 based on available information:
On November 10 2011 the Vanguard published the following story on Army promotions:

The Nigerian Army Council has approved the promotion of 25 major- generals and 43 brigadier-generals, the largest number ever promoted at a go.
Following the recommendation of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Azubuike Ihejirika, those elevated from Brigadier Generals (one star) to Major-Generals (two stars) are Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier-General R.I.D Isa; Director of Military Intelligence, Brigadier-General A.T. Jibrin; Director of Operations at Army HQ, Brigadier General G.A. Wahab and Defence Adviser, New York, Brigadier General G. Audu.
Others promoted Major Generals are Brig-Gen. K.C. Osuji, Brig-Gen. F.S. Owonibi, Brig-Gen. Agha-Okoro, Brig-Gen. D.D. Kitchner, Brig-Gen. B.T. Oginni, Brig-Gen. E.R. Chioba, Brig-Gen. J.M. Ogidi, Brig-Gen. S.U. Labaran, Brig-Gen. A.A. Martins, Brig-Gen. A. Chukwu, Brig-Gen. M. Idris, Brig-Gen. L.N.K. Banjiran, Brig-Gen. S.U. Audu and Brig-Gen. E.F. Abejirin.
Also promoted two star-generals are Brig-Gen. T.O. Umar, Brig-Gen. H.G. Aminu, Brig-Gen. I. Sani, Brig-Gen. A.G. Ewanshia-Oloni and Brig-Gen. P.K. Ikumonein.
A statement confirming the promotions was signed by the Chief of Staff, Army Public Relations Department, Col. Usman Abdul.
Among the Colonels promoted to the rank of Brigadier-Generals are Colonel Leo Erabor, PSO to the Chief of Army Staff, Col. O.O. Adeleke, Col. J. Alexander, Col. T.K. Golau, Col. M.M. Dan-Ali, Col. L.O. Adeosun, Col. E.A. Ransome-Kuti, Col. J.T. Abubakar and Col. S.E.U. Ekanem.