Top military officers lobby Dambazzau as Buhari sacks Service Chiefs

Nineteen months after they were appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan, President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, fired all the Service Chiefs.
Affected by the shake-up in the Military High Command are Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Mashal Alex Badeh; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General Kenneth Minimah and Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Adesola Amosu.
Buhari also sacked the National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd).
With the sack, Freedom Online learned that intense lobbying is already going on among senior officers in the Armed Forces to replace those sacked.
A source told Freedom Online: “You know that it is a fait accompli that former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazzau, is going to be the National Security Adviser (NSA) and he can only work with those he believes will be loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari and, indirectly, himself. So, even before President Buhari wielded the hammer today (Monday), some senior officers had been going to General Dambazzau to lobby for these posts.
“It is like he is their link to the Commander-in-Chief who is also an experienced military General. Of course, General Dambazzau can only advise the President. He can not impose his will on President Buhari. If you remember, when General Buhari was Head of State between 1984 and 1985, General Dambazzau was just a Special Investigator at the Special Investigation Bureau of the NACMP. So, he is far junior in rank to President Buhari but the President respects him as a disciplined, hardworking and dedicated officer. That is why he is going to have a say in the appointments of the next Service Chiefs which the President may announce soon.
“The sacked Service Chiefs will be replaced soon because of the fight against Boko Haram. It is not advisable to just leave the top echelon of the Military High Command vacant like that”.
Dambazzau is a member of the 17 Regular Combatant Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna.
He is currently the Director in charge of the Security Directorate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council.
Since his inauguration on May 29, Buhari had met with the sacked Service Chiefs several times to strategise in the fight against Boko Haram.