Following allegations that some senior military
officers were plotting to overthrow the
government of President Muhammadu Buhari, the
Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai, Friday,
summoned senior officers to the army
headquarters in Abuja, to review the security
situation in the country.
Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Tukur Buratai
Recall that a consolidated group of militants, the
Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force (JNDLF), on
Wednesday, claimed that some senior military
officers sought its assistance to over-throw the
current administration through the continuous
bombings of oil facilities in the Niger Delta region.
Against this backdrop, the Nigerian Army, today,
reaffirmed its allegiance and loyalty to civil
authority and the Nigerian Constitution.
Maj.-Gen. Adeniyi Oyebade, the General Officer
Commanding (GOC), 1 Division of the Nigerian
Army, stated this in Abuja today, at an
emergency meeting between top army
commanders and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen.
Tukur Buratai.
Oyebade, who stated that the army remains
apolitical, added: ``the issue of coup will not
happen within the ranks of the army’’.
He said: ``The Chief of Army Staff summoned his
top commanders across the army for a quick
meeting this morning.
``Essentially, the meeting was to review the
security situation in the country and to also let us
know some of the reorganisation that has taken
place over the last few days.
``We want to assure all our citizens that the army
remains apolitical, our loyalty, allegiance to the
constitutional authority of this land, the three
branches of government, Mr President and
Commander-in-Chief, our loyalty is
unquestionable.
``We have decided long before now, since the
beginning of the fourth Republic, to abide by our
code of conduct and to remain subordinate to the
civil authority.
``That has not changed and it will not change.
``We want to assure our people to be rest
assured that the issue of coup will not happen
within the ranks of the army and so also within
the ranks of members of the Nigerian Armed
Forces.’’
Oyebade, however, noted that the military
authority was not taking the issue lightly as it had
commenced a full scale probe to unravel the
mystery behind the matter.
According to him, the army is putting together
resources, assets, efforts to find out where the
dastardly speculation emanated from.
On other security matters, Oyebade said the army
in conjunction with sister services remained
unwavering in stemming the tide of terrorism in
the North-East and militancy in the Niger Delta.
He said despite the challenges the military
encountered in their operations in the North-East,
they still remained committed to accomplishing
their mission in the shortest time possible.
Adding, Oyebade stated that ``You are aware
that there was a reorganisation of the Niger Delta
operations the army is still very strong.
``We will continue to do everything to ensure
that issues of pipeline vandalism and oil theft will
be severely curtailed in conjunction with our
sister services - the Nigerian Navy, the Air Force,
and other security agencies.
``We also did a review of our operations in the
North-East it is going reasonably well there are
challenges here and there.
``But we want to assure the nation that in no
distant future we will bring it to a close, we are
working very hard on that.’’
Oyebade also reiterated the army’s commitment
to the armed forces rules of engagement as they
concern its internal security operations
nationwide.
He assured the public and citizens in particular
that the army would abide by the rules of
engagement at all times.
The meeting also commended the contributions
of the civilian Joint Task Force in the fight against
insurgency in the North-East.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that
top army commanders across the country
attended the emergency meeting held at the
Army Headquarters conference hall.

GworoChewinMaga:
The rumor of a coup by the Nigerian Army was in my opinion deliberate and will be followed soon with a further purge within the military.

Watch and see more retirement of southern officers on allegation of "doubt on their loyalty"just as was the case given in the recent purge.
https://www.nairaland.com/3186755/coup-rumor-just-another-ploy