Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has ordered the retirement of 40 of the army's most senior generals.
They include the commanders of the five divisions of the Nigerian army.

Nigeria has been ruled by the military for 30 of the 47 years since independence but a coup is no longer likely, a BBC correspondent says.

Mr Yar'Adua was sworn in in May - the first time one elected leader had handed power to another but the elections were widely condemned.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered a similar purge of the army shortly after his inauguration in 1999.

Mr Obasanjo, himself a beneficiary of a 1975 coup, said he wanted to rid Nigerian military of its penchant for plotting coups.

But the military says Mr Yar'Adua's motives for approving the retirement of 40 top generals are different this time.

"We are now following due process and trying to go back to the best military traditions," Nigerian defence spokesman Col MD Yusuf told the BBC News website.

"There is nothing abnormal about that number of officers being retired. If they joined the army at the same time, isn't it normal that they'd attain retirement age at the same time too?"

Mr Obasanjo became Nigeria's first democratically elected president after 16 years of military rule in 1999.

Is this good development for Nigeria or we are still scared of military coup? WHat are the justification for this mass action?

@ Mamajama
Your papa na army general?

Does one have to be ARMY general to voice ones opinion? KOLOMENTAL

These are pure military moves and nothing political.

They are either 60/65 years old or have served more than 35 years in the Army.

Thats what the Army rules states, so they needed to enjoy the rest of their lives with thier families.

We thank them for their services and they should enjoy their retirement.

May God bless our Great Country Nigeria.

What service have they performed for Nigerians beside awarding millions of contracts to themselves? have they ever been to war or defend Nigerian in any war?

serving in Liberia, Sierra Leone and in numerous peace-keeping operations with the UN is service enough for me.

some of them would be corrupt of course, but for those who served meritoriously, I say well done.

debosky ha ha ha , you think they send generals to peace keeping mission? ask again. Nigerian generals only goes overseas for studies.

who leads the peace keeping missions? who heads the Nigerian contingent in each of those missions?

how do they become generals without serving in some capacity as part of the missions? or do they wake up one day and automatically become generals?

get real Mamajama

Mamajama:

What service have they performed for Nigerians beside awarding millions of contracts to themselves? have they ever been to war or defend Nigerian in any war?

Is it their fault that Nigeria is not at war with any country?

Some people too dey complain. Just to complain for the sake of complaining, even if there is absolutely nothing to complain about. Obsessive-compulsive complainants. It's like a mental disorder or something.

Please give me 5 names of generals that has been involved with peace mission in DAFUR or any where in the world beside the recently dispatched General AGUWAI. I'm waiting for the names. I was at the UN peace mission headquarters 6 months ago and the highest ranking Army official I saw from Nigeria was a Col. so please verify your facts before you start talking of mission.

mamajama why do you insist on being silly?

Will the man who is a Colonel now not become a general later? what really is the point of this absurd line of reasoning?

Ok let me humor you once more : many of the generals retired will at one point or another have served in a peace-keeping mission or another in the course of their military careers. whether they were generals at the time of the service is immaterial, 'general' is a rank or designation, the fact that you did not serve in a peace-keeping mission while you were a general does not diminish the fact that you served as a lieutenant, colonel or brigadier.

get it now?

debosky your response is idiotic and non convincing. Do you know we have generals in Nigeria that have never been involved in real world experience of combat fighting or exporesure? training is not as practical. boy let me tell you one thing. When did Nigerian as a nation start getting involved in peace mission?

I don't know the answer to your question, but these generals have been in service since 1972! Surely no one spends 35 odd years in the army without going on a single mission while rising to the post of general!

your assertion that they may never have experienced real world experience is far fetched and there is no evidence to back it up.

Nigerian troops have been on missions in Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Balkans, and in various other locales, and considering the tiny percentage of the armed forces that end up as generals, they must have done specific things that made them worthy of promotion and elevation.

Some people in this forum probably choose to be stupid at all cost. Where in the textbook of military behaviour does it say that one has to fight a war, coordinate a war or atleast kill an enemy soldier before he attains the rank of a general. Not even in the US is it required for a General to have experienced battle.
Similarly anyone who says most Nigerian Generals have never coordinated, headed or be involved in a Peace keeping mission is sick. Nigeria's first peace keeping started in Congo with General Olusegun Obasanjo leading it. Various Nigerians have served at various capacities in that regard. Gen Victor Malu, Gen Joseph Garba, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, Gen Martin Luther Agwai among others. Infact the backbone of ECOMOG is solely Nigerian and it has been the most active peacekeeping force in Africa. The AU Force currently in Darfur is also predominantly Nigerian so any brouhaha of the Nigerian military not involved in peace-keeping is baseless!

Thank you so much sir!

Some hold on to some preconceived notions even when they have no evidence to back it up.

There are various military men for various reasons. Some are medical researchers, others are psychologists so they don't need to be actively engaged in peace or war.

The generals or colonel or sergeant that reaches retirement age should be retired.

There are 140 million Nigerians more than sufficient people to replace them. Abeg, job creation cannot take place when those that have finished working don't vacate the positions they occupy.

Nigeria's first peace keeping started in Congo with General Olusegun Obasanjo leading it

Sorry that is not very accurate as even during 1960's Gen Jonson Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi then a Lt. Col led a UN peace keeping force in the Congo. He was even reknowned to have flown a chopper into enemy rebel camp to negotiate the release of European hostages himself.

History has it that he was first African UN Force commander.