Following anxiety and fear over the possibility of a coup as a result of a warning by the Army High Command to officers fraternizing with politicians to retrace their steps, the Defence headquarters has said that “The mention of coup plots from certain quarters are assertions which are not confirmed”.
Director of Defence Information, Major General John Enenche while making the clarification in Abuja, noted that what the army headquarters did in its statement was to call for caution in the relationship between military and civilian personnel.
“Issue of coup is not a confirmed assertion. All we want to do is to ensure due process of administering our men. That is why we have set up administrative machinery to ensure our men don’t go out of line”.
Expatiating on the need for caution, General Enenche said, “Professionally, it is a command responsibility to caution officers and men on routine basis to conform to the ethics of the military in all ramifications.
“This command responsibility is exercised right from the highest echelon such as the office of the service chiefs down to the lowest levels of command. Hence, the caution from the army in this case.
“Secondly, administratively, officers and men are regularly are regularly cautioned to exercise command and control by appropriate superior authorities through commanders at various levels.
“This is to prevent members of the armed forces from derailing from their core focus of total dedication to their oath of allegiance. Thus it a usual practice in military administration”.
“However, it is pertinent to state that if there are signs of actions that point to likely breaches of military code of conduct as it were, cautions or warnings are issued with possible investigations following.
“Thus in the present situation, the armed forces and the army in particular has employed the due process to ensure that officers and men remain committed to performing their constitutional roles.
“As such, the mention of coup plots from some quarters is assertions which are not confirmed”.
Continuing, the DDI said, “Let me assure all Nigerians and lovers of this country that the armed forces, is and will remain totally loyal to the Commander-in-Chief of the federal republic of Nigeria and in complete subordination to civil rule.
“Furthermore, all fears about a coup should be allayed as the contemporary Nigerian military is abreast with the best international practices in governance, which is democracy.
“In this regard, the military high and other levels of command will continue to ensure effective training and administration, to ensure that the armed forces of Nigeria retain its place of pride amongst the military globally.
END
