BY ODILI CHRISTEL
The Defence Headquarters has dismissed Speculation of possible military putsch as mere rumor that must be immediately stopped from spreading further.
The Director Defence Information, Major General John Enenche said at an interaction with Journalists, at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday that, 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 are assertions that could never be true, promising that the Nigerian Military is now fully professional and will not toy with any idea of insurrection.
According to, Major General Enenche, “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, which includes; interactions and exchange of visits among others. 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”.
While speaking on the statement credited to Army about relationship between some civilians and army personnel he stated that administratively, officers and men 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 is a usual practice in military administration.
The top military brass however disclosed that 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.
Furthermore, he noted that on the recent activities of small arms proliferation, the military is doing its best to ensure that it put to check and that measures have been put in place to improve on military activities.
In his words, “the military is concerned and we have measures in place the measures we have in place is the reason why most of this activities are exposed, I can assure that through our channels we can confidently curb this activities, and those measures are still in place and we will continue to improve on them, and also we will work with the committee that is working on checkmating, curtailing and possibly eradicating small arm proliferation.
He assured all Nigerians that the Armed Forces, is and will remain totally loyal to the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and in complete subordination to civil rule. Stating that 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, he called on Nigerians to go about their lawful activities and disregard rumors of any Coup, noting that the armed forces are totally loyal to the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of Nigeria, and 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.