Sacking The Former Service Chiefs Was Long Overdue – Col. Hassan Stan-Labo

Veteran and retired officer, Col Hassan Stan-Labo has come out to say that the ex-Service Chiefs squandered the opportunity to defeat Boko Haram.

The security consultant, defence strategist, resource fellow and Convener of “Fix Nigerian Now,” recently had his say on his replacement of Service Chiefs, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, the change of Service Chiefs cannot be said to be timely under the present situation in which the entire nation is under siege, and it is obviously long overdue.

He added that the move is a welcome development because it was clear that the former Service Chiefs were short of ideas and needed help themselves.

His words, “The change of Service Chiefs cannot be said to be timely under the present situation in which the entire nation is under siege. It is long overdue because it was now glaring even to a lay person that that crop of Service Chiefs had come short of ideas and needed help. Of course they deserve commendation. Their first three years in office saw us out of the woods.”

“To me, their replacement was the right thing to do though coming belatedly. But rather late than never, it was only necessary that they pave way for fresh hands, fresh thinking and ideas to come on board. Their continuous stay had become inimical to the career progress of other subordinate officers itching for self-expression. Unfortunately for the rest of us, the President’s men believed Nigeria was safe and so we were just noise makers bent on bringing down the administration by insisting on a change. Since they had the President’s ears, it became difficult convincing Mr. President of the need for the change of Service Chiefs.”

“The Service Chiefs on assumption of office actually brought some level of operational boost to bear on our fight against insurgency. They succeeded in routing the terrorists and got us temporary relief. That was the stabilization phase of the operation in which our troops gained some operational stability to return to the field.”

“The enemy force couldn’t have been defeated but YES they had suffered high degradation and demoralization.”

“It was a situation that called for immediate consolidation. That would have been the right time to appoint a new team of commanders with the requisite attributes for consolidation. This team would have by now be preparing for the final onslaught while we continue our deepening effort on winning the hearts and minds of the people through humanitarian and social welfare initiatives.”