Court Ruling On Appointment Of Service Chiefs Bad For Nigeria – Retired General

The recent declaration by the court to the effect that the President cannot appoint his Service Chiefs without the confirmation of the Senate was dangerous for the country, former Provost Marshal of the Nigeria Army, Brig.Gen.Idada Ikponmwen has said.

According to him, the court declaration will inevitably lead to negation of discipline, coherence in command and control of the Armed Forces, which are predicated upon the existence of a unified command.
Speaking to Vanguard in Benin City, the Edo State capital, Ikponmwen stated that the collapse of the First Republic was due to the absence of a powerful and “clearly discernible leader and this phenomenon accounted for the choice of a Presidential system that led to the emergence of a powerful leader capable of moving a nation forward aside the constraints of collective responsibility in the Parliamentary system.
“The point has been emphasised that the command and control of the Armed Forces must not be allowed to be compromised on the altar of politics. This compromise would inevitably arise when the command of the Armed Forces, particularly in terms of appointment, becomes an issue for the National Assembly. The command and control of the Armed Forces must remain the prerogative of the Commander-in-Chief and commissioned officers, who command the Armed Forces.

“It is also pertinent to say that we need not be carried away by the position in the United States, where the President can appoint the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff and other Service Heads only with the confirmation of the Senate. It is noteworthy that whereas in the case of the US, these offices are creations of statute; (see 10 USC 151), in Nigeria, the offices of Service Chiefs are creations of the Constitution.
“Meanwhile, no law has been passed by the National Assembly on this subject of control in all our 18 years of Presidential System. It is, therefore, one’s contention that we must not import the laws and practices outside Nigeria to confuse the clear intentions of our constitution.
“The Armed Forces Act, AFA, in its original form, predated the 1999 constitution and in so far as some of its provisions are inconsistent with the Constitution, that law must give way to the constitution and by implications to the clear wordings of subsections 1 and 2 of section 218,” Ikponmwen said.