Appointment , firing of service chiefs exclusive prerogative of Mr President – Ex Governor Jang

      One-time military governor of Benue/Plateau and old Gongola States and also the immediate past Civilian governor of Plateau State, Air Commodore Jonah Jang (rtd) on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has said that the question of appointing and firing the military service chiefs is the exclusive prerogative of the President of the country.

He also  added that he can keep them as long as he wants, but explaining that his quarrel is that when such high profile military officers are due for retirement, they should go.

          Jang, who was also an immediate senator representing Plateau North Senatorial District in the National Assembly made this known while speaking with newsmen in Jos on Tuesday .

He explained that what is happening today is that when such high ranking military cadres are due for retirement but are still kept, “that means the promotion vacancies of those lower military personnel will be blocked.

         Jang further said that     “I want to say that the problem of insurgency in Nigeria is that Nigerian Armed Forces (the  Army, the Navy and the Airforce) were trained for normal conventional wars and not for insurgency or unconventional guerrilla warfare.

          “What would have been done but not done is that there should have been a special unit created to fight unconventional wars,” he stated.

          According to him, “some of us were kicked out unceremoniously when it was not yet time. I had just returned from the military training overseas after spending seven months and I was kicked out without any explanation. This also was coupled with not tapping from the verse knowledge I had acquired overseas.”

          He said, “It is unfortunate that today, military personnel are found scattered on the roads all in the name of keeping the peace. Then, what do you expect the police to do? This playing politics with the military. By my own training and understanding, the military will only come in when the police are overwhelmed

“But facing the insurgents, we want the military to perform magic when they lack sophisticated arms and ammunition without adequate incentives. The federal government should take adequate care of the men. It is up to Mr. President to look into the problems of the armed forces and do the needful.

          On the 90-day ultimatum given to the federal government to review the constitution where his signature appeared  prominently, Jang admitted that he was signatory to the Lagos document. According to him, “there is no way the military can draft a constitution and serve the need of the civil authority. It is the people, (the civilians) who should sit and decide what type of constitution they want. Without that, we cannot have a workable constitution. Our 1999 constitution begins with, “we the people of Nigeria who are the people?

          “So, the military constitution we have now is the most lopsided. It is very clear that Nigeria needs to be restructured, I love Nigeria and that was why we fought the civil war. We are a country and not a nation. There is a complete imbalance in the national assembly especially in the house of representatives”

Jang likened this lopsidedness to the country’s delineation. “How can you have a federal constituency in Jos East and Jos South to form one constituency? Look at Wase having only one federal constituency to itself. Give each state same number of federal house of representatives first as it is in the senate so that there will be no cheating.

          “We are running a unitary constitution in a federal system. Nigerians should be given the opportunity to debate about what we are saying and then the government of the day will now bring out what we want. That would have been my agenda when I ran for the presidency .