The immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd.), has warned against playing politics with the military.
Irabor gave the warning Friday in Abuja while speaking at a reception organised by the Defence Headquarters after his Pulling Out parade.
According to him, the military enjoys unity and bonds not found in any other sector.
He said, “The friendship and unity that exist within the armed forces cannot be found anywhere and that is why you shouldn’t play politics with the military, because from the 774 LGA of this country, everyone is represented. There is no commander that goes to war with those he claims are his kinsmen.”
He said contrary to beliefs, no military personnel takes any special injection, but for the training and indoctrination which comes from the regimentation.
“The military is a family for those who may not know. It is a family. I have answered so many questions about being given an injection. What is that injection? There is no injection. The injection is training and discipline.
“They also said we operate like a cult, the process alone there is nothing wrong if I say we are in a cult, but it is a good cult. In the training establishment when I was a cadet, we spent three years, but two years later it became a five-year programme. When it was three years, the admission was every six months and when it became one year, the admission became every year.
“For you to complete a three-year programme means that you will have five sets of your seniors and five sets of your juniors. The bonding that comes with it, you can’t find in any other place and that is why you think it is a cult.
“The values and traditions are transmitted from one generation to the other. When you get to the field you see yourselves as brothers. I want to use this opportunity to appeal to our friends and the citizens that the investment in members of the armed forces is such that other sectors need to take a cue from.”
Irabor also urged the new CDS to follow up on some of the promises the president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, made to the military, adding that if those promises were fulfilled it would be to the benefit of the country as well as the Service.
