Laleye’s statement as issued
against an ongoing controversy
about the Mr Muhammadu Buhari's credentials.



Gentlemen of the Press,
I am pleased to welcome everyone
back from the Christmas and the
2015 New Year festivities. On behalf
of the Chief of Army Staff, officers
and soldiers of the Nigerian Army, I
wish you all a happy and more
fulfilling 2015. Since our last media
briefing on 31 December, 2014,
some issues relating to the Nigerian
Army have occurred and this briefing
is holding specifically to address
them.
I will begin with the Major General
Muhammadu Buhari certificate
controversy. Gentlemen, let me state
clearly that the Nigerian Army holds
the retired senior officer in very high
esteem and respect and would not be
a party to any controversy
surrounding his eligibility for any
political office. Suffice to state that
Major General Buhari rose steadily to
the enviable rank of Major General
before becoming the Head of State of
our dear country in December 1983.
The media hype on retired Major
General Muhammadu Buhari’s
credentials as well as the numerous
requests made by individuals and
corporate bodies to the Nigerian
Army on this issue have necessitated
that we provide the facts as
contained in the retired senior
officer’s service record. Records
available indicate that Major General
M Buhari applied to join the military
as a Form Six student of the
Provincial Secondary School, Katsina
on 18 Oct 61. His application was
duly endorsed by the Principal of the
school, who also wrote a report on
him and recommended him to be
suitable for military commission. It is
a practice in the NA that before
candidates are shortlisted for
commissioning into the officers’s
cadre of the Service, the Selection
Board verifies the original copies of
credentials that are presented.
However, there is no available record
to show that this process was
followed in the 1960s.
Nevertheless, the entry made on the
NA Form 199A at the point of
documentation after commission as
an officer indicated that the former
Head of State obtained the West
African School Certificate (WASC) in
1961 with credits in relevant
subjects: English Language,
Geography, History, Health Science,
Hausa and a pass in English
Literature.
Neither the original copy, Certified
True Copy (CTC) nor statement of
result of Major General M Buhari’s
WASC result is in his personal file.
I hope this explanation will put to
rest the raging controversy
surrounding the secondary school
credentials of Major General
Mohammed Buhari as it affects the
Nigerian Army.
I will also seize this opportunity to
make some observations on the
recent CNN report titled ‘The Battle
Against Boko Haram’, which was
aired a few days ago. I believe we all
hold the CNN in high esteem.
However, CNN’s report on issues
concerning kitting, equipment,
medical treatment and corruption in
the Nigerian Army is perhaps the
best example of a media house’s
show of bias, ignorance, poor
journalism, unprofessionalism and
handiwork of a sponsored
documentary.
Let me start with kitting. It would
interest you to know that there is no
Army in the world where personnel
do not purchase additional uniforms
and kits to augment those officially
issued to them. Accordingly, the
Nigerian Army without fail issues
uniforms and kits to its personnel
periodically. Like other armies, the
NA has over the years, established
ordnance shops in all its barracks
and cantonments where uniforms and
kits are sold at subsidized prices to
its personnel from allowances already
provided in their pay slips.
Similarly, you will agree with me that
the NA has a very functional health
care delivery system in the country.
There is no barrack or cantonment
that does not have at least one
Medical Inspection Room, Medical
Reception Station or Medical
Hospital. The NA fully subscribes to
the National Health Insurance
Scheme (NHIS) and this is functional
in all its health facilities.
Specifically, personnel in the North
East have the best medical treatment
in that the various health facilities in
all the barracks and cantonments are
well equipped. Notwithstanding this,
personnel with extensive injuries are
evacuated to the 44 Nigerian Army
Reference Hospital Kaduna (44
NARHK), while others are promptly
flown abroad for medical treatment.
Therefore, issue of a soldier of the
NA paying for treatment and drugs
covered by the NHIS is absurd. The
Nigerian Army’s undoubted
operational gains in the North East of
recent, have rubbished the claim of
Boko Haram out-gunning the NA.
The CNN would do well to beam its
searchlight on the atrocities of Boko
Haram terrorists against innocent and
defenseless Nigerians rather than the
NA.
Equally, the NA in the past had
requested severally that any evidence
of corruption in the NA should be
reported to the appropriate authority.
Till date, no such evidence has been
forwarded but rather all we see and
hear are sweeping statement of the
purported corruption in the NA. In
the case of Nick Robertson, his
leading questions and introduction of
the word “corruption” to the
unknown person purported to be a
soldier of the NA was most
unprofessional and merely justifies a
paid exercise. The CNN in the past
have interviewed authorised
personnel of other countries’ armies
and not unauthorized hooded
criminals to speak to the media. The
CNN knows very well how to contact
the relevant offices to clarify issues
concerning the NA but chooses
rather to conduct a clandestine
interview in a kiosk with a faceless
person and a masked individual who
obviously know nothing about the
NA.
Finally, the Nigerian Army wishes to
state that it will remain focused on
its mission to rid Nigeria of terrorism
andinsurgency. To that end, it has
commenced the implementation of
the extensive operational,
administrative and logistical
decisions reached during 2014 COAS
Annual Conference. In no distant
future, law abiding Nigerians will
begin to see very positive results in
terms of security, particularly in the
North East and our dear nation
generally.
Before I depart, I once again seize
this opportunity to reiterate the NA’s
unalloyed loyalty and subordination
to civil authority as presided over by
His Excellency, President and
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed
Forces of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
GCFR. The Nigerian Army also wishes
to emphasize its adherence to the
principles and respect of human
rights in the discharge of its
constitutional duties. It further calls
on everyone to remain vigilant and
report any suspected breach of the
peace to security agencies.





www.osundefender.org/?p=207315

[b][/b]

igbeke:
Gentlemen of the Press,
I am pleased to welcome everyone
back from the Christmas and the
2015 New Year festivities. On behalf
of the Chief of Army Staff, officers
and soldiers of the Nigerian Army, I
wish you all a happy and more
fulfilling 2015. Since our last media
briefing on 31 December, 2014,
some issues relating to the Nigerian
Army have occurred and this briefing
is holding specifically to address
them.
I will begin with the Major General
Muhammadu Buhari certificate
controversy. Gentlemen, let me state
clearly that the Nigerian Army holds
the retired senior officer in very high
esteem and respect and would not be
a party to any controversy
surrounding his eligibility for any
political office. Suffice to state that
Major General Buhari rose steadily to
the enviable rank of Major General
before becoming the Head of State of
our dear country in December 1983.
The media hype on retired Major
General Muhammadu Buhari’s
credentials as well as the numerous
requests made by individuals and
corporate bodies to the Nigerian
Army on this issue have necessitated
that we provide the facts as
contained in the retired senior
officer’s service record. Records
available indicate that Major General
M Buhari applied to join the military
as a Form Six student of the
Provincial Secondary School, Katsina
on 18 Oct 61. His application was
duly endorsed by the Principal of the
school, who also wrote a report on
him and recommended him to be
suitable for military commission. It is
a practice in the NA that before
candidates are shortlisted for
commissioning into the officers’s
cadre of the Service, the Selection
Board verifies the original copies of
credentials that are presented.
However, there is no available record
to show that this process was
followed in the 1960s.
Nevertheless, the entry made on the
NA Form 199A at the point of
documentation after commission as
an officer indicated that the former
Head of State obtained the West
African School Certificate (WASC) in
1961 with credits in relevant
subjects: English Language,
Geography, History, Health Science,
Hausa and a pass in English
Literature.
Neither the original copy, Certified
True Copy (CTC) nor statement of
result of Major General M Buhari’s
WASC result is in his personal file.
I hope this explanation will put to
rest the raging controversy
surrounding the secondary school
credentials of Major General
Mohammed Buhari as it affects the
Nigerian Army.
I will also seize this opportunity to
make some observations on the
recent CNN report titled ‘The Battle
Against Boko Haram’, which was
aired a few days ago. I believe we all
hold the CNN in high esteem.
However, CNN’s report on issues
concerning kitting, equipment,
medical treatment and corruption in
the Nigerian Army is perhaps the
best example of a media house’s
show of bias, ignorance, poor
journalism, unprofessionalism and
handiwork of a sponsored
documentary.
Let me start with kitting. It would
interest you to know that there is no
Army in the world where personnel
do not purchase additional uniforms
and kits to augment those officially
issued to them. Accordingly, the
Nigerian Army without fail issues
uniforms and kits to its personnel
periodically. Like other armies, the
NA has over the years, established
ordnance shops in all its barracks
and cantonments where uniforms and
kits are sold at subsidized prices to
its personnel from allowances already
provided in their pay slips.
Similarly, you will agree with me that
the NA has a very functional health
care delivery system in the country.
There is no barrack or cantonment
that does not have at least one
Medical Inspection Room, Medical
Reception Station or Medical
Hospital. The NA fully subscribes to
the National Health Insurance
Scheme (NHIS) and this is functional
in all its health facilities.
Specifically, personnel in the North
East have the best medical treatment
in that the various health facilities in
all the barracks and cantonments are
well equipped. Notwithstanding this,
personnel with extensive injuries are
evacuated to the 44 Nigerian Army
Reference Hospital Kaduna (44
NARHK), while others are promptly
flown abroad for medical treatment.
Therefore, issue of a soldier of the
NA paying for treatment and drugs
covered by the NHIS is absurd. The
Nigerian Army’s undoubted
operational gains in the North East of
recent, have rubbished the claim of
Boko Haram out-gunning the NA.
The CNN would do well to beam its
searchlight on the atrocities of Boko
Haram terrorists against innocent and
defenseless Nigerians rather than the
NA.
Equally, the NA in the past had
requested severally that any evidence
of corruption in the NA should be
reported to the appropriate authority.
Till date, no such evidence has been
forwarded but rather all we see and
hear are sweeping statement of the
purported corruption in the NA. In
the case of Nick Robertson, his
leading questions and introduction of
the word “corruption” to the
unknown person purported to be a
soldier of the NA was most
unprofessional and merely justifies a
paid exercise. The CNN in the past
have interviewed authorised
personnel of other countries’ armies
and not unauthorized hooded
criminals to speak to the media. The
CNN knows very well how to contact
the relevant offices to clarify issues
concerning the NA but chooses
rather to conduct a clandestine
interview in a kiosk with a faceless
person and a masked individual who
obviously know nothing about the
NA.
Finally, the Nigerian Army wishes to
state that it will remain focused on
its mission to rid Nigeria of terrorism
andinsurgency. To that end, it has
commenced the implementation of
the extensive operational,
administrative and logistical
decisions reached during 2014 COAS
Annual Conference. In no distant
future, law abiding Nigerians will
begin to see very positive results in
terms of security, particularly in the
North East and our dear nation
generally.
Before I depart, I once again seize
this opportunity to reiterate the NA’s
unalloyed loyalty and subordination
to civil authority as presided over by
His Excellency, President and
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed
Forces of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
GCFR. The Nigerian Army also wishes
to emphasize its adherence to the
principles and respect of human
rights in the discharge of its
constitutional duties. It further calls
on everyone to remain vigilant and
report any suspected breach of the
peace to security agencies.





www.osundefender.org/?p=207315

Hmmm

Ok! Mme kop so nnam soh?

Let someone tell this man to go and rest. There is no crime being an illiterate. But what is unacceptable is when you refuse to acknowledge yourself as such.