Everyone thought they were about to take a well-deserved rest after an extended tenure of nearly six years as military service chiefs. As it happened, they rested for only a week. President Buhari has sent the names of General Abayomi Olonisakin, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, Vice Admiral Ibot-Ete Ibas, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar and Air Marshal Mohammed Usman to the Senate for confirmation as non-career ambassadors. It was the largest appointment of military men as ambassadors since the 1980s, and the first-ever mass appeasement of departing service chiefs in our history.
What could be the reason for this action? Not because these men could not melt into civilian life after nearly four decades each in uniform. Buratai was a known snake farmer before he became Army Chief; he could do very well producing anti-snake venom for export to snake-infested parts of the world. Sadique could become an Arik Air pilot; Ibas could skipper a passenger ocean liner while Olonisakin could head a military research institute.
Not because there is a shortage of men and women to become our ambassadors abroad, career or non-career. In fact, there is a surfeit of such people angling to become ambassadors and high commissioners. Ambassadorial posting will also send five of the country’s most experienced security chiefs abroad at a time when their counsel is needed at home, if not their explanations as to why certain things happened.
Where will these men be posted to after the expected Senate confirmation? There are certain crisis-ridden countries where a military man is eminently suitable to be our ambassador. In which case we may look forward to these men being posted to Syria, Yemen, Ukraine, Somalia and Afghanistan.
