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The bone of contention, Daily Sun learnt was a decision taken by the military to retire some the officers, particularly those who enlisted as Short Service Combatants at the age of 40.

By the decision, the officers who are mainly captains in the Nigerian Army and their equivalents in the Navy and the Air Force, especially those who enlisted as Short Service Combatants were mandated to retire from the military on the attainment of 40 years under the Armed Forces conditions of service.

They claim that if no action is taken to settle the matter, a good number of officers who enlisted in the military before and between 2002 and 2008 could be thrown out of service earlier than they had planned.

The decision by the top hierarchy of the military have generated disaffection within the ranks of the military with some of the officers seeking protection at the civil court.

Worried by the disaffection the issue had generated and several pending court cases, Daily Sun learnt that the immediate past Minister of Defence, Dr Shettima Mustapha had directed the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike to raise an administrative panel to iron out grey areas in the terms and condition of service in order to assuage the dissatisfied officers.

However, it was learnt that the panel which was headed by a top officer in the Defence Headquarters instead of improving the conditions of service, insisted that the age ceiling for captains and majors should be at the present age.

As a result, middle level officers under the aegis of Concerned Officers, in a four page Save our Soul message sent to the Chief of Defence Staff, said the recommendation by the panel was capable of deepening the disaffection among the cadre of officers instead of giving them the expected succour.

The SOS letter signed by one Major I A Badisa noted that Short Service Combatants joined the military at the ages of between 25 and 30.

“After graduating from the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) after nine months such an officer is commissioned second Lieutenant and is expected to wear the rank for 3-4 years before becoming full fledged Lieutenant. He wears the rank for another 3-4 years to become a captain when probably the officer would have attained the age of either 37 or 38. Because such an officer spends 4-5 years on the rank it means he will be about 41 years as a Major.”

Badisa said the implication of the policy is “that the officers retire at 40, a situation which had propelled disengaged officers to head to the court for redress.’’

‘’We feel this development is not good for the system. The situation will create a dearth of skilled manpower in the Armed Forces’’, Badisa noted. He pointed out that instead of the panel to increase the age ceiling by at least one year, the committee in its report as contained in the harmonized Terms and Condition of Service for Nigerian Armed Forces Officers (2007) Revised, in paragraph 15.04 retained the 40years ceiling for Captains.

Badisa said that although Lieutenant-Colonels had one year added to their age ceiling to make it 50 years, ’’this will not significantly change the present condition. Three years would have been added to the age ceiling for the Lt-Cols, to enable the system benefit maximally from the experience of the officers who after graduating from the Senior Staff Course (PSC) are hardly allowed to remain on the system for long for the nation to benefit from the investment on them.

Most of them retire after one year on the rank of a Lt-Col, this practice is not encouraging.’’

When contact on the issue, the Spokesman for the Military who was identified as Colonel Mohammed Yerima told Daily Sun on phone that he was not going to speak on the matter.

When asked to react on the issues raised by the said Major Badisa, the Military spokesman was enraged and angrily poured abuses on the reporter who tried to explain to him that all he wanted was his reaction.

He however identified the said Major Badisa, explaining that, “but this officer you are talking about works with the Army Headquarters.”