Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor A. Bolaji Akinyemi, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately suspend enforcement of key provisions of the Armed Forces Act 2004, which mandate the retirement of military personnel after 35 years of service or upon reaching the age of 60.<\/p>\n
In a strongly worded public statement, Akinyemi described the regulation as a \u201cBritish-era\u201d policy that no longer aligns with Nigeria\u2019s security realities. He argued that the nation\u2019s escalating insecurity requires exceptional measures and a rapid expansion of active-duty forces.<\/p>\n
The former minister noted that similar retirement rules were temporarily lifted during the Second World War by the British, and again during Nigeria\u2019s Civil War, in order to bolster troop strength. Nigeria, he said, now faces another critical moment that demands comparable flexibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cNigeria urgently needs a strengthened military presence to confront escalating insecurity and safeguard our sovereignty,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Akinyemi urged President Tinubu to recall all officers and soldiers who retired within the past six months, describing the move as necessary to increase the number of trained personnel available for immediate deployment.<\/p>\n
He added that such a recall should be part of a broader strategy to ensure that the armed forces have adequate \u201cboots on the ground\u201d nationwide.<\/p>\n
The statement also called for a nationwide recruitment drive into the armed forces to reinforce security coverage across all states and regions. Akinyemi argued that a stronger, more widely distributed military presence is essential to restoring public confidence and ensuring territorial control.<\/p>\n
In one of the most striking recommendations, Akinyemi urged President Tinubu to declare a nationwide state of emergency and suspend constitutional immunity for state governors.<\/p>\n
He said that any governor under whose watch terrorists or armed groups operate \u201cfreely and with impunity\u201d should be held accountable, adding that states failing to contain insecurity may need to be placed under temporary military administration.<\/p>\n
Akinyemi further called for the establishment of military tribunals to prosecute terrorists and collaborators. He said such tribunals should be empowered to impose the maximum penalty under Nigerian law \u2014 including the death sentence \u2014 where guilt is proven beyond reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n
He condemned the growing brazenness of armed groups, saying Nigeria must not tolerate situations in which terrorists \u201cfreely appear at social gatherings armed and unchallenged.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor A. Bolaji Akinyemi, a distinguished academic and diplomat, previously served as Nigeria\u2019s Minister of External Affairs and has been a vocal contributor to national security and foreign policy debates.<\/p>\n
His full statement reads:<\/p>\n
I respectfully call on His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to suspend the enforcement of the Armed Forces Act 2004 provision\u2014an inherited British-era policy\u2014that mandates the retirement of military personnel after 35 years of service or upon attaining 60 years of age.<\/strong><\/p>\n History provides clear precedents for such a step. During the Second World War, when the British required additional boots on the ground, the same law was temporarily set aside. Similarly, during Nigeria\u2019s Civil War, these retirement provisions were relaxed to meet urgent national security needs. Today, our nation again finds itself in a situation that requires exceptional measures. Nigeria urgently needs a strengthened military presence to confront escalating insecurity and safeguard our sovereignty.<\/strong><\/p>\n Accordingly, I urge President Tinubu to suspend the current retirement requirements and to recall, without delay, all officers and soldiers who have retired within the past six months. This recall should form part of a broader, strategic effort to reinforce our armed forces and have adequate \u201cboots\u201d on the ground.<\/strong><\/p>\n In addition, I call on the President to authorize a nationwide, large-scale recruitment drive into the Nigerian Armed Forces, ensuring that every state and region is properly garrisoned and adequately secured. This is essential to restoring confidence, stability, and territorial control across the federation.<\/strong><\/p>\n I further recommend that the President declare a nationwide state of emergency. During this period, constitutional immunity for Governors should be suspended so that any Governor under whose jurisdiction terrorist groups operate freely and with impunity can be held accountable. Where necessary, such a state may be temporarily placed under military administration to restore order and protect citizens.<\/strong><\/p>\n Finally, I call on President Tinubu to establish a military tribunal to try terrorists and their confirmed collaborators. Where guilt is established beyond reasonable doubt, the tribunal should be empowered to impose the maximum penalty under the law \u2013 the death penalty.<\/strong><\/p>\n Nigeria must not tolerate a situation in which members of terrorist organizations freely appear at social gatherings armed and unchallenged. Our nation\u2019s security demands decisive, coordinated, and courageous action.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor A. Bolaji Akinyemi, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately suspend enforcement of key provisions of the Armed Forces Act 2004, which mandate the retirement of military personnel after 35 years of service or upon reaching the age of 60. In a strongly worded public statement, Akinyemi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":96221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[7572,93,7573,56,99],"class_list":["post-96222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-akinyemi","tag-army","tag-immunity","tag-tinubu","tag-tribunal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/96221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}