Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says those demanding a probe of the immediate past service chiefs by the International Criminal Court are unpatriotic.
Mohammed stated this on Tuesday while speaking on a Radio Nigeria programme, Politics Nationwide.
President Muhammadu Buhari had last week appointed four new service chiefs, bowing to pressure from Nigerians demanding fresh hands to pilot the country’s anti-terrorism war.
The new service chiefs are Major-General Leo Irabor as Chief of Defence Staff; Major-General Ibrahim Attahiru as Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral A.Z Gambo as Chief of Naval Staff; and Air-Vice Marshal I.O Amao as Chief of Air Staff.
They took over from the ex-service chiefs —General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin (Chief of Defence Staff); Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (Chief of Army Staff); Vice Admiral Ibok Ibas (Chief of Naval Staff); and Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar (Chief of Air Staff).
But main opposition Peoples Democratic Party and some other Nigerians have since demanded the probe of the ex-service chiefs to unearth circumstances behind the security lapses during their tenure.
But the minister in his reaction on Tuesday, said, “To the best of my knowledge, our service chiefs obey the rules of engagement and where there are infractions, there are internal regulations and internal mechanisms to address them.
“Those who are calling for the ex-service chiefs to be invited to ICC are unpatriotic people.”
The minister added that civilians lacked the competence to speak on military structures and formations, whether in the North-Eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa or in any other part of the country.
“Those who talk about the structure, what do they know about the structure of the military? I don’t think any of us is competent to talk about the structure of the military,” he said.
But Mohammed assured Nigerians that the new service chiefs have hit the ground running and would ensure Nigeria overcome the insurgency war in the North-East and in other parts of the country.
Boko Haram terror group has in the past 10 years killed hundreds of Nigerians in the North-East.
The insurgents have also burnt down and bombed scores of villages as well as churches.
The Nigerian Army and the Presidency had at several times claimed the group had been ‘technically defeated’ and ‘weakened’ but the Abubakar Shekau’s bloodthirsty faction continues to strike with daring effrontery and crude savagery.