Retired Major says Abaribe's armed forces bill is a plot to overthrow Buhari

An ex-serviceman, Major Atawodi Achile (retd), has alerted President Muhammadu Buhari over the implication of the proposed Armed Forces Bill by the Senate if passed into law.

The erstwhile military officer made this known in an open letter to President Buhari, where he described the bill as a plot to overthrow the democratically elected government of President Buhari.

Major Achile said it is “irrational, aberrational, inchoate, corrosive, abuse of legislative powers and traduces military tradition” for the National Assembly to embark in such path.

According to him, the National Assembly is being "instigated" by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and others interested in overthrowing the current administration and truncating the nation's democracy.

"The contents of the proposed legislation seeks to wrest the sacred powers and authority conferred on you by the 1999 Constitution Section 217 and 218 for the composition, appointment and termination of services of Service Chiefs of the Armed Forces of Nigeria by vesting it in a Commission," the retired military officer said.

"The Bill expressly states that the Commission shall have the powers to recommend to you or whoever is the President those qualified for appointment as Service Chiefs and Heads of other arm-bearing security agencies in Nigeria.

"We find such provisions irrational, abberrational, inchoate, corrosive, abuse of legislative powers and traduces military tradition. This is a serious attempt to unlawfully erode the powers of the Presidency and make the appointment of Service Chiefs and termination of same susceptible to manipulation by political musketeers.

"Mr. President sir, I want to put you on notice that the National Assembly is being instigated by Senator Abaribe and a few conspirators into unwholesome actions. It is another clandestine attempt to overthrow your government and truncate our democracy," he added.

The security expert, however, urged the president to take “decisive actions to checkmate the veiled infiltration of our National Assembly by foreign forces and agents in furtherance of the destabilisation plots against Nigeria”.