– Army has reacted to the allegation of favoritism in the recruitment into short service
– Brigadier General Mohammed Yerima, the Army’s spokesman, described the report as false and uncalled for
– Yerima said that the principle of federal character was followed in the recruitment exercise
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The Nigerian Army has described as a misrepresentation of facts the report that said the north dominated a recently released list of Short Service officers into the Army.
TVN News reports that the Army made the clarification in a statement issued by its spokesman, Brigadier General Mohammed Yerima.
Legit.ng gathered that the recruitment, according to the Army spokesman, was done equitably with each state getting 8 slots each.
Source: Twitter
The Punch also reports that the Army aid said it strictly complied with the Federal Character policy, adding that an equal number of candidates were selected from each state of the federation except in rare instances.
He said:
“Accordingly, an equal number of 8 candidates were selected from each state of the federation except in rare instances where a state did not have the required number of eligible candidates to fill its 8 vacancies.
“In such instance, the vacancy will be filled by a contiguous state from the same geopolitical zone. Following this number allocated per state, the southeast which is made up of 5 states was entitled to 40 candidates.”
“However, 2 extra vacancies were allocated to the geopolitical zone thereby making a total 42 candidates instead of 40. Northcentral for instance has 7 states (FCT inclusive). Taking 8 candidates from each state in the geopolitical zone gives a total of 56 in addition to 2 extra vacancies as was also allocated to the southeast gave the total of 58 candidates.
He said the report is stretching imagination from what is a straightforward exercise conducted by the Nigerian Army in the national interest.
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the Army headquarters embarked on mass recruitment of personnel into its Special Forces Concept Training nationwide.
It was reported that the director, Directorate of Army Recruitment, Resettlement and Reserve, Brig.,-Gen Emmanuel Akpan, said the exercise was in line with global best practices to reinvigorate the force.
Akpan said the sensitisation and enlightenment tour would take him to all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Source: Legit
