The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, on Tuesday, restated the commitment of the Nigerian Army to defend the nation’s democracy.
Addressing participants at a seminar on career planning and management organised by the Army Headquarters in Abuja, the COAS said the Army has no plans to truncate democracy in the country.
He charged officers of the Nigerian Army to remain above board in the discharge of their professional duties.
“Permit me to seize this opportunity to reiterate that the Armed Forces of Nigeria, particularly the Nigerian Army has come to terms with the country’s choice of democracy as the preferred system of governance,” he said during his address to officers.
“We are therefore agents of democracy and have no desire to truncate it. The Nigerian Army will continue to defend our constitution and not suspend it for whatever reason.
“Our elected leaders have to lead while the military does its job as enshrined in our constitution. Nigerian Army personnel must therefore remain professional and be above board as they discharge their constitutional duties.”
The commitment by the COAS followed a series of putsches in West and Central Africa which have experienced at least seven military takeovers in the last four years.