Prominent Plateau cleric, Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, has stirred fresh reactions after claiming former Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, was removed because he confronted terrorists without compromise.
The Federal Government had announced that the shake-up in the military leadership was part of routine security adjustments. But Rev. Dachomo strongly disagreed.
Dachomo insisted the former defence chief was taken out for tackling insurgents in a way that unsettled powerful interests.
In a video making rounds online, the preacher said the ex-service chief paid the price for fighting terrorism more aggressively than those before him. He compared him to previous military chiefs and suggested some top officers were uncomfortable with his actions.
Speaking in the video, he stated:
“Let me tell you why the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, was removed. Christopher Musa was removed because he dealt with the insurgents more than any other CDS, more than Buratai. Buratai was pretending.
“Buratai was busy killing Nigerian Christian soldiers, handing them to the terrorists to kill. We had mass deaths of Christians in the Nigerian Army and the Air Force who were killed by the terrorists. It was planned by Islamic officers.
“We know… Now Christopher is gone because they were shouting, ‘We don’t want Christopher’ because we don’t want him to touch the insurgents that were brought from different countries.
“Now you have succeeded, Christopher has been removed. We will see how Muslims will be killing Muslims in the North. We are Christians, we will never kill, we will never cause problems for you. We will continue to love you, we will continue to like you,” Rev. Dachomo said.
His comments come days after the military high command was reshuffled, leading to Musa’s replacement. The video has since drawn mixed reactions, especially on the issue of religion in security operations.
Recall that General Musa was appointed in June 2023 and served until the recent leadership change that affected top military commanders across the country.
Watch the video below: