The immediate past Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gabriel Olonisakin, on Tuesday in Abuja, officially pulled out of the Nigerian Army in a parade at the Mogadishu Cantonment, Asokoro.
In his valedictory remarks, Mr Olonisakin, recently nominated as an ambassador, thanked Mr Buhari for counting him worthy to command the nation’s armed forces in the last five years.
He said his appointment as CDS came at a time Nigeria was confronted with several security challenges like Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east.
Mr Olonisakin said confronting those threats was his major pre-occupation as CDS.
He said prior to his assumption of command along with the immediate past service chiefs in July 2015, the Boko Haram terrorists held sway in parts of the North-east.
Mr Olonisakin, a general, pulled out following his retirement and appointment of his successor, Lucky Irabor, a major general, by President Muhammadu Buhari on January 26.
As part of the military tradition in honouring a retiring CDS, the event involved a march past by the officers of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
It was attended by the Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, members of the National Assembly, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, Mr Irabor and other services chiefs.
Others in attendance were the traditional ruler of Ode-Ekiti, Samuel Aderiye, as well as a representative of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Enoch Adeboye.
