This piece was first published November 17, 2014 at the peak of Boko Haram insurgency. With what is happening today, the arms scandal and the probe of the ex-service chiefs and some serving officers by the Buhari administration, it would seem journalism and prophecy have something in common: The ability to peep into tomorrow.
IF we were in a country where honour still counts, Air Marshall Alex Badeh, Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, would have long handed over his letter of resignation to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. If he didn’t do that, a commander-in-chief with his hands on the job or a strong resolve to take on headlong the goons, making life hell for the citizenry, would have done one thing: Shown Badeh the exit door.
If he won’t do that, a responsive National Assembly would have summoned, not just the service chiefs as it has done, but the commander-in-chief himself, to explain why life has become this cheap in our country? And why, despite the huge defence budgets, Boko Haram appears to be having the upper hand? The Assembly would have demanded the immediate sack of the defence and service chiefs. And if the president can’t guarantee safety of lives and property, he should have no business calling himself ‘commander-in-chief.’ A commander-in-chief with heavy casualty figures in peace or wartime should be deeply worried and embarrassed.
For goodness sake, this is Africa’s most powerful nation. This is Africa’s largest and best-trained armed forces, that has acquitted itself in several peacekeeping missions across the world. Is it enough to simply say, ‘guerrilla fight is different from conventional warfare’ and watch hundreds of our compatriots being slain daily by insurgents? Is it enough to just sit by and watch parts of our country being annexed by insurgents, and all we offer are rationalisations and condolence messages by those whose business it is to protect the citizenry?
But, again this is Nigeria. A nation of ‘anything goes,’ to borrow the words of a former army chief, Gen. Salihu Ibrahim. So, the politicians who ought to lead us out of our insecurity nightmare, are preoccupied with plotting their next political moves, and campaigning for the next big offices. Everyone is talking 2015, with a few actually bothered about Chibok girls. Not many are bothered that fellow citizens, their compatriots, are being slaughtered like chickens, goats and rams in other parts of the country. What a country!
It is not only Badeh that shouldn’t be sitting pretty in office: The army chief, General Minimah and his counterparts in other arms of the military, as well as the defence minister, General Aliyu Gusau, should have no business bearing their official titles, or earning salaries from the public coffers.
Badeh, and the other men manning our defence apparatchik, should go, for one simple reason: Inability to protect and defend Nigerians from terrorist attacks and the rampaging Boko Haram sect. If a man or group of men, are so paid to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria, and under their watch, hundreds of citizens are maimed, bloodied and butchered by a bunch of insurgents, of what use are they to the public that picks their bill? Of what use is a defence minister or defence chief who can’t defend us? Who can’t rally troops to deal decisively with the brutal enemies? Of what use are mountains of excuses or condolence messages to a dead man or his grieving family?
Under the watch of Badeh and others, Boko Haram has kept annexing more of our cities and towns in the North-East, hoisting their flags and declaring their republic, within our republic. Citizens in Adamawa, Yobe and other parts of the North-East are living in fear, not knowing when the goons from hell or wherever, will strike; and definitely not sure that they have a military that can protect them. How can the people have confidence in their military, when even Badeh’s hometown of Vimtim, in Adamawa, was also sacked by the insurgents? How can anyone have confidence in a defence chief unable to defend even his homestead? After Chibok girls were abducted from their school, another set of 49 secondary school boys were ambushed and slaughtered in a Yobe secondary school. These are indeed terrible and embarrassing moments for our people and nation. That it took a group of rag-tag local hunters to liberate Mubi from Boko Haram, tells how terribly embarrassing the situation has got to. And we all ought to be gravely concerned about this anomalous state of affairs.
When he came into power January 16, 2014, following the sack of the service chiefs by President Jonathan, Badeh was beaming with broad smiles and gusto. He promised to rout Boko Haram within four months, that is by April 2014. This is November, and what do we have: A reverse of what Badeh promised us. Since his assumption of office, Boko Haram has become even more deadly and brutal. They captured over 200 school girls from their hostel in Chibok, on April 14, 2014, the same month Badeh promised Boko Haram would be history. Their calendar of blood shows that they are maintaining significant control of many parts of North-East. It is apparent Badeh has no answer to the insurgents firepower. He gleefully announced on October 5, 2014, a ceasefire with the sect. He should have known that terrorist groups have no respect for a ceasefire that they didn’t ask for. Terrorists have to beg for ceasefire, not their victims pleading for one. Emboldened by a weakly-negotiated ceasefire, Boko Haram unleashed further havoc and terror on Nigerians in the North-East, hitting Yobe school, annexing Adamawa towns of Mubi and Michika. Something definitely has to be wrong with Badeh’s strategies, which has led to a blundering battle strategy by our soldiers.
Of course, I am angry as I write this piece this Sunday afternoon, reading the news of the capture of Hong, another major city in Adamawa by Boko Haram. The news said the group took control of the city, burnt down the local police post and killed several residents of the town and its environ. It had earlier attacked two villages in Hong local government area, before storming Hong main city.
Another news item I read on Saturday which further devastated me was one that reported how our brave soldiers fought gallantly in Mubi, but were soon overwhelmed by the superior firepower of the insurgents. In most of the reports, the story is the same: Soldiers capitulating before the superior firepower of insurgents. Soldiers fleeing battlefront because they are either ill-equipped or ill-motivated to confront the deadly guys. We don’t know if this is true or not, as the military high command has dispelled such news as rumour. But, if this is not the correct position, why are we then losing more territories to insurgents? Why are our citizens being killed by the day? Something definitely is wrong somewhere. Something definitely has to be done. Now.
I can hear someone ask if the sack of Badeh and the service chiefs is the solution to the problem? It is definitely a big part of the solution. Leadership is everything. We have to keep sacking until we get the right men who will give us the right results! If money meant for equipment is going the wrong way, a probe is urgently required. If competence is the issue, let’s get more competent hands to do the job. In the past, we were told that once a Gen. Gusau or a Col. Dasuki, got in the saddle, Boko Haram would fizzle out in no time. The men have been there for quite a while now, nothing has changed. Isn’t it time, we audited our men and materials for optimum results?
There is also the urgent need for a national security summit. Where are all the retired generals who fought in ECOMOG? The men who clobbered Charles Taylor, Yommie Johnson, and their rag-tag guerrilla army in Monrovia to submission? Where are our war veterans, those with little tricks to surmount these insurgents? Let’s get them talking and involved. I hope Mr. President is reading?
As I have noted severally on this page, if what we are witnessing in the Boko Haram insurgency is politics, this is politics taken too far. If it is about 2015, this must be the most devious way to get or retain power. Those being killed are neither politicians nor office seekers. They are our brothers and sisters; poor, hapless Nigerians, going about their legitimate means of livelihood, which is even a mirage for many. Death was far from their minds at the break of dawn, only to get snuffed out at dusk. Truly, life is a contradiction!