The highest responsibility and deepest obligation of the government is to protect its people. That enormous duty or statutory obligation, lies squarely on the military and the police to discharge. And that is never truer than in times of emergency like the unprovoked attacks and killings in Benue state in recent weeks. According to statistics, over 500 people have been massacred in that state since this year, of which over 200 innocent citizens were reported killed in Yelwata community, Guma local government area. Some families lost between five and 20 loved ones. That’s horrific.
No doubt, this is one huge, ugly mess that will continue to command national attention. Last week, youths in the area, all in tears, conducted a mass burial of the victims because nobody came forward to claim the charred bodies. As I write this column, there were reports of another clash between Tiv groups and cattle breeders, as well as renewed attacks Plateau, Kebbi and Kano, with scores of people dead. In Borno, a suicide bomber killed no fewer than 50 people, while in Plateau, the victims were mostly children, the elderly and travelers reportedly going for the wedding of a colleague. All of this happened few days after President Tinubu’s visit to Benue state.
Most human beings would feel guilt in punishing people already in pain. Gen. Christopher Musa, a soldier with a rich résumé, is a quiet guy, not like a loudspeaker. But, it seems the feeling of guilt or acknowledgment of mistakes is not one of his virtues. Perhaps that’s a window into the darkness of the soul of those entrusted with the highest offices in the land. For those who do not know, the Chief of Defence Staff is the highest ranking military officer in the Nigerian Armed Forces, a position earned through decades of service, experience, ‘blood and sweat’ and strategic acumen. That is the badge of honour and privilege that Gen. Musa currently holds. It’s not for nothing.
Besides being a trained infantry officer and defence strategist, in 2022, he was a proud recipient of late Gen. Colin Powell’s “meritorious award for soldering”. However, last Thursday, during a media interaction at the Defence Headquarters (DHq), Abuja, Gen. Musa added a stunning twist to the Benue killings, especially the gory spectacle in Yelwata. His implausible comment seems to me like spitting on the graves of the dead and drawing fresh tears in the eyes of families they left behind. According to the CDS, some individuals in Yelwata harboured the armed criminals, provided them “food, and even women” before they executed the deadly attacks on the community.
He also alleged that local informants guided the attackers to the camps of Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs), resulting in the high casualty figure recorded. Though Gen. Musa admitted that the military received intelligence about potential attacks in some communities, and accordingly mobilised troops, however, he argued that on arrival, it turned out that the intelligence report was “misleading”. He claimed the criminals used a “hit-and-run approach” in their horrific attack. For me, the CDS’s account sounds surreal and questionable. It’s the kind of comment you will likely hear from a civilian who is simple-minded, naive, not from a professional soldier at the pinnacle of his career.
If you believe the story told by the CDS, you will believe anything. Gen. Musa wants Nigerians to believe that there was a conspiracy of ‘insider sabotage’, meaning that Yelwata community turned against one another, rather than protect its own people and provided comfort for their own enemies.
The question president Tinubu asked during the stakeholders meeting in Makurdi becomes even more relevant here: ‘why was no arrest made’? It was a pertinent question not only for the Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun, but also for the military high command, of which Gen. Musa is the boss. This is the problem I find with the CDS narrative. As former U.S President Gerald R. Ford said in his memoir titled, A TIME TO HEAL’, “most of us have hidden flaws or personality quirks that seldom come to the surface. We control them successfully and resist their exploitation by those around us”. In Gen. Musa’s case, that flaw is his failure to admit that the military has failed to protect Nigerians and secure our borders.
Besides, his pride seems stronger than his recognition that the military under his watch has repeatedly made inexcusable mistakes in security matters. He sees admitting the truth in the unprovoked killings in Benue, Plateau and other trouble spots in the country as a sign of weakness. Unknown to our leaders, admitting that a mistake has been made, is sometimes a sign of strength. As someone who hails from Zangon Kataf, in southern Kaduna, once a cemetery of some sort in the hands of their enemies, one had expected the CDS to be well-equipped with the experience and foresight his own people suffered in similar crisis situation.
I am not unaware that some of his officers may want him to fail as CDS. As a reporter, I covered the Defence Headquarters for four years (1995-98) during which I followed the military(Army, Navy and Air force) to many hot spots like Zango Kataf, Bakassi, Ogoniland. I also covered the ‘coup’ trial of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Col. Lawan Gwadabe and others. I know the task before Gen. Musa is not for the fainthearted. But he must admit the truth that serious errors have been made in the war against terrorism.
Speaking truth to power has always been in short supply in Nigeria. Only few have the guts to speak up. And Prof Ortese Iorzua James Ayatse, the Tor Tiv, stands out. Known for his straight-talk, he pointedly told President Tinubu during his visit to Benue last week that his ‘security chiefs are misinforming him’ about the true nature of the crisis plaguing the state. His words, “the messaging from the Villa which suggests Benue people should learn to live with their neighbours, indicates that the president is being misled by his advisers. It is this misinformation that has led to suggestions like, ‘remain tolerant, negotiate for peace…’ The Tor Tiv added, “what we are dealing with here in Benue is a calculated, well-planned, full-scale genocidal invasion and land-grabbing campaign by herder-terrorists, which have been on for decades”. It’s good to hear that the president has given the military and the police the marching orders to restore peace in Benue, and have set up a Committee to work towards sustainable peace. But I can bet that the president’s directive will not be obeyed. A bad precedent had been set in the past and no sanction was imposed. Recall that following the bloodletting in Benue in 2018, the then President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the then IGP Ibrahim Idris to relocate to Benue and deploy police in Logo and Guma council areas, where over 70 villagers were reportedly killed.
Unknown to Buhari, Idris spent less than 24 hours in Benue and returned to base in Abuja. Buhari only got to know this during a stakeholders meeting in Makurdi on March 13, 2018. “I’m getting to know this now at this meeting. I’m surprised and shocked that he(Idris) did not comply with my instruction”. Even with the pain he felt on knowing that his order was flouted, Buhari did nothing. He only dismissed insinuations that, being a Fulani man, he could be the ‘unseen hand’ stroking the fire of killings in Benue. He said, “I
have friends here. There’s no way I can deliberately overlook what is happening here and other parts of the country”.
A similar, if not worse situation confronts President Tinubu now. Will he overlook the unprovoked killings in Benue, and Plateau and other parts of the country just because of votes in 2027? It’s a test of leadership which Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in 2023 election has been hammering on. For now, Nigeria lacks effective and responsible leaders. What we have are old, lethargic, selfish and insensitive leaders. While the country is burning, amid rising bloodshed across some states and hunger ravaging the people, President Tinubu has assured defectors to APC of presidential ‘protection’. He has taken his eyes off the ball, only focusing on his desperation for re-election.