The Nigeria constitution clearly confers the president to be addressed as the president and commander in chief of the Armed forces. What this simply means, is that whosoever is elected as the president, is also conffered with the power to oversee the activities of all the security agencies and their leaders. This is why, the president can appoint and has the prerogative of power to remove any security Chief or leader. This is simply because he calls the shot. In local parlance, the president can hire and fire any body. Indeed, the constitution guarantees his office, the absolute power. In the same vein, it is therefore suprising that the president would be issuing orders several times on the same issue without any result from service chiefs. Few days after his inauguration as the fifth democratically elected president, President Bola Tinubu summoned all the security chiefs to feel their tempo and exchange notes and idea with them. This meeting helped the president to acclamitise himself with the insecurity situation around the country and also get briefed on the security situation and state of preparedness of the service chiefs to work with his administration. Few months after that initial security meeting where he assessed the preparedness of the service chiefs and their personals, a very determined president , then issued his first presidential order in 2023 through his then spokesman, Mr Ajuri Ngelale. In his presidential statement, “President Bola Tinubu has asked the nation’s security chiefs to ensure a conclusive victory against the myriad of security threats assailing the country.
Ajuri Ngelale, a presidential spokesperson, disclosed this in a statement Issued to media houses.
Disclosed that the president was not very happy with the situation
Addressing security chiefs and heads of intelligence agencies at a Presidential Security Briefing at the State House, Abuja, President Tinubu said while good progress is being made with the elimination of some security threats across multiple theatres, success will ultimately be defined by a conclusion to the multi-dimensional menace”. President Tinubu had informed them that without their ending the war, he would not be able to achieve his election promises and other programs he intends to embark upon. Said he, “We have too many investments that we need to make now in soft and physical infrastructure, in social security, in MSME empowerment, and other growth enablers. We are pursuing a $1 trillion economy in the next few years, and our efforts will be undermined if we do not finally wrap up our progressive onslaught against enemies of progress. Be encouraged. The confidence of our people in your capacity is rising, and they are appreciative of the sacrifices of our men and women”. No sooner , after the diplomatic presidential order, press statement were reeled out from the media offices of both the Chief of Defence staff and that of the Chief of Army staff. Informing the world about the progress at the war fronts and how several terrorists who are bandits and Boko Haram members were neutralized and many others surrendered. Each time their press releases are issued , observers claimed they are monotonous and almost similar except that names and figures change . While the people renewed their hope , trusting in the ability of the military to end the terrorist war, lo and behold , the military announced the entrance of another terrorist group. Again, after reassessing the insecurity situation in the country, the president furiously summoned the service chiefs including the minister of defence , looked at everyone of them in their faces and declared in an unmistaking voice of a commander in chief and said, the year 2025 MUST end without terriers operating within the country. According to the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, says President Bola Tinubu has ordered security agencies to tackle all forms of insecurity in the country by 2025.”
The minister made the disclosure while addressing the gathering of All Progressive Congress (APC) supporters that welcomed him in Gusau .The president message was so weighty in the mind of the minister that , he was personally disseminating the news of the presidential instruction. A marching order is a military instruction from a security general or leader to subordinates . It is also a directive from a leader to other officers. Marching order is irreversible and must be obeyed to every letter. Infact to flout or disobey a marching order by a commander in chief could attract severe punishment like summary dismissal or execution . No wonder the minister understands the importance of a presidential marching order. So, he paid necessary visit to places where their cooperation was needed to actualise the presidential directive.Impressively, the Minister of Defense, Abubakar Badaru, told his colleague at the ministry of mines and power Dr Adele Alake that
President Bola Tiinubu has directed the military to end insecurity in all parts of Nigeria.He reiterated the federal government’s commitment to eradicate insecurity. Matawalle said the government was determined to provide all that was required for security operatives to get the job done without further delay.“I have gone to many countries in regard to the purchases of security gadgets, some already received and deployed to Sokoto.
“We are encouraging communities to expose informants who live either in the bush or within the community, as part of their support to operatives in tackling the security issues.
“We are committed to arresting all notorious bandits and their collaborators, so intelligence information is very crucial to succeed in our target”, Mutawalle said.
He urged affected communities to be bold in exposing criminals and their collaborators. Indeed, the presidential. Marching order seems like a magic wang that has mesmerized the security leaders and suddenly they are achieving more than is expected of them. Suddenly, international doors which were initially locked preventing Nigeria from purchasing military hardwares even with our foreign exchange, are now begging and open to sell them to us. So. It needs a presidential marching order to change the insurgency narrative. The question on many lips is, why was there no presidential directive from former President who was a retired military general?. That a civilian who understands the language of the military and he is using it effectively to change the war narrative speaks volume. Iam just wondering if this is the reason why a massive military barrack located in Asokoro area of the Federal Capital territory was named after the president. Truely, here is a president who can step on any big toes to progress and .achieve a national assignment.