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Chidi Obineche
Tony Nyiam is a retired Colonel of the Nigerian Army. He was the mastermind of the April 22, 1990 aborted coup d’état against military President Ibrahim Babangida.
In this interview with Sunday Sun, he gave reasons the insurgency fight against Boko-Haram/ISWAP/Al-Qaida is not making progress and why it is bound to fail. He also spoke on related issues. Sunday Sun met him in his house in Lagos. Excerpts:
Apart from issues of poor equipment of the Nigerian Armed Forces in the insurgency fight, what else do you consider responsible for their inability to overcome the insurgents?
Thank you very much for that question. The possible reasons for the Nigerian state leaders’ inability to overcome the violent insurgency threat to national security are as follows; Poor leadership: This is as a result of President Buhari’s lack of capacity and competence, and rigidity to listen to voice of reason which many qualified Nigerians and foreigners offered to him. That is one of the big problems. I am here reminded of a story why an army of sheep commanded by lion will always defeat an army of lions commanded by sheep. In other words, it is the mindset. Instead of surrounding himself with competent officials to make up for what he lacks, the president, except for his recently appointed Chief of Staff, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, is driven by cruel nepotism. He puts his fathers’ and mothers’ tribal people as officials of his chosen cabinet. As a result, there is repeatedly a display of poor source of judgment, poor decision making at the highest level of management, including lack of good initiative and decisions in security challenges. There is almost an absence of competent assistants and facilities to help the president make the right decisions. In terms of the line of management, from the lowest, middle, and finally to highest command, there’s no effective chain of command and control, with which the president exercises his Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces function. There is not much understanding of the needed spiritual, psychological, social, political, economic and security strategy to guide both the soft and the hard power drivers of the Nigerian state in the war against insurgence. In essence, I am saying there is no grand strategy. With the lack of implied guiding vision to enlighten the conduct of technical operation there is no appropriate military strategy, so much so, there are military actions which contradict themselves such as making it a priority to rehabilitate the so-called repentant terrorist while the welfare of soldiers fighting in the war front and the victims of the terrorist actions are not accorded equal importance. Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume complained that why do you deal with repentance when the victims are not taken care of. And he is a senator representing the people who are most victimized. He cried out. So, that is good evidence. There are incentives by their policy for the unemployed in the Northeast to join the insurgence. This also affects the morals of the fighting soldiers and, of course, gives hope to the victimized. Troops are being sent into operations, especially in northern Borno virtually blindfolded. This is why you see many of them caught in ambushes. That is what it means when soldiers are sent into combat without appropriate timely and actionable intelligence. The repeated intelligence failures have come from lack of ready cooperation among the different specialties and arms of intelligence agencies, the poor technical support to intelligence gathering and the follow-up combatant operations. You know you first have intelligence gathering and then you follow-up. There’s no technology to back this. The Nigerian army, for example, lacks intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and recognizance capabilities. While commending the little steps begun in the Ministry of Communications, there is still no baseline technology for dealing with elements to move freely around the country, not to mention assessing the state of national security.
How would you describe the Nigerian Armed Forces or the Nigerian army? Is it a rag-tag army fighting Boko Haram?
No, I wouldn’t describe the Nigeria army as rag-tag. For instance, there is no nationwide central control station either through wireless or radio network for identification of mobile vehicle or drivers’ license. In other words, any criminal can move freely without being seen. You see, anywhere else in the world, one should know a vehicle you are moving in. Immediately a policeman gets your number, he can identify who is driving the vehicle. Instead of going for training and technology which I see as God-given to nation states like Israel; instead of us going for technology which God gave to those who invest in science and technology, electronics and mechanics, something called STEM, some of our leaders are now looking for juju. It has got to that point. They think of juju instead of the mind behind the gun, which is more powerful, and they believe in Allah or Jesus Christ. There is foolishness by the president and his highest command team in expecting a small force to confront the high number of insurgents who oppress the Nigerian national securities. I said it is a small fault. In a relative sense, the Nigeria state is having less than 200,000 soldiers to protect a country of many ethnic nations of more than 200 million people against armed insurgence and banditry, which is burning like wildfire in a region that forms over half of Nigeria’s landmark. Those are the reasons. Also, with the high expenditure the Nigerian state spent on me during General Gowon’s regime, when they gave me education and exposure, I should know. Of course, at that time, my first boss was General Olusegun Obasanjo and he ensured that my talents were harnessed and sent me abroad. Now, I say it will be irresponsible if my humble self does not give the following solutions to the drawbacks of the existing system for managing securities problems in terms of the need for leadership to be guided by the voice of reason. President Muhammadu Buhari has to learn from the ways and means of General Yakubu Gowon and what made him to win the civil war. General Gowon made up for his own shortcomings, to literally fight the civil war in less than three years and what did he do? Gowon, unlike President Muhammadu Buhari who doesn’t like merit, employed the best of Nigerian hands to provide the soft power strategy, which contributed to the game change and how the civil war went. Gowon worked and freed Awolowo from prison and then he made him the vice chairman of his executive council and also made him Commissioner for Finance. Awolowo with his skills introduced national discipline to the highest management of defense during his time as Commissioner for Finance. The way he managed the finances showed that Nigeria fought the civil war owing nobody. Awolowo’s forensic capacity showed that he could detect the discipline of every person to the extent with which he managed the war.
So he could be said to be responsible for the victory of Nigeria?
Oh yes, that is what I am saying and which is lacking in Buhari’s method of fighting the war. He thinks it is only by using the military, he does not realize that common soft power can help. Let me tell you of an example of what Awolowo did that made him win the civil war. He was able to track movement of funds. When the Biafran people were sent to go and look for arms, they were in France or Belgium when he got to know. He made a tactical move; he changed the currency, and the money they were carrying became worthless and that was a game changer. Now, I am saying that President Buhari thinks it is only by using military force. He forgets that you can use people to use their financial strategy. Take for example, can you imagine what would have happened if President Buhari used Asiwaju Tinubu’s forensic auditing background? Asiwaju with his network and his knowledge of auditing would have helped, maybe to find the source of funding and the movements of funds of the insurgents. We don’t know. Can you imagine we are fighting a war for 10 years and we don’t know the source of funds and who are funding the Boko Haram? Isn’t it ridiculous? If Awolowo can do it in a short time and he has a co-leader in the APC like Asiwaju who is also a finance auditor and a forensic auditor expert, why is he not being used to trace the source of the funding? This is one of the problems. Another suggestion is that Buhari needs to emulate what Gowon did. Gowon got a brilliant journalist, Chief Anthony Enahoro to carry out his local and international war media strategy. I’m not sure the present team around Buhari is doing that, instead they are bringing incredibility to the war. Enahoro represented Gowon well in bringing out the goodness unlike the present scenario. Gowon attracted people like Awo, he attracted the best cadre of professionals, he brought in what I call the great administrative cadre of civil servants and that was what you heard in those days. There were 10 people who were selected not based on Fulani or Kanuri, but based on merit. The 10 people were; Allison Ayida in charge of economic planning, Philip Asiodu in charge of industry, Ahmed Joda, Imeh Ebong, Abdulazeez Attah in finance, Yusuf Gobir in defense. In fact, my dad was a civil servant and worked with Yusuf Gobir then in Ministry of Defense and through my dad, I got to know how good the man was. Then there was Sule Kolo, C.O Lawson who was in charge of communications and Ibrahim Dam Sheda. These were eminent civil servants. Gowon looked for merit. He also was helped very much by the brilliant Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr Taslim Elias. Remember it was Elias who advised Gowon after Aburi. These were the team Gowon had to make up for his own shortcomings. We need to learn from how Gowon used the traditional press of Nigeria, and the British. He brought them on Nigeria’s side and it helped him to access buying arms from Britain and the West through the British. What do we have now? We now have a situation where we do buy arms from Pakistan, Ukrain, Belarus. And recently, I am told Jordan. Does Jordan manufacture any arm? So, this is the problem. They were buying from third parties and moreover we are buying from places where due diligence for ensuring that no corruption is done. We are avoiding going to where we can secure the procurement. We are now resorting to one man in the Niger Republic as the one who buys arms. I say it because it has not been denied. There is an EFCC advert that they are looking for somebody who has scammed the military and it has not been denied. The advert said that there is a man, a Nigerien, one Aboubakar Hima who duped the Nigerian military of over $394 million. Now, that is one; 9.9 billion euro and $394 million, N9.9 million and N369 million which all together came to N157 billion, which has doubled what they are looking for to fight the insurgency. What they are looking for, this single man duped Nigeria and he was supposed to supply the military arms.
Since Niger Republic hardly produces military hardware, what was Hima going to buy from the same source as the Boko Haram, or from ex-Libyan or Ghadafi sources? Arms that were stolen in Niger Republic or was he going to pay? Now, I say this on a serious note. How will a foreigner be the one to be the vendor to purchase arms for the military, and not only that, a foreigner from Niger Republic where some of the Boko Haram people are coming from, and also some of the herdsmen? How can it be the one to be going to buy arms for us now? Again, if you look at it carefully, the question to be asked is, was there any process followed? Were there letters of credit transactions? If not, were there direct foreign exchange payments? If so, what about the performance bonds? Which military officers and ministry of defense officials did the supplies, manufacturing in production fact check, and other essentials? Who did inspection of the items? In addition to that, there is what is called the safeguard of having reputable people to do manufacturing inspection to check things are okay before they leave, so that you cannot be given fake arms of what you paid for, and this can be done otherwise. Now, the answer to the question you asked which is why Buhari is not surrounding himself with sound professionals is this: My take is that he really needs to learn a lot from Gowon on how he prosecuted the civil war.
What about the recently introduced community policing? What role will it play in the counter-insurgency fight?
Community policing is a diversionary practice by this government to divert people’s attention from the yearning for state police because community policing has always existed. It is neither an organization nor an establishment. It is a technique of policy. So, to confuse Nigerians to think that community policing is a new outfit, is very mischievous. It is an attempt to stop Amotekun happening. It is not the first. Hisbah has been there before Amotekun came up. They now rushed this community policing as a way of diverting attention. It is those who are gullible that cannot see through their tricks. Community policing does not substitute need for state police. Now, what I am trying to say is that if they had an independent think-tank they would have advised them as to the wisdom in community policing. And remember, this issue of state police is supported by the vice president and National Assembly. It is only Buhari who is against it. Why? Is it because they can keep on controlling everybody? This is saying that intelligence should pack up. Why will a man from my part of the country pass intelligence through spurious channels; intelligence that would now end up with herdsmen? And on this issue of problems, the problems are arising from lack of effective means of communication between the president and the operation commanders. And because there is a lack of coordination of the Armed Forces war operation, who would have imagined the Air Force going to Zamfara to bomb, and after bombing and returning to base, the people who ran away will come back. The Air Force never goes to bomb without following military tradition. At least the Air Force chief is doing his job. There is a need for permanent arm forces operation command under the chief of joint operations. That is what you find in UK and America. In other words, you don’t use Service Chiefs to do that work. If you go to UK, the army headquarters and the Ministry of Defense, MOD are just there as a follow up. Headquarters is outside London. My suggestion is that you need a multi-faceted military strategy which I will describe as a total defense strategy which will embrace both conventional forces and then you build up a convention with civilians.
Why do you think the president was speaking to his Security Chiefs to improve rather than listen to the clamour that he should drop them?
Indeed twice, that is what I cannot understand. But you see, I would say that to answer that question, you have to look at the nature of the composition of his Service Chiefs; 75 per cent of them are from his mother’s place or his father’s place. So, nepotism, cruel nepotism is part of my fear that he his holding him back; because I would have suggested that he should emulate what Gowon did. Gowon, his commanders like Adekunle who was one of the executive commanders, T. Y Danjuma and Shua, were not from Gowon’s place. So, the fear he has is not only that he is actually breaching the regulations of the Armed Forces, he combines it by ignoring the Armed Forces joint terms of working conditions. He is breaching them and to the extent that he doesn’t give a damn is worrisome. He is also causing low morale in the military. On top of it, even if he had done all these and these people are performing, it would have been tolerable. Recently you’ve heard of the corruption we have just talked about? They are buying arms as if they are buying rice using foreign exchange in the streets of Lagos.
How would you compare Jonathan’s style with that of Buhari?
One thing Jonathan did which President Muhammadu Buhari came and threw away, if you remember, was when General Ihejirika was the Chief of Army Staff, they were making so much progress. If I am not mistaken, President Buhari made a remark which was indirectly targeted to whittle down the offensive; that this killing of Muslims must stop. Jonathan through some people I know brought in experts on counter-insurgency, brought in a group from South Africa. They were called executives. They came in and when they came in they introduced effective counter-security operations, and that was why there was so much damage done to the Boko Haram at that time. What am I saying? I am saying there are people who are not soldiers who conduct special operations like the kind of operations that the Americans used to get Osama bin Ladin. This was what Jonathan was bringing in with these people called executives from South Africa and that was why at that time so much impact was being made, because the Chief of Army Staff did not see it that the military can do it alone. He allowed these experts to come in to assist. There were the British advising without arrogance, and then they discouraged the West from interfering. Why would the West give you arms when people like Aboubakar Hima are the ones committed to buying arms?
What is the implication of the imminent entry of Al-Qaida into the insurgency fight? How long more do you think this fight will last in Nigeria?
The implications are very devastating. They are already working with Boko Haram, but on the implications and how long the operations would go, I will answer you that Gowon fought the civil war in three years. This one has been going on for over 10 years because of lack of proper military strategy and lack of orientation. The military that is being relied upon is only trained essentially for conventional war, which the military knows how to defend a location or to capture a location. When it comes to this hit and run tactics war it is not what they can handle, and when it goes on for too long it is not the military that can do that, otherwise America would have beaten the Taliban, but they couldn’t do it. Or the British army would have beaten the IRA, but they couldn’t. That was the reason America was disgraced in Vietnam. I use this analogy and this analogy gives a clean picture. You can’t have a very good boxer fighting two good wrestlers, who are using boxing techniques. One of the wrestlers is a kungfu expert, the other one is a traditional African wrestler. They would grab the boxer and throw him down. So, what am I trying to say? I’m saying that, that is what is called asymmetric war, that is if you use the wrong thing to fight, you will not win. So, that answers your question
Let’s talk about Miyetti Allah and IPOB, which actually constitutes a real threat to Nigeria’s unity and peace, and why are banditry and herdsmen attacks intractable?
Let me be more direct. The AK47 armed Fulani militia are one of the biggest threats to Nigeria. Nowhere does IPOB compare with them. IPOB is a self-determination group. Of course, occasionally you have clashes like the unfortunate one that happened in Enugu. IPOB has not gone to attack anybody’s community, has not gone outside Ndigbo land to attack anybody or community, or go and grab anybody’s land. Here we have a people who the president himself said in his interview with CNN that they are foreigners coming in. Even of recent, the IGP confirmed it that these people coming in are from Mali, Sudan. Now, why will these people come in and carry AK47 and you don’t arrest them? When a Yoruba Ekiti hunter carries a gun you arrest him, saying they are threats. Why the double standards? Who is fooling who?
