Follow Us on Google
The writer’s world is a difficult yet very interesting one. We won’t go into the nitty gritty of the postulation because it is not the issue right now. The main issue is tackling the high level of insecurity plaguing the country. Nevertheless, I take the privilege to disclose that what you are reading is the second revised version of what I had intended to place before my ardent readers today.
This adjusted version followed the Senate’s confirmation of former Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa as Minister of Defence after President Bola Tinubu nominated him. General Musa was grilled at the screening session relayed live on major national televisions. Exhaustive questioning brought out the best of the nominee as a good material for the very strategic office.
The appointment elicited so much interest across the country. Some say it is because Musa is a round peg in a round hole. Many others claim the officer is a “straight talker”. Those positions raise their own posers. The first one: if people are applauding because it seems this would be first in a long time merit took precedence over crude politics, the question then would be the people chosen to man the beat in the past on what criteria did the President make those choices? Don’t forget that two Nigerians, both northerners and Muslims, sat as Minister for Defense and Minister of State for Defence. So, on what criteria were they appointed? Isn’t it curious for such sensitive placing of two citizens from the same faith and region should be chosen to preside over a key ministry such as defense? We make this observation given our level of development and stability.
Now was there a case of the appointees looking like they were given tasks well above their level of competence? Did they fail us? What transpired that the Minister of Defence had to wake up and tell the nation he had to resign from office on health grounds. We recall former Governor of Kano State and National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) gave us the same reason for resigning from the party office but soon after assumed headship of a parastatal in the Aviation ministry.
He wasn’t healthy to hold party office but strong enough to hold to another strategic government agency. This is part of what is wrong with the country: lack of principles in the management of public affairs. Now the nomination of General Musa came only weeks after he was eased out of office as Chief of Defence Staff. Nobody told the citizens why he and the other staff officers were relieved of office. Then Musa was nominated and elevated to a higher office.
The question in public place is if he is good as is being said in various places why remove him from where he had far greater opportunity to practically implement policies than bring him back and throw him into policy circle. Would he be able to make tangible difference as Minister of Defence? There is the fear it could be a set up “to put him in place and rubbish his towering reputation as a soldier’s soldier. The last belongs to the realm of preposition and like we say in common parlance “only time will tell.”
But one must admit that at the Senate outing this officer acquitted himself very well. He had composure of a well groomed military officer and he spoke with candour, displaying good grasp of his specialty. He was a delight to watch. The drama that preceded his taking on questions gave away secrets we may not have taken very seriously.
Senators from the North gave the impression they were his best promoters and protectors. Some of us saw that what we have been up against could be product of deliberate human acts to seize the country and possibly turn it to something else. One would leave it at this point but suffice to say the hidden powers could be what the Minister of Defence would be up against too. Is he equipped to know about the “buried” forces, potent and wicked, determined to hold the country to ransom except they are in control?
Complexity of our national politics is different from what we find elsewhere. We have been told there is no construction in the face or anywhere in the body of the human person to decode the heart’s intent. One just read a sage teach his children not to bother reading any man’s face in the bid to ascertain what he or she harbours inside rather look at the actions, put two to two and try to draw inferences.
See the make up of the federal government under APC, President and his deputy are Muslim, two Defence Ministers are northerners and moslems, the National Security Adviser is a northerner and a Muslim and chairmen of security committees in both Senate and House of Representatives are northerners and Muslims, all these in a country with very deep plurality. This kind of set up which got elevated under President Muhammadu Buhari and retained by his successor, Bola Tinubu, would not be if there’s was no agenda to protect and further. We may not take this angle seriously but it poses hidden but potent challenge to General Musa.
The signs are already unfolding. On the day Musa faced the Senate, the NSA organized a meeting of all service chiefs in his office. His office may be strategic and very sensitive but in the organogram of power management he hasn’t got that right to summon officers above his rank. His role is behind the scene advice to the President, who knows who to direct to execute if they find it appropriate. General Musa hinted of such overlapping roles, perhaps drawing from his experience.
The crux of the appointment is tackling the challenge of insecurity. The truth is our leaders have never been serious in the efforts to stem the tide against the scourge. Isn’t it very embarrassing to see barbarians descend on a community ravage it for hours on end, kill people, destroy property and still escape undetected, leaving the govern to issue condolences and pledge to apprehend those behind the crime which hardly happens. In other sane climes government would collapse just because more than three persons died from deviant behaviors.
As we talk government and citizens have not been able to appropriately define what we are up against. Nobody is certain if it is bandits, terrorists, insurgents or pure Jihadists. Those who brought the trouble say it is bandits yet these mercenaries were brought into the country armed, hiding under herders, in their more than 15 years forays in our space, armed with very sophisticated guns they have moved across virtually all parts of the country, hiding themselves in forest of other people’s territory. Yet there are citizens who call them bandits. This would task the new Defense Minister no doubt.
Musa gave some prescriptions, the majority of them like the database, cutting sources of funds, and others are long term, attention should be on the immediate. Name or no name, crime is crime. He spoke of making all criminals feel the heat, this is important. One just read the method developed countries apply to matters of terrorism, it is capture or kill. All these talks of negotiations, ransom, d_radicalisation are mix messages from the sponsors. It shouldn’t have a place.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger engage terrorists and take them out completely. No compromise. The same with Ghana. The constitution of the forest guards should be hastened, they should have approval to carry sophisticated weapons, not pump action guns.
The ultimate in quick action is state police. This should come up immediately. They too should carry real guns. Musa was mute on this but we are reminding him that it is important to ungoverned spaces, which are many and vast. Whatever fears of possible abuses can be items and preemptory solutions made by way of job delineation and direct legislation. We must be ready to arrest sponsors and put them on trial.
