For the umpteenth time, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, a retired general of an army revered across the sub-Saharan region as being among the best trained, best equipped and endowed armies, with great generals, unfortunately, has become a class teacher who has to repeat his sentences severally before being comprehended.
The President has been repeating directives to security heads, without any noticeable results. It seems like each order attracts even lesser results and it fades away, until another presidential order before it is reignited.
The question is has the President’s directive suddenly become a broken record that repeats itself frequently before it produces results? Or how do we explain these incessant kidnap of hundreds of innocent Nigerians? From every indication, we have a very sad and serious situation on our hands as a nation whose security is collapsing.
What has gone wrong with our security agencies that the troops no longer act the way they famously did during their United Nations military engagements in Mali, Sudan, Angola, Somalia, Liberia, Sierra-Leone, Haiti and other embattled countries across the world? Are they angry over something not yet disclosed? Could it be because of unpaid salaries or allowances? Or is it that their welfare is being neglected? What exactly could be the reason they are lackadaisical in carrying out presidential orders? Why must a presidential order be repeated not twice but severally to a soldiers without any concrete compliance?
What is wrong? Are the troops angry over something yet undisclosed? Recently, the newly promoted Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya, like a concerned father feeling the pains of his children (soldiers), especially those that sustained injuries while on national service, paid a special visit to the Military Hospital, Kaduna, where he commiserated with them and assured them of the full support of the Nigeria Army to ensure they get faster medical attention. Such august visit is capable of restoring confidence in the wounded soldiers and inspiring other soldiers to be more patriotic.
“To get the best out of your men, they must feel that you are their real leader and must know that they can depend upon you,” George S. Patton, a United States army general. His position explains the official visit of Gen. Yahaya. Despite this commendable gesture, could it be that they have shortage of bullets or that their daily rations are cut down? Or, are they thinking of their families for staying longer than expected at the war front?
The commanders should investigate why their commands are no longer as effective as before, the same with security chiefs who keep boasting before the media after every security meeting with the Commander-in-Chief only to forget their mandate and instructions as soon as they leave the Presidential Villa, Abuja. It turns out that their orders do not pentrate to the ground forces. Similarly, the Commander in- Chief should try to ask questions as to why he has to repeatedly give presidential directives amd ‘marching orders’ all the time before they are minimally obeyed.
According to former President ofthe United States, Mr. Bill Clinton, “Being President is like running a cemetery: you’ve got a lot of people under you and nobody’s listening.”
Many are of the opinion that something is amiss, which is not to the knowledge of citizens. Nigerians are now trying to understand what has happened to the “body language” of Mr. President. How did it fizzle away in a jiffy? No wonder former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris flagrantly disobeyed the President and nothing as punishment was meted out on him.
Even as I was put my thoughts together for this column, reports said that hundreds of policemen drafted for duty to Katsina State since the administration of former IGP Adamu Muhammed seven months ago, precisely in November 2020 at the height of insecurity in the President’s home state, are yet to be paid their allowances and salaries, and all this happened while the President was still in office and IGP Adamu was not dragged to the Indepemdent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) for interrogation.
How would a father feel if he has to consistently repeat simple and direct instructions to his son, only for him to turn away and later find out that his simple instruction was not complied with? Surely, such a father would express dissatisfaction and also exhibit his furious anger so as to be taken seriously the next time. Surely, he would wield the big stick for corrective purposes.
However, with the increasing wave of kidnapping in the North, state governors have embraced the notion that no outsider knows the terrain of a town better than the sons of the soil.
As Fulani herdsmen swore to continue attacking the state, this column had suggested that governors should invite capable retirees with security background and involve them in finding solutions to security problems in their states.
Zamfara and Abia states are known to have assembled top retired but not tired security personnel to brainstorm on security issues in their states. They know the terrain better than the invading bandits.
The forests had been the ‘office’ where many village hunters worked; one is, therefore, surprised that our armed security agents cannot find their way into these forests in collaboration with the locals aided with modern technology to flush out bandits.
Recent reports about banditry suggest that either the Federal Government is paying lip service or there is no attendant political willpower to end this savagery. Even the press statement that emanated from presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, when he noted that the President called for a crushing response to the killing of innocent citizens in the rural communities, betrays this dilemma.
He said the nation, its military and the entire population needed to summon the courage required to defeat the bandits and terrorists.
Such buck-passing merely exposes thedefeatist stand of the Buhari government. No wonder, government looks the other way while bandits milk millions of naira off innocent and impoverished citizens as ransom, without any comensurate penalty.
Banditry cannot be much of a security problem to Nigeria’s security agencies, if the political will is exhibited from the leadership.
How can we be talking about banditry when Nigeria is more than qualified to overcome this security menace? Many are asking, how long shall the country continue to fight mini wars in every sector of the country? By dissipating energy and resources in many directions, bandits may after all bring Nigeria to its knees.