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They have a way of consoling themselves. Whether it works wonders or not matters not. They always want you to see they are “on top of the situation.”
The idea will hit them like a thunderbolt. And they’re forever in a hurry. They pour it out as fast as they think wise. They hardly interrogate their thoughts.
They can somersault, derail their own policy with effrontery and simultaneously. They do it with ease, willingly. With the same efforts they muster. In churning out the policy in the first place. Whatever verve they might have heavily invested in a policy. They care not a hoot. They discard it in a jiffy. As if nothing serious is at stake.
They had for long stubbornly remained unyielding. They held on to their position. As if it was the gospel truth. They put up a tough stance. Insisting they would not cave in. Pretending to be unperturbed. All this while. They were building nothing on emptiness.
They swore to high heavens. The situation was firmly under their control. So? They shunned all the many alarms sounded with reckless ignominy. Home and abroad.
They stood their shaky ground. And held to mere straw. Watching the ground collapse. Under their thick feet and heavy weight. Yet, they would not give up. They forged on in fake perseverance. False persistence.
They stuck to their old, cracked singsong: Nothing missing, nothing broken. Unknown to them, everything had got rotten. In-side-out! Nothing else to be held on to. Save for vacantness, bareness and blankness all rolled into one.
Theirs had always been self-denials. They would repudiate the obvious. The crystal clear and glaring. They would strive to convince you it is totally blurred. And call snow white, charcoal black. But the chickens have come home to roost. And the cookie crumbles!
The die is cast. The Christian genocide claims they vehemently debunked, discredited, detested. The very one they would not acknowledge. They now admit its existence, even in large scale. In desperation, seeking its rapid end. Giving a great lot of attention to its extermination.
And presidential aide Daniel Bwala is so excited about it. He can’t hide it. It’s all over him. He’s President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser, Policy Communication. Imagine what is driving his sudden exhilaration:
“Government is making far-reaching decisions. In the coming days we will know who the terrorists and their financiers are.” So, he claimed that Sunday in a Television Continental (TVC) interview.
He agreed his principal has a Herculean task on his laps. He reached out to the outer world. That’s what they wouldn’t do before now. They suspended their self-acclaimed sovereignty. Still, he refused to go straight. He meandered and danced around. He chose his words carefully enough. Very mischievous in his request:
“The demand is now on the world governments to see how they can cooperate with Nigeria.” Cooperate with Nigeria? How? We are the ones thirsty for a bailout. Not them. Bwala wasn’t done yet:
“Terrorism has become a global issue. So, any part where there is terrorism, it is the concern of the rest of the world. That is why it is in the interest of the world for Nigeria to support us to end it.”
All the same, we are equally eager. From every indication. The government has succumbed to superior argument. The fight against terrorists and their terror is getting more interesting. Somebody, somewhere is hyping the tempo. Tinubu is ravening; garnering strength and momentum.
He’s aware he is fast racing against precious time. And it waits for nobody. He’s beginning to see terrorism differently. And rightly too. He is building up political will. Striving to be assertive. And coming to terms with the naked reality. That the buck, particularly the ugly and stinging one of terrorism. Stops at his expansive presidential desk.
He’s spurred from the blues. To hold the bull tightly, with measured care, by its two horns. And we’re waiting with bated breath. To applaud him with uncommon applause, if…
Perhaps. The “coming days” Bwala flaunts around with relish are here with us after all! The hugest casualty just happened to be Badaru Abubakar. He fell by the wayside on Monday. And heaven didn’t fall.
Up till that Monday morning, he was Minister of Defence. That was no more. Tinubu happened to him. Arguably, he was the only one who wasn’t envisaging the sack. Great suspicion. That his recent uncouth utterance would not go unnoticed. And he unpunished. It did. Making it his last public outing.
The malodorous vomit was unpleasant, unpalatable. He boldly told BBC Hausa: “Yes, we know their (terrorists’) locations. But some of these areas are places where direct strikes could endanger civilians, or forests where our bombs cannot penetrate.”
What manner of defence minister! We unconsciously wondered aloud. He behaved true to type. He proffered excuses to their failings. Not solutions to challenges: “This is how guerrilla warfare works. There will be periods of calm, and then they launch an attack that shakes the nation.”
He beat a quick retreat. Having realised his folly: “We never said the problem was completely over. But this renewed kidnapping of schoolchildren worries us. We are studying what went wrong and how to prevent a recurrence.”
Abubakar asked for it. And he got it in the fullest measure possible. No sane boss would give kudos to such ranting by Abubakar. His outpouring clearly identified him with terrorists. Sure. He didn’t know his onions. He was a massive minus as a defence minister. He ought not to be one ab initio.
That office is not cut for him and his ilk. Even after being a two-term, eight-year governor of Jigawa State. He has not learnt the ropes. The intricacies were too overwhelming for him. He was weighed down by the enormous tasks.
The shoes are too large and heavy. The reason he faltered and floundered while he held sway. He couldn’t have weathered the storm unbruised, “unbattered.” That would be a miracle never seen before.
He was engulfed with his misses. And submerged in his missteps. Almost every step he took blundered. And fumbled, flubbed all through. That indubitably was not how to be a minister. More so of defence.
He was defeatist in his rhetoric. This report couldn’t agree less: “He repeatedly framed the fight against bandits and insurgents as ‘we’re working day‑and‑night but the forest is impenetrable.’ which pundits say demoralises frontline troops and fuels a perception that the ministry is giving up.”
Even more than that. It was perceived that government had totally lost it on all fronts. Was Abubakar compelled to throw in his dirty, stinking, towel? The report offered additional insight:
“His sudden exit, citing health reasons, came just as Tinubu declared a security emergency, suggesting the minister was unable or unwilling to see through the crisis.”
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Will his junior minister, Bello Matawalle, survive the onslaught? A striking semblance. He too was a two-term governor in terrorist-infested Zamfara State. The same North West zone with Abubakar. It was a mixture of mystery and wonder that he made it as a defence minister. Considering his highly volatile and turbulent times as governor.
Matawalle remains a disturbing aberration. He’s an irritation in our defence architecture. He doesn’t belong. He couldn’t have been. What affects Abubakar affects Matawalle. They have been flocking together. Not today, not yesterday. They should not now be unduly separated.
Matawalle should be jettisoned. And dropped forthwith. Instantly too! Then. Justice will be seen to have been done. And done with fairness.
All the same. This sets the agenda for General Christopher Gwabin Musa, Tinubu’s new pick as defence minister. He is to be back to familiar turf. He only vacated office on October 24, 2025. Up till then, he was Nigeria’s 18th Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) from June 2024. Tinubu also made that possible. Twice favoured in barely one year!
He was in the trenches. Locking horns with Boko Haram insurgents in the North East. He did that as Theatre Commander, Operation HADIN KAI. He smoked the hell out of the Islamist warlords.
Against any unforeseen circumstance, Musa is good to go. May be, Musa is “the coming days” Bwala saw in his dream the other day. His is not a nightmare afterwards.
We need Musa’s mould and mode this critical period. We have lived under guns, fears, anxiety for this while. Our lives are laced with crime, criminality, violence, wickedness, cruelty. Yes. Our collective existence is neck-deep in blood and bloodshed.
Our way of life? Odd, eerie, wild and weird. These are what we see, hear and read. Even experience every day. No day is spared. Nowhere is a sanctuary for us. We are perpetually exposed. For every minute we survive, we’re on our own.
That we breathe is one great miracle. And we celebrate it. We won’t be ungrateful to our kind Creator. Despite all hurdles, we refuse to be ingrates. That’s not in our DNA, neither is it in our character.
Our dreadful database aligns. With precision and accuracy. The facts are factual. And the figures are not figurative. This is our area of core competence. You can’t fault us. No other clime can beat us to it.
We ought to be rattled to the marrow. Alas! Nothing shocks us anymore. We’ve come this long way. In just one week, consider our recorded exploits. Strictly copied as received:
“Brigadier General Uba and three of his men abducted and publicly executed by Islamist terrorists in Borno State on a Friday.
“Sixty-four civilians, including women and children, abducted in Tsafe LG, Zamfara State, by Islamist terrorists.
“Twenty-five female students and their principal abducted from a school in Maga, Kebbi State, on a Sunday by Islamist terrorists whilst their vice principal was killed.
“Thirty-eight worshippers abducted from a Church in Eruku, Kwara State.
“One policeman killed in an attack by Islamist terrorists in Geidam, Yobe State.
“Eight members of the Civilian Task Force killed and three abducted by Islamist terrorists in Gwoza, Borno State.
“Fifteen people abducted, including four nursing mothers and babies, and two killed in Sabon Birni, Sokoto State by Islamist terrorists.
“Four rice farmers killed in an attack by Islamist terrorists in Edu, Kwara State.
“Fifty-two students abducted in a Catholic school in Agwara, Niger State.”
Kudos to Chief Femi Fani-Kayode. He did the meticulous compilation.
We present this strange compendium before General Musa. It’s our welcome-back gift. We submit it to him with sincere honesty. We earnestly pray him to succeed. And succeed very well.
Suffice to say, there were many more uncaptured by Fani-Kayode’s database. The league of unreported crimes is legion. They are buried, hidden in nocks, corners and forests. They are well spread all over the land.
We want Musa to know this. No area is left untouched and “untorched.” None is marginalised. Every area has a bite of this bitter national cake. No matter how small or big. Every region has its sizeable takeaway. No one goes back home empty-handed.
The terrorists ensure their terror touches every soul and body. No household is left unimpacted. Negatively, of course. We all have something to share. As always with us. For the awkward, absurd reasons.
Fani-Kayode’s list is disgusting and detestable. It’s the truth Musa will have to stoutly contend with. It is his most valuable companion. The challenges he has to confront. At least, for now. And hit the hard ground running. Quickly, speedily.
This is our ugly story, General Musa. We seek a complete turn-around. The onus is on you. To make our “coming days” real and actual.
So, God help us all.
