For Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the appointment of General Christopher Musa means a repudiation of his policy of appeasement of the bandits and terrorists.
When on October 30 it was suddenly announced that General Christopher Gwabin Musa had been removed as the Chief of Defence Staff, a position he had held since June 2023, not a few Nigerians were suspicious of his retirement. The General had been seen to have performed creditably. Information later filtered in that General Christopher Musa had been removed because he had disagreed with the Federal Government’s position to ‘kiss the bandits.’
Kiss the bandits was the code name given by the government to the policy of appeasing the bandits and terrorists in the Northwest, Northeast, and Middle Belt regions of the nation. A fierce critic of President Tinubu’s government, Nasir El-Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna, had leaked the code name in a television appearance. But when General Musa was invited into the office of the president on December 2, it was clear to many people he was the new defence minister promised to replace the former minister, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, who was said to have resigned a day before due to health reasons.
Nigerians are not persuaded by the subterfuge resorted to by the Special Adviser (Information and Strategy) to the President, Bayo Onanuga. If the witch that cried the day before killed the child that died the next day, Badaru’s resignation could not have been because of health reasons. It was compelled by the American government, whose president, Donald Trump, had issued a dire threat of fire and brimstone should President Bola Tinubu not take urgent actions to revamp the nonperforming security architecture of Nigeria. It is likely that the American government had demanded the removal of Alhaji Badaru and the immediate appointment of General Christopher Gwabin Musa to replace him.
So when General Musa walked majestically into the Senate chambers on December 3, not in the army uniform but in mufti, it was with his usual confidence heightened a little more. He had just put off his Army uniform some weeks before and was back in the Senate, being recommended again for a higher appointment by the very president that removed him. It is not difficult to realize that some power was behind the reinstatement of the general and that power was one President Tinubu could not resist. That power, discerning analysts have concluded, is President Donald Trump. President Trump had demanded the immediate appointment of the man who will not ‘kiss the bandits’ but will crush them. In a saner clime, that somersault in policy, that defeat of the Fulani oligarchy-inspired policy that the president bought hook, line, and sinker because of fear, would have meant the resignation of President Bola Tinubu. Like Prince Adewole Adebayo, SDP presidential candidate in 2023, told the president, he had two options: either to kill the bandits with a bullet or to resign. Prince Adebayo alleged that the administration has been using the insecurity issue to loot the Treasury of Nigeria.
Even as President Bola Tinubu has taken the option of killing the bandits rather than negotiating with them for bribes whose exact amount cannot be determined, it is obvious that the power of the president is ebbing away. It is obvious that the talk about sovereignty in Nigeria is a big ruse. First, it said that the country is not sovereign because it is under two parallel laws: the laws made by its representatives and the Sharia law, which is an imposed Islamic law that is not passed by any representative. Second, as Prince Adewole Adebayo has said, Nigeria should forget about sovereignty because under international law, any nation that is killing its people or undermining the rights of its people can be invaded by another more powerful nation. Nigerians in some regions are being killed by Fulani bandits and terrorists, from another region.
General Christopher Musa may have derived his confidence from the assurance of this ebbing power of the president. Assured that he holds the ace in Nigeria’s security architecture, General Christopher Musa is no longer an underdog to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who had led the Nigerian delegation to the US and had been one of the pillars behind the “kiss the bandit” policy, a policy that is the brainchild of Sheik Ahmad Gunmi, a cleric who was deported from Saudi Arabia and was not allowed to perform this year’s hajj because the Saudi authority suspected he is a terrorist sympathiser. Sheikh Ahmad Gunmi has been meeting the terrorists and bandits in the forest to negotiate with them. For Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the appointment of General Christopher Musa means a repudiation of his policy of appeasement of the bandits and terrorists. Ordinarily, were Nigeria to be a real democracy, we should have been discussing the resignation letter of Nuhu Ribadu. From now until things perhaps change, General Christopher Musa is the de facto security chief in Nigeria.
Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, former Minister of Defence, and Dr. Bello Mohammed Matawalle, Minister of State for Defence, had earned their positions not out of competence but out of the roles they played as regional supporters for President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 elections. They stood behind him and foiled even the attempt of former president Muhammadu Buhari to stop Bola Tinubu during the 2023 presidential elections. Badaru delivered his state of Jigawa, where he had been governor two times, to the APC. Matawalle did not win his second term but was able to give Tinubu a significant vote in Zamfara state, where Matawalle was governor. Matawalle cannot be said to be a competent governor. Zamfara State is the lowest in the country in all indices of development. Matawalle is obviously one of the architects of the “kiss the bandits” policy. He was seen on Channels Television recently saying that the bandits are not criminals, a statement that Nigerians see as one of the reasons responsible for the failure of the military to crush the terrorists. An observer said statements such as Matawalle’s may mark him out as one of those alleged to be putting obstacles in the way for the soldiers for an aggressive move against the bandits and terrorists. It has been said in the media that sometimes when the soldiers were close to the terrorists and would have finished them off, signals from ‘high quarters’ had stopped them. Nigerians who comment are not ruling out the possibility that Matawalle may be part of these alleged “high quarters.”
Cognizant of his de facto power, General Christopher Musa stood boldly before the Senate to tell them that he will probe the death of Brigadier General Musa Uba, who was killed in battle by the ISWAP and for whom the president only gave no more than a line of mention in a general speech that was meant for the people. It has been said that such a treatment for a high-ranking officer can never build confidence or patriotism in the nation. Who will want to join the Army and sign for death if the death of a brigadier general is treated with such levity? Again, an indication that the president is not really ready to provide effective governance to Nigeria. General Musa told the Senate that Brigadier General Musa Uba was not supposed to be alone; he's supposed to be with his troops. Where was his troop? Musa said the nation deserves to know that answer and that he will provide it and give justice. He will also probe the movement of the soldiers who moved away from their guard duties at the Government Girls Comprehensive School, Maga, Kebbi State, forty-five minutes before the bandits arrived and carted 24 girls away. Until General Christopher Musa, Badaru, and Matawalle thought of no probe to unearth that infraction, perhaps because they did not deem it important or some other untouchables like them were involved. Now Nigerians will have the opportunity to know who did what. It is also possible that in the time of General Christopher Musa, Nigeria may see those who sponsored the terrorists whose list was said to have been given to the late former president, Muhammadu Buhari, who did nothing about it. Daniel Bwala, the Special Adviser to President Tinubu on political communication, promised to release the names, a promise Nigerians are saying is not necessary. “If the government wants the public to know these sponsors, it should take them to court.”
General Christopher Musa will not have it rosy with the president. He is imposed on the unwilling president, who had to bow to superior American power. But with determination, General Christopher Musa may just be the break Nigerians are expecting to trash the security problems once and for all. The General will do battle with apostles of “kiss the bandits.” He has the domineering Fulani tribe to contend with. His own security may also be at risk. We must not forget that a Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Ibrahim Attahiru, died in an air crash in the time of former president Muhammadu Buhari. Up till today some Nigerians, including retired military personnel, are still suspecting foul play. As General Christopher Musa settles down to work at the Ministry of Defence, Nigerians are not expecting him to act just as an administrator; he is brought in at a very crucial time, a time of make-or-break war over the nation, a war that can be won and must be won. He must remain a general. The general is still every inch a soldier, and he must remember that. The terrorists must be killed to the last man. This is the billing that got him the support of America and the job. History is behind him, and victory beckons.
First Published in METRO
***********************
Tunde Akande is both a journalist and pastor. He earned a Master's degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos.
No comments:
Post a Comment