By Adekunle Adekoya
Curious. And curiouser.
That’s how I can describe happenings on the Defence turf. Just weeks ago, immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Gwabin Musa exited active service as a uniformed soldier. His exit, still unexplained, led to the elevation of his immediate subordinates into vacancies created by his exit. The burly Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Olufemi Oluyede, stepped in as Defence Chief, while the Navy and Air Force and Army also got new chiefs.
Prior to these developments, there had been talk of insurrection, with more talk of some soldiers having been arrested for questioning. After Musa was formally pulled out of service, all that talk vaporised. It seemed as if the dog had been given the name they wanted to give it so they could do to it what they wanted to do.
Then, out of the blue, Defence Minister Abubakar Badaru announced his resignation, citing health reasons. I pity the fellow. He must be dying of sleepless nights, rallying our security system and strategising with service chiefs to fight the terrorists who have seized our country by the jugular.
He worried so much and must have developed five-star hypertension that he blabbed himself into ridicule in a media conversation he had with the BBC. It was that interview, on the Hausa Service of the BBC that got a sister publication so irked that the newspaper called for Badaru’s resignation or sack. Badaru was quoted as having said the Air Force cannot get at the terrorists hiding in our forest because parts of these forests are too thick for strafing pilots to see.
His words: “In this kind of war, from time to time, there will be relief; sometimes they will do something that will shock everyone on the ground, although I have heard some say that their whereabouts are known and who they are.
“It is true that their whereabouts are known, but they are people you cannot attack, or they are in the forests where our bombs cannot reach them.
“I assure you that our soldiers are working day and night to see how they can deal with this.”
After these words came out of Badaru’s mouth onto global airwaves, it is just and fitting that he resigned due to health reasons. The thought processes that generated these words are simply unfit from the mind of someone sitting atop the defence architecture.
First, there are forests and there are forests. Even, the dreaded Sambisa Forest, said to be the preferred ecosystem of Boko Hara IS not a forest in the sense that I know what a forest is. I’ve been to to the periphery of Sambisa during a tour of Gombe State, and the vegetal cover I saw in that area, geographically part of the Sahel Savannah is very far from forests of the South that I know. There is just no vegetal cover there that can obstruct the view of a fighter or bomber pilot. Badaru’s rationalisation from the BBC interview therefore betrayed a mindset that is unwilling to take out the bad guys making life uncertain for the rest of us.
With such words coming from Badaru, it was clear from where he sat that there was no winning the war against terror and it is just as well that he is out, resignation or sack.
Then, just as Badaru resigned, President Tinubu invited General Musa for talks, and his nomination as Badaru’s replacement was shortly announced. Curious, no? The issue at stake now is: what compelled Musa’s ouster as CDS? And in a matter of just weeks, what has changed to make him come back to government?
Musa and Badaru within or without, there is no visible relief from the activities of terrorists. We are still where we are. And while we remain mired in this mess, other well-meaning Nigerians have been calling on government to fight the anti-terror war by naming and shaming collaborators. But nothing yet. What’s so difficult in that?
Refusal of government to name and shame these felons fuels the belief that sympathisers of terrorists abound in the corridors of power and in fact dictate policy in that area. If not, government should name and shame them immediately.
The most strident refrain now is that there should be no negotiation with, and payment of ransom to terrorists. If that is the way, and should be the way, let it be resolved fully that the war is in full blast. In fact, let the National Assembly, and the Judiciary, in the national interest, empanel special courts to try these felons and treat such cases with despatch. Indeed, I call for public executions of felons so convicted to serve as deterrent to others.
It is hoped that the return of General Musa, now as Defence Minister, will pave the way for a better coordinated anti-terror offensive, in which the Police is better empowered to do its job, while the deployment of technology and intelligence, both human and electronic will be better harnessed to give us the security we need. Nigerians need to have their lives back, as soon as possible.
*Adekoya is a commentator on public issues
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