Why Tinubu Must Pay For The Sins Of ECOWAS

 By Rotimi Fasan

This  column last week supported the overwhelming views of Nigerians that the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration should have nothing to do with any kind of direct military intervention in the affairs of Niger under the Abdourahamane Tchiani-led junta. That rejection of force in the restoration of democratic order in Niger was based on the pragmatic reason that Nigeria has more than enough of her own internal crises to contend with, and that adding the political crisis in Niger to all of these is the least of our problems, more so as Nigeria would likely bear the bulk of the financial burden that would come from the deployment of troops. 

*Tinubu

Since that time, enough had happened to make one have a slight but fundamental shift of position, all owing to the attitude of the junta in Niger and the manner some players and commentators in the Nigerian political space have chosen to misrepresent the crisis in Niger while attacking Abuja. But first before any elaboration of my adjusted take on Nigeria’s position in the Nigerien crisis, let’s turn attention to Nigeria’s critics of the supposed position of Abuja, which is the position of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, in the matter. 

Is The Nigerian Army Capable Of Defeating Boko Haram?

By Simon Abah

 Many military strategists x-ray strategies to tackle the scourge of terror which has damaged the image of Nigeria globally. It is highly commendable that President Muhammadu Buhari as stated in the past, “has absolute confidence in the ability of the Nigerian military to bring to an end the insurgency spearheaded by members of the Boko Haram sect.”

But I have always believed that the military alone cannot end the war on insurgency without the support of the political benefactors of terror in the first place. In 2013, I asked a young army officer (now late) if the military can stamp out Boko Haram, he shook his head, “not with this commander-in-chief of the armed forces,” he said. Whatever that meant I didn’t bother to ask.

Cruelty And The Future Of Nigeria

By Jerome-Mario Utomi

When Niccolo Machiavelli first came up with the idea that cruelty could be rightly or wrongly employed in governing a country, he may have had Nigeria in mind. According to him, ‘cruelty is used well ‘(if it is permissible to talk in this way of what is evil) when it is employed once for all, and one’s safety depends on it, and then it is not persisted in but as far as possible turned to the good of one’s subjects.

*Buhari 

Again, cruelty badly used is that which, although infrequent to start with, as time goes, rather than disappearing, grows in intensity’’. Unfortunately, this is where we are today.

Nigerian Army And Human Right Obligations

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

It is no longer news that the Nigerian Army has commenced an internal military operation in the largely peaceful South Eastern states of Abia, Enugu, Anambra, and Ebonyi. They have not been withdrawn.

It is also no longer news that the key civilian population that inhabit this geopolitical entity of the South East of Nigeria stridently opposed the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to so deploy such heavy weapons and operatives in the streets of the South East states.

This deployment has clearly constituted a cog in the wheel of economic progress of millions of people in the South East of Nigeria who due to panic and social upheavals created by the activities of the Army had to shut down their business premises to be safe. 

Military’s Resurgence In Our Democracy

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

IN what could pass as the most poetic expression of democracy, the renowned political scientist Professor John Keane made the following opening statement in his widely acclaimed book The Life and Death of Democracy, thus: “History is often said to be a catalogue of human sorrows, an unending story of bootlicking, a slaughterhouse of crimes. It is not always so.”

Dr Keane said democracy was born of resistance to tyranny, just as he reasoned that Greeks’ claimed invention at first caused no great stir but that few spotted its novelty.

The above commentary from one of the global political thinkers which at first sounded like the little book of lamentations could be compared to the inglorious roles played by the Nigerian Military and policy in the just ended Rivers State rerun parliamentary polls.
The disturbing partisanship of the Nigerian armed forces is reminiscent of the 40 years that the Nigerian military took over power and ruled Nigeria in the most lawless form in such a way that the Constitution was in suspension not until overwhelming public pressures forced the military back to their barracks in 1999. The resurgence of the military in the political firmament of Nigeria is deeply troubling.  This development ugly as it is must be arrested immediately because the long term damage it would inflict in the credibility and integrity of the Nigerian military as an institution.

When President Muhammadu Buhari came on board last year, he made the Chief of Army staff Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai to constitute a board of inquiry which investigated alleged partisanship of the military in some past elections and over three dozen military officers trained with billions of public fund were prematurely retired as a result even though many of these indicted officers are in courts challenging their sack. But to now witness a worst case scenario of the same military behaving like dogs that eat their vomits with the open and brazen partisanship as seen in the Rivers State rerun election is indeed traumatising.

Rivers State also the nation’s hot bed of inter-party rivalries between the nation’s two main political parties known as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).

The rerun legislative re-run elections in Rivers State were occasioned by the legal cancellation of last year’s election in which the People’s Democratic Party swept virtually all of the parliamentary seats both within Rivers State House of Assembly and the Senate and House of Representatives seats to represent the State of Rivers at the National Assembly. The party at the center saw the annulment as an opportunity of a life to gain entry into Rivers State.
From evidence available on the social media and even from eye witnesses, the roles played by the military and police to sabotage, undermine and scuttle the will of the Rivers State electorate are despicable.

Terrorism Has Become Very Sophisticated Now – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari said Monday in Abuja that his administration was taking urgent and appropriate actions to restore order, due process and probity to the procurement processes of the nation's Armed Forces.

Speaking at a meeting with the British Secretary of State for Defence, Mr. Michael Fallon, President Buhari lamented that the procurement of equipment for Nigeria's Armed Forces which followed due process in the past, had become open to corruption and shady deals under the last administration.

"They just put foreign exchange in a briefcase and traveled to procure equipment for the military. That is why we have found ourselves in the crisis we are now facing,” the President said.

Welcoming the offer by the British Government to assist Nigeria in defence procurements, intelligence gathering and training, President Buhari restated his conviction that the international community must collaborate more and work with greater unity of purpose to overcome global terrorism.

“Terrorism has become very sophisticated now. If developed nations can be attacked, and hundreds of lives lost, how much more developing countries? 

"In the West African sub-region, Nigeria is the main battleground of the Boko Haram insurgency. We have made a lot of progress against the terrorists, but we will welcome more assistance from our friends and the international community," the President told Mr. Fallon.

Mr. Fallon said he was in the country to see what more Britain could do to support Nigeria in battling terrorism and violent extremism.
"Groups like Boko Haram don’t believe in democracy and freedom of choice, so it’s a common fight for us all,” he told President Buhari.

Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
December 21, 2015

Alleged Missing 105 Soldiers: Report Grossly Exaggerated – Nigerian Army

Press Release 

The attention of the Theatre Command Headquarters Maiduguri has been drawn to various releases on social media on the operation at Gudumbali , northern Borno State. Most of the publications are not only fictions but imagination of the writers that have no iota of knowledge on military operation. Unfortunately, this is coming at a time when the military has created several avenues for them to get first hand information on our activities.

In the quest to be on the same footing with each Nigerian, Media centre was established in the North East. Additional to this is the open door policy of the leadership style of our chief of Army Staff Lt Gen TY Buratai where he carries throughout his operational engagements media personalities. For the records Gulumba was captured by own troops on 10 November 2015 and our troops deployed to secure and weed off Boko Haram terrorists.

The Defamation Of Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika (rtd) - The Position Of Ndigbo Lagos

PRESS RELEASE 

The apparently procured, choreographed and orchestrated interview on Arise Television on Thursday August 28 in which a certain Stephen Davies an Australian of the ilk of many white mercenaries prowling the African continent, accused General Ihejirika of being a sponsor of Boko Haram is most condemnable.

*Lt. General Ihejirika
 (pix:Abiastate)

In the said interview, Mr Davies did not adduce or suggest any single evidence to support his accusation. Curiously when in the same breadth he said he has knowledge of the sponsor of the Abuja Nyanya bombing he refused to name names. Most tragic in this choreographed defamation of an illustrious General, is the interviewer's unprofessionalism in failing to demand evidence from Ihejirika's accuser, Mr. Stephen Davies. General Ihejirika has since denied this allegation. Given the lack of evidence, the nature of delivery of the allegation and the character of the accused General, Ndigbo Lagos believes Ihejirika's traducers are playing dirty politics.