TheCable

I remember when I was a child, a son of a soldier living inside the army barracks, the military was coordinated, revered by civilians no matter how wealthy or highly placed, and dreaded by all. When my father retired in the 90s, we moved to an apartment in Ojoo, opposite the Odogbo Barracks, now known as Adekunle Fajuyi Cantonment, where many retired military officers easily relocated to.

The eldest son of one of my dad’s friends joined the military and was among the soldiers taken to Liberia for a peacekeeping mission during the war in the 90s. When he returned, he came with a beautiful wife and many stories of the strength of the Nigerian army on the African continent. On his return, he was celebrated, I remember his parents shared food and drinks with nearby neighbors and I even drank a bottle of coke and ate some biscuits.

The happiness, excitement, and pride were unquantifiable. On his return, Private Bernard was promoted, duly paid his allowances on time, and he was happy and proud to be a Nigerian soldier.

Nigeria has sent military assistance to Liberia, Sierra Leon, Sudan, Mali, and even Libya where our soldiers fought gallantly and were highly respected by rebels and the army of those countries.

In fact, it is on record that former Liberian President Samuel Doe was captured by his enemies – Prince Y. Johnson, leader of INPFL – in Monrovia on September 9, 1990 moments after the well-equipped Nigerian peacekeepers exchanged guards with a weaker Gambian counterpart.

General Quinoo, the head of ECOMOG, had invited Doe to the ECOMOG headquarters for a meeting and assured him of his safety from the rebels. On the morning of September 9, 1990, Doe arrived at a precarious time during an ongoing change in guard duty from the well-armed and better equipped Nigerian team of peacekeepers to the weaker Gambian contingent.

The Nigerian team had just withdrawn from the scene when Doe’s convoy of lightly armed personnel arrived. Doe was escorted to General Quinoo’s office where he was formally welcomed, while most of his team of aides and guards waited outside. Johnson’s rebels surprised everyone by suddenly arriving on the scene uninvited and heavily armed, overwhelming and disarming the entirety of Doe’s team while encountering no resistance. They then started shooting Doe’s team individually and later in groups before advancing to capture Doe.

The name ‘Giant of Africa’ was not just given to Nigeria for the fun of it or because it is their birthright, they were called ‘big brother’ because they worked hard to earn it, giving enormous military and other supports to African countries.

So what has happened to the Nigerian army of today? What is really the problem? Could it be the insatiable greed of the leaders? Could it be that top military officers have been compromised and playing politics with issues as sensitive as security? Is it that our soldiers have lost the will to fight gallantly or their weapons are obsolete and could not stand the sophisticated artillery of their enemy? Or could it be that the military is no more as powerful as it used to be back in the day?

It is only in the military of today that a group of incautious rogues calling themselves bandits can even have the impudence to think about attacking a military facility. What are they sniffing to even nurture such dreadful adventure in their head?

But they did anyway, and two senior military officers were killed right inside the Nigerian Defence Academy. There is no worse opprobrium than this.

While condemning the attack, Lucky Irabor, chief of defense staff, said it is more of an armed robber coming to your house. “The incident in Kaduna has been undertaken by bandits, but it’s more of an armed robber coming to your house. The infiltration didn’t come by virtue of the normal banditry action. But these are things we’re already looking at, and in due course, you’ll get the details.”

No, I bet to disagree, sir, this is not an armed robbery attack, armed robbers do not kidnap. Abductions are an act regularly carried out by bandits and terrorists, not armed robbers.

If bandits or Boko Haram terrorists can gain access to the military facility, carry out attacks, killed, kidnapped and walked out alive, then there is a big danger.

There is danger in the way the terrorists are deceitfully surrendering and without their weapons, there is danger in the way the military seems to be believing the lies that these killers are genuinely leaving their evil behind forever, there is danger in the way the federal and state governments are accepting them back and releasing them to the society. The red flags are everywhere.

If they are truly done with terrorism, they should be a helpful instrument in the hands of the military to clear out their other colleagues who are still in the forests. They should not just be given clothes and money and allowed to enter society freely, no, they have jobs to do. They are already trained to use weapons, they know where their unrepentant friends are, they should lead the Nigerian army there and take down their enclaves.

Or are we to start thinking that these stories of terrorists surrendering are just political PR stunts for the public to say this administration is fixing insecurity in the land? Because I am unable to process how 100 Boko Haram members will surrender today, and in a space of 48 hours, people get killed and others kidnapped. How can some gunmen be surrendering somewhere, while another is attacking the NDA killing two senior military officers and kidnapping one? It is unfathomable for my brain.

Whatever is the root cause of all this madness needs to stop immediately, things are already getting out of hand, our land, future, businesses, and investments are not safe. This is an issue of national security that requires effective engagement.

Our gallant Nigerian soldiers must retake their old glory, not just within the country, but across Africa. If they are feared by the worst rebels in Liberia, Sudan, and Mali, and have achieved successes in those countries, then who is bandit or Boko Haram, or killer herdsmen?

I still have faith in the Nigerian army, their gallantry is not in doubt if given the right weapon and support from the government, but those in charge should stop playing politics with all these atrocities. The army is under attack, Nigeria is under attack and this should be a cause for worry for any responsible government.

Ojoko is a Nigerian journalist and can be reached via [email protected]