On Tuesday, the Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, announced that he accepted full responsibility for the Nigerian Army’s failure to effectively deal with Boko Haram insurgents in the North East.
Speaking to State House correspondents in Abuja, Badeh – whose Adamawa State hometown has been overrun by rampaging thugs – calmly informed his audience that he feels equally pained by all military setbacks and terrorist outrages, whether they take place on his native turf or on other peoples’.
I used to be part of the crowd that regards the CDS as utterly useless for allowing his ancestral terrain to be hijacked. But his humble and laudable willingness to take full responsibility for every defeat has really impressed me.
Nigerian dignitaries are happy to take credit for successes and enjoy the perks of their powerful jobs. But most flatly refuse to admit that the buck stops on their desks when things go horribly wrong; and it is refreshing to encounter an officer and gentleman who has the guts to stand up and say “OK, blame me.”
Capture of hometown
And I have, on reflection, concluded that Badeh is right to take the view that the capture of his hometown, though no doubt immensely painful on a personal level, is NOT more significant than the capture of anyone else’s hometown.
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Marshal Alex Badeh
In this country, we expect Big Men and Big Women to regard the protection and promotion of their backyards as a crucial priority. And if they don’t display a strong commitment to such aggressive favouritism, we mock or insult them.
Badeh deserves to be hailed for his civilized, courageous and mature objectivity, which is very rare within a Naija context. BUT his fighters are not fulfilling their potential and he still has a lot of awkward questions to answer.
Even in the relatively sophisticated Western World, governments find it extremely difficult to destroy guerrilla movements.
Americans have been battling with Al Quaeda and its similarly toxic global offshoots for ages. The British and Spanish took forever to quell the deadly Irish Republicans, IRA, and dangerous Basque Separatists, ETA; and it really annoys me when Jonathan administration critics breezily carry on as if totally trouncing Boko Haram is an easy-peasy task that can be achieved overnight.
However, Jonathan, Badeh and their subordinates really need to up their games and tackle this tough challenge more dynamically.
I don’t believe cynical conspiracy theorists who keep insisting that Boko Haram is being secretly sponsored by the authorities for murky reasons that are linked to the 2015 election. My view of Boko Haram is that it is a criminal enterprise that has a life of its own and cannot be controlled by anyone and must be ruthlessly crushed at the earliest opportunity.
However, the sad fact still remains that too many negative stories about the Army and its political backers are doing the rounds at the moment.
The other day, I was watching an international TV news channel. The government had recently announced that it had come to a ceasefire agreement with Boko Haram and would soon return the missing Chibok girls to their parents; but the alleged ceasefire had embarrassingly collapsed within hours and the foreign report described Jonathan as “naïve at best”.
Chai! Time to get more serious and claw back some credibility on this front.
Views from my Ogoni brethren
Here are some reactions to some of my recent comments. They were sent to me from an online discussion forum for Ogonis in Nigeria and the Diaspora.
Dear all, there has been in the last 16 years a vast, almost unbridgeable governance deficit and I do not think after six years of President Goodluck Jonathan’ stewardship that he possesses the attributes required to bridge this gap or run a diverse and complex nation like Nigeria.
He lacks the moral sagacity, the ability to aggregate our aspirations and evolve a visionary goal that would inspire us all as a people to join him in lifting this country to a position of international respectability just as the Chinese, Indians, Singaporeans and even the South Africans have done.
On the other hand Buhari has shown by reason of his personal discipline and his refusal to acquiesce to the general propensity for those in leadership positions to loot our common wealth, we could entrust or more appropriately employ him with our votes to provide the solutions to the myriad of problems we deal with daily. I do not think that he necessarily needs to outline full ideas on how he will deal the corruption monstrosity.
He only needs to assure us that both EFCC and ICPC would function without let or hindrance. The EFCC law is amongst the most forward looking globally. These institutions are comatose right now because their heads are constantly studying the body language of the president before deciding whether to act or not.
In essence what is required going forward are strong institutions that are allowed to perform their tasks without having to look over their shoulders. These institutions should be underpinned by persons of impeccable character.
If they fail to live up to expectations, they fail to proffer solutions or the solutions they put forward do not achieved our goals we should be at liberty to sack them with our votes when the time comes. Until we get into the rhythm of holding those who beg to apply as leaders to find workable solutions to our national malaise, we will keep being punished with the dregs of society as leaders. Cheers
Between President Jonathan and Gen Buhari
Corruption is really one of the greatest problems of this country, and anyone who can be courageous to minimise it to a bearable level would get our support. The greatest challenge President Jonathan faces is that he is sandwiched by patently corrupt folks, though he is caught in the web too.
Buhari like the President is also sandwiched by mindless treasury looters too, though comparatively, he is better than President Jonathan in terms of corruption complicity. If Buhari emerges as president of Nigeria, is he going to do the selective anti-corruption war like what Jonathan is doing ?
Buhari needs to outline his anti-corruption strategies rather than sloganeering anti-corruption as a party campaign tactics. We need to think around this.
No to former heads of stateDear all,
It is my personal opinion that no former Military Headof State should rule Nigeria again, no matter where they come from, South or North.
If a former Military Head of State could not transform Nigeria when he had an absolute power of dictatorship, where will the magic come from in a civilian government with a National Assembly in place?
I did not expect anything different from “OBJ” when he first indicated interest for the office of the president. After two terms Obasanjo proved to skeptics like me that former Heads of State have nothing new to offer.
Anyone agitating for a former Military Head of State to come back and be president of Nigeria is a blind follower or in the words of Fela, a “zombie.” It is not the birth right of former military Heads of State of Nigeria to come back and rule the country one after another.
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