By Suleiman Umaru
Former President Goodluck Jonathan, who was voted out of office in the 2015, Presidential election based on the strong electioneering Campaign promises of President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, may have kept a closed lips over the country’s increasing security challenge.
The Challenge was said to have left on its throes thousands of loss of lives and property worth millions of naira as many people were also rendered homeless in the north east and other parts of the country including Katsina, the President home state.
The former present who had played into the hands of the PDP and the APC , hawks like Ahmed Bola Tinubu , a former governor of Lagos state and other and Rotimi Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers state and now minister of Transportation were said to have perfected the plot for his defeat in 2015 election and subsequent relocation to Otuoke village, in Bayelsa, his home state.
On Thursday, Jauary 30, 2020, the former President had visited the Katsina state born Nigerian President at the presidential Villa. The visit was said to have been on the invitation of the President. The duo were said to have held a closed door meeting. At the end of the meeting, the President was said to have escorted him to the forecourt of the Villla before taking his leave, fueling speculations that they may have had a very fruitful discussion not be unconnected to the recent call by the National Assembly , Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, and other groups including some prominent Nigerians for the sack of the service Chiefs who had started with him in his first term in office.
Recall that the President had raised the hope of the people of the north east and indeed, Nigerians that the BokoHaram fighters would be flushed out from the region within six months of his assumption office in 2015. As a prelude to actualising his promise , he had overhauled the country’s security architecture by sacking then Jonathan appointed services Chiefs . Given his military background, it was assumed that those appointed as the new General Officers Commanding, GOCs, the Army, Air Force and Navy and Heads of other security agencies and the military Intelligence, would do the work.
Gabriel Olonisakin , an Army General, was appointed the Chief of Defense Staff, CDS, Tukur Buratai, a Lt. General as the Chief of Arm Staff, CAS, Sadiq Abubaker, an Air Marshal , Chief of Air Staff, CAS, and Ibok- Etelkwe Ibas, a Vice Admiral as the Chief of Naval Staff, CNC.
Between 2015 and now, the security Chiefs appear to have lost control of the war as the Insurgents have continued to penetrate deep into the region . More worrisome was the emergence of another group, the bandits , operating in the north western states of Zamfara, Sokoto, the Caliphate state, Katsina, the President home state, and now Niger state, the home state of two former military Heads of State, retired Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar.
The security situation in the country has become very worrisome that the APC , controlled Senate , has asked the President to declare a ‘’National Security Emergency, NSE, to handle the crisis , since it has become obvious that the service Chiefs and Mohammed Adamu, the Inspector General of Police, , IGP, had failed in their responsibility.
The lawmakers may have sent a signal to the President that it is time to sack the service chiefs who had been repeating the same security strategy over the years to tackle the Insurgents but nothing has come out of it. They were said to have also asked the military High Command to redeploy all the soldiers serving in the north east, particular, because of their several years of serving in the theatre of the war. They believe that having stayed too long in the war front might have exhausted them that they could no longer perform.
The Senators appeal may have emboldened the Femi Gbajabiamila , led House of Representatives to join in calling for the sack of the sack of the service Chiefs described as having outlived their usefulness last Tuesday. The security lapse in the north east may have given the Insurgents the opportunity to Kidnap , Lawan Andimi, the Chairman, of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Michika Local government government Area of Adawawa state.
The Kidnappers were said to have rejected a N75 million ransom in order to free him as they killed him fueling speculation that the suspected BokoHaram Kippers had a mission. Angered by the Killing of the notable Clergy man in Michika local government, Sampson Ayokunle, President CAN, who could no longer hide his feelings , was forced to call on the President to sack the service Chiefs who has failed the nation.
The President may not be a hurry to sack the service the Chiefs in order to meet the expectation of the Lawmakers or CAN, a he has told Janez Lenarcic , the European Union , EU, Commissioner for Crisis Management, at buja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, that there was no cause for alarm.
He has created the impression that ‘’if the Nigerian soldiers could fight a 30-month old civil war and sitll reorganised the country, the Boko Haram issue is a manor case that would be handled with caution. He noted that the soldiers could achieve the feat because ‘’ each war Commanders including himself, then, were given a prepared and signed Code of Conduct on how to behave to allow the International bodies that were coming round to see for themselves that people are treated in the most humane way’’ not to be obstructed to avoid taking sides that could prolong the war .
But events in the recent time may have opened his eyes to know that the Insurgency war in Borno and other states in the north east would take a long time to end because of the proliferation of arms and ammunitions in in the Sahel regions of Libya, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali which are being smuggled into the contry through unapproved routes’’ .
The recent takeover of the Communities along the Damaturu , capital of Yobe state and Maiduguri , Capital of Borno state, Express way, where many people were said to have been stranded between last Sunday and Monday by suspected BokoHaram Insurgents who launched fresh attacks on the Communities was a clear indication that the fighters of the Islamic Fundamentalist Group have infiltrated everywhere in the two states . This may have made it possible for them to easily carry out their underground warfare against the soldiers that had resulted in the killing of innocent people. One of the Communities that was said to have been affected in the attack was Jakana, in Konduga Local government Area of Borno .
The Jakana village attack may have attracted the attention of the soldiers stationed around the area who were said to have rushed to the scene and engaged the Insurgents in a fierce battle on Monday, January 27, 201020 . The BokoHaram fighters, according to eyewitness account were forced to flee.
Many believe that if Bukola Saraki, a former governor of Kwara state and President of the 8th Senate, and his Colleagues had approved the $1 billion or N360 billion requesedt of the President to buy arms and ammunition for the military in his first term in office, the security situation in the country could not have been as bad as it is today. Saraki and his Colleagues were said to have played politics with it as they refused to give approval to the Presidential request but rather called for the sack of the service Chiefs. .
Angered by the action of Saraki and his Colleagues, the President was sa said to have told them sacking the Service Chiefs was not the problem as their’’ responsibility is to issue instructions to the Commanders and ensure that they were carried out’’.
He was said to have challenged the Senators to find out if the soldiers actually have sufficient weapon, , given sufficient incentives and have adequate manpower to fight the Insurgents rather than calling for their removal.
This is where Lawan , the Senate President may have to make the difference by throwing his weight behind every move by the President to solve the security challenges of the country. Already , he has promised to come hard on the Insurgents in the north east and the bandits in the north west to force them to capitulate .
Garba Shehu, a senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity , had said that the Katsina state born Nigerian President is the’’ best man that could destroy the BokoHaram Insurgents in the north east and bring an end to the carnage in the region’’.
According to him, ‘’the President is really working hard to keep the region, and indeed, Nigerians out of the harm, the terrorists had unleashed in the entire Sahel and Sub-Saharan Africa’’. President Buhari is going to finish off these terrorists. He, alone can do it, he had said. The Buhari Media Aide noted that Enyinnaya Abaribe, the Senate minority leader recent call for the President to resign for failing to fulfill his electioneering Campaign promises of solving the security Challenge of the country was most unfortunate as the’’ PDP, his party, had raped the nation and left it collapsing in 2015’’.
Garba, who noted that ’’ there are millions of other Nigerians in government employ including the Lawmakers who need to resign’’. He cited the Opposition PDP, minority leader, who unlocked the Senate Chambers door, to facilitate the escape of traitorous and treasonable suspects’’. He had alluded to the escape of Saraki, a former Senate President, and Ike Ekweremadu, the PDP elected Deputy Senate President in the 8th National Assembly , when the Department of State Services, DSS, personnel came after them over alleged offence against the state.
Despite the reassurance by Garba that, the President has all it takes to destroy the BokoHaram Insurgents, feelers from the major stakeholders in the nation’s security circles including the police Authorities, shows that they have thrown their weight behind the introduction of Community policing.
Signs that the President was really worried over the National Assembly call for the sack of the service Chiefs or be forced to resign , may have informed why he quickly invited them for a closed door meeting at the Council Chambers less than 24 hours after the Senators emotional outburst.
Those present at the closed door meeting at the Council Chambers, chaired by the President, were Yemi Osibanjo, the Vice President, Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to the President, ashir Salihi Magashi,a retird Major General and minister of Defense Raf Aregbeso, a former governor of Osun state and minister of , Interior, the service Chiefs and the Heads of the DSS, NIA and DMI. Also, in attendance was Babagana Munguno, a retired Major General and National Security Adviser, NSA.
Although, Munguno, the NSA, had told Journalists who had laid ambush at the State House to know the outcome of the top security meeting , that the resolutions of the Gbjabiamila led House of Representatives for the sack of the service Chiefs did not come up for discussion but many accepted the Statement with a pinch of salt . He had volunteered information that the essence of the quarterly National security Council, NSC, meeting was to appraise the country’s security situation with a view to determining the best options available to tackle the crisis.
Given an insight account about the meeting, he said, the major outcome was the’ ’resolve to deepen Collaboration between the government agencies and the bigger society. Many knew that that the days of the service Chiefs are numbered with the top security meeting as the President cannot afford to ignore the call of the Lawmakers to sack the service Chiefs because of the implication.
Meanwhile, Lawan , the Senate President and his Coleaques, appear to have thrown their weight behind Community policing . Already Adamu, the Inspector General of Police, IGP, has appeared before the Senators on invitation over the country nagging security issues and to shed more lights on the progress made so far on the Community policing, meant to curb the escalating security crisis in the country.
