“Every country has its own profile or peculiarity in the way of equipment, training and technology. As an independent, free nation, we have the liberty to train in all these countries, learn how they fight, their techniques, which are invariably peculiar to their environment and circumstances. We gain by bringing these experiences together and then project our own profile. We cannot sleep on one side. The flexibility of the Nigerian pilot was a great advantage to our campaigns in Liberia.”
– Air Marshal Essien Eduok (rtd.) to America Mi Dream Magazine, 1998.
There is nothing as bewildering, frightening as the sound of mad aircraft. Everybody caught inside the theatre of war knows the devastating effects of these swooping birds. The jets swoop down from the south and head north, suddenly they tumble down from the west. Air raids are unspeakably shattering. Nigeria’s air power secured Liberia, and its biting capability was later to safeguard democracy in Sierre-Leone. The Air Force created the myth surrounding the superiority of ECOMOG. This is incontrovertible as most of the foreign soldiers didn’t know the lay of the land and depended on the Nigerian Air Force for reconnaissance and logistics. Yahya Jammeh was privy to this military information. Indeed Nigerian pilots are formidable, reliable and a breed of their kind. Nigerian pilots spin the aircraft and international instructors are amazed at the way the pilots make their maneuvers. They cannot believe what they see whenever a Nigerian test pilot moves into the cockpit. I was not there in Gambia in the last hours of ex-President Yahya Jammeh but it is clear to me that, after watching Nigerian pilots and the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) swoop and perform “Na God Win…” in the air, Jammeh did not need any other deadline to pack bag and baggage to a disgraceful exile.
However, the greatest surprise in the whole drama was the fact that his escaping plane was provided by our own senior Governor of Rome, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Who sent “Kissinger” Tinubu to Gambia? What is his brief and who is he representing? Let the governors of Rome, if they like, swallow the entire budget of the people to pay their pension and change their exotic cars. The absurdity of the whole weekend’s drama ended in a fast, final climax. The mother of all Governors of Rome, Yahya Jammeh, is a coward, a thief and may Equatorial Guinea recover for the famished Gambians all the looted properties that belonged to the people.
The final resolution of the Jammeh drag was the takeover of the Gambian airspace by Nigerian air power.
“It is a concept,” according to Air Marshal Eduok, “that redefines the classic military objective of wars. Before the advent of air power, the objective was to destroy and occupy the enemy’s territory. Air power avoids the surface forces of land and sea and seeks to destroy the enemy’s will to fight as well as its ability to resist. The planes scale through those barriers and strike at the enemy’s population, industries and the sustaining economy collapses. In that role, the airplane can no longer serve as an appendix to the surface forces. Air power has its own characteristic, which is inherent in its capability to project military influence rapidly over distances against many and varied threats, hitting them with devastating power.” Goodbye bad news Yahya Jammeh, Senior Governor of Rome.
What the people say….
Emma, I love your article on the Governors of Rome, you were right on your game. It’s about time somebody talked to these Governors of Rome.
-Biodun, Ibadan. 08024456451
Mr. Emma, I always appreciate your great column. Please, it’s a historical fact that ORON UNION founded in 1925 is the oldest Parapo Union in Nigeria not the Ibibio Union. Methodist Boys High School, founded in 1905, is the oldest secondary school in this part of the world. I’m inviting you to Oron to see for yourself.
-Salem Ewang, Esq. 08172560115
I’m still following you on the pages of Daily Sun. Thank you for your erudite presentations while awaiting your trilogy.
-Oge Ezeajugh, Awka. 08037411328
I appreciate you for reminding northern Christians of the role they played in the genocide of the Igbos and other easterners in the 1960s. The Danjumas and Gowons of this world and others should solve the problem they created now that they are still alive, because, if they die and the problem persists, their souls will not rest in peace. Thanks a lot for your pan-Igbo position.
-Chiboy Isiogu, Lagos. 09071410796
I am very shocked by your revelations on the January and July counter-coups. I thank you and I appreciate all the recent information that has changed the history of the Nigerian civil war. Please, I’m awaiting the publication of all your books. The tears of the elders drop in the mind. As we reminisce on the atrocious, and betrayal of Akajiaku Mbonu, here we are with mind boggling revelations. No coup or counter-coup succeeds without the active participation of our northern Christian soldier brothers.
-T.P. Ekpenyong, Akwa Ibom. 07055957750
I read with great pain your Jan 15, Fajuyi and the Northern Christians write-up. To sum up, the snake will always beget what is long. We Igbos have to learn fast and stop sabotaging ourselves.
-Michael Ibiam Eze. 08069576470
I have thirsted for a handshake with you. Your column refreshes my pride. Today was good; the revelation on Fajuyi was educative. May God abide with you.
-Barr. I.E. Chukwu, Aba. 080378918100
You need to read the advertorial of the family of the late Col. Yakubu Pam and learn treachery first-hand. Major Chukwuka, Pam’s 2IC, snatched him from his wife and children and handed him over to Anuforo to shoot to death. Remember Pam it was who alerted Ironsi of disturbances in the Army.
-M.T. Usman. 08180641462
A good article. Whatever a man sows, he reaps at the appropriate time. What goes around comes around. Well done sir.
-Barr. Patrick Okwuaya, Surulere, Lagos.
Emma, God bless you. They have forgotten all the atrocities they, northern Christians, committed against us. Danjuma, “Jerry Boy” Useni, Paul Tarfa, etc, owe us a sincere apology. They tortured and killed our brothers because of this people that have turned against them. Look at Makurdi, Benue, Kaduna, all of them killed easterners and yet no recognised apology. They kept silent when we were killed. May this make them repent and be their bother’s keeper, as we are. Thanks.
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