If, up to now, some of the topmost holders of our destiny as far as national security and intelligence do not see the need to close ranks, forget their differences and work in synergy as a team, then Nigerians should brace up to the reality that things could be messier and far worse.
Certainly, no one is a prophet of doom, but part of the complaint all over the place, when the former service chiefs retired in January last year were holding sway was that they were working at cross purposes, and that there were cases of rivalry among heads of the three services of the armed forces. While some of the claims to that effect were clearly exaggerated, given the achievements of that era, one reality the current service chiefs and their intelligence counterparts have been hiding from Nigerians is the fact that that needless rivalry is still very much in existence. And the current one is far more bitter.
I would be shocked if President Muhammadu Buhari, the commander-in-chief of the Nigerian armed forces, is not aware of this rivalry, because there is no doubt it very much exists. At a time when the Nigerian nation is faced with what could well be termed existential threats, when all good hands should be placed on deck, there is at least one minister and an adviser to the President who are jointly and at times individually collaborating to persecute one or two security or intelligence chiefs on account of their alleged closeness to one or two former service chiefs.
If the President investigates, he surely would find out that those at the receiving end of this unholy gang-up are being denied funds to run their offices. Where such funds are provided, the President will find out that only the overhead, and not the capital, is released.
The President should find out that, by acts of omission or commission, even the Federal Ministry of Finance has been hesitant in releasing funds to the agencies headed by the affected by officers.
If Mr. President is interested in fishing out who are the enemies within entangling his government as far as national security is concerned, he should commission an investigation to fathom the truth or, better still, call each and every member of the National Security Council individually and encourage them to tell him the truth, particularly as to their experiences with their supervisors or superiors. I assure Mr. President he will be shocked with the outcome.
But it is better for the President to be shocked and work things out, rather than facing the serious prospect of his legacy being completely rubbished because of one or two of his appointees to whom an over-bloated ego is more important than Nigeria’s safety. The President should remember that security was one of the major things he campaigned to improve, and Nigerians took him hook, line and sinker, because of his trademark integrity. No one is more important than the government or the nation, and those found culpable should be dealt with and treated as enemies of the nation.
Another thing the President should be interested in finding out is the truth or otherwise behind claims that some of the victims are being persecuted on account of their religion or ethnicity. If this turns out to be true, it portends very serious danger to the reality of our existence as a nation, because national unity and integration are some of the major battles this administration is trying to win, and it cannot afford to have any of its top appointees being victimized on account of primordial sentiments.
The train accident that took place earlier in the week, when a Kaduna-bound train was attacked and some of its passengers killed, revealed a lot of things that, hitherto, Nigerians knew nothing about. The Minister of Transportation was shown on national television lamenting that he once made a request before the Federal Executive Council for a surveillance equipment to be installed on all the trains, to forestall the kind of attack that ended up happening, but when he made the request, some members of the council vehemently disagreed with him, and his memo was rejected.
Of course, it is to the credit of the President that the funds for that have now been released, but it only came after heavy losses in terms of lives and properties. President Buhari should, therefore, do well to really find out whether there are other cases of this kind, where chief executives of ministries, departments and agencies would make a request and it would be sabotaged. I assure the President there are many such cases. All he needs do is to commission some people, probably outside the government, to investigate and turn over to him an unbiased report.
The train attack has also elicited all kinds of calls for our intelligence drive to be more sharpened. Some have even gone to the ridiculous extent of calling for the removal of one or two security and intelligence chiefs, for the simple reason that their sponsors want to replace those they want to be removed, or have one axe or the other to grind with those now being condemned.
God so kind, the President knows his onions as far as national security matters are concerned. President Buhari is too big to allow himself to be used by some merchants of hate whose interests have always been advancement of their own persons, and definitely not Nigeria. The a President should remember that the vociferous calls for removal of the retired service chiefs only led to a worse kind of national security that we have continued to experience, in spite of government’s genuine efforts. So, the answer does not lie in removal of any of those appointed last year. If anyone must be removed, then it has to be their supervisors appointed at the beginning of the administration, and also a minister appointed in 2019.
(To be continued)