In concluding this series started two weeks ago on the threat posed to our security by the National Security Adviser (NSA) Babagana Monguno, it is tragic to note that, in this country, when one raises an issue as strong as the security of the country that is of concern to all of us as citizens, some sympathizers of the accused (I don’t want to call them emergency hired writers) deliberately forget to address the main issues at stake and more often than not touch on the personality of the person making the point. It is saddening that some people think Nigerian journalists cannot hold an opinion without being paid.
The headline of one article reads: “NSA, ex-military chiefs media war gets nastier as EFCC joins the fray.”
Apart from deviating from the other issue of high-scale corruption in the office of the NSA, with one of his closest lieutenants accused of unprecedented graft, the headline suggests the former service chiefs have hired some journalists or writers to defend them and castigate NSA Monguno.
For me, it is a cheap way of discrediting the efforts of patriots who have taken it upon themselves, even at great risk to their lives, to defend the interest of Nigeria by exposing the too-many inadequacies of Monguno. The fact remains that, even if the man is not afflicted with a diarrhea of the mouth, he should be replaced as the coordinator of the nation’s security architecture because he has failed very woefully and dismally in doing that job.
For me in particular, I always emphasise the fact that I have never been a consultant to any branch of the security or intelligence services. I have friends in both, though, just as most senior editors have. A key part of what makes an editor’s job easy is an extensive network of contacts. But even at that, my eldest biological son, Adam, applied to join the Nigerian Army through the Direct Short Service twice, in 2019 and 2020, and was rejected both times. The records are there for anyone to confirm. What this means is that I did not even take advantage of my knowledge of some senior military officers to my advantage.
There are far many editors like that, and some of them have purely on their own written against Monguno, not for the reason of personal hatred but simply because the man is the exact definition of inefficiency and failure mixed together. None of these writers has anything personal against Monguno. In fact, most of us have never even met the man or ever had anything to do with him as a person. For me personally, Monguno is one person I pray I don’t get to meet at all. I like meeting people that can inspire me positively, and he does not strike me as such a person. All I want from him is good (not even excellent) service delivery. Sadly, he could not even give this nation the barest minimum. Perhaps, in his heart of hearts, he wants to give his best for Nigeria, but then you cannot give what you do not have. And sentiments should have no room in national security considerations.
For the past two months (we are now in the third month) since the retirement of the immediate past service chiefs, we have witnessed as Nigerians how the security of this country has been jumping from bad to worse. We have seen attacks increasing in states that were hitherto peaceful, and we have witnessed how audacious the terrorists and bandits have continued to be. Maiduguri was plunged into total darkness for the second time in two months. And the Borno State capital was almost taken over by Boko Haram terrorists all within the past few days or weeks. The educational system is facing the greatest challenge of its life, with different schoolchildren across different states getting kidnapped by bandits, almost at will. Areas that were recovered by the military are now being lost.
Only two days ago, the British government expressed worry over what it rightly called “the deteriorating security situation in Nigeria.” Though the new service chiefs mean well and are trying their best, the fact remains their achievements will forever be limited for as long as they owe allegiance to a man who personifies failure in virtually all ramifications.
The key statutory function of the NSA is the coordination of the nation’s security architecture. To break it down, he has a responsibility to ensure that the security and intelligence services work together as a team. And to further break it down, his work entails ensuring that, even within the security or intelligence services, there is harmony.
The reason is simple: no matter how strong or effective the military may be, its achievements can at best only be very limited in as much as it is not getting the proper intelligence from the institutions saddled with that task. That also includes building a civilian intelligence network because, globally, the civil populace drive intelligence.
In Nigeria, however, we have a situation where a mutual hatred has continued to increase between the civil populace and the military and the police force. This is even more so in Borno, Monguno’s state of origin, where the military has been alleging the locals (or many of them) have been cooperating with terrorists, giving them shelter and tips about troops’ movements. In other words, the locals are helping the enemies of all of us with vital information that has been leading to the killing of tens or probably hundreds of our gallant troops. The last Army Chief had tried to court the civil populace by setting up a human rights desk and a strong Civil-Military Relations Directorate. But without a similar effort from the NSA, that alone could not do all the job.
When in 2009 Boko Haram took up arms against the Nigerian State, Monguno was already the Chief of Defence Intelligence of this country. Under his watch, Boko Haram grew from strength to strength, from a ragtag army to one that was once described by America’s intelligence services as the most brutal terrorist organisation in the world.
Unless we decide to call the spade another name, the sad reality is that, if Monguno were a superstar or even ordinarily adept at his work, he would have stopped Boko Haram in their tracks from the point they waxed violent. He was not only Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Intelligence for the first two years of the Boko Haram war, but a large bunch of Boko Haram members were, with all due respect, members of his own ethnic group, from his own backyard.
A national security adviser who knows his onions would have deployed his knowledge of the local environment to nip the Boko Haram tragedy in the bud, especially as he was in a position to do so when it started. We are yet to know if Monguno had achieved anything positive at all within the more than two years he held stay as our Chief of Defence Intelligence.
But even a small child knows the man failed woefully to contain these brigands when they were tens or a few hundreds in number.
Are we not deceiving ourselves thinking he could now do so, after Boko Haram has become the deadly monster that it has become, with its soldiers said to be in several thousands?
I really sympathize with the men heading the military and the intelligence services. Everyone of them is now on his own. Only last week, obviously to get the best out of the already bad situation, the new service chiefs selflessly pledged to be taking directives from the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the gentleman officer and thoroughbred professional soldier called Lucky Irabor. No mention was made of the National Security Adviser, who is senior to the CDS in hierarchy. So what does that tell you?
President Muhammadu Buhari cannot allow the security situation of this country to continue to worsen because of the horrible inefficiency of just one man. The father of the nation should remember that security of lives and property is one of the three major things he promised Nigerians. Sadly, that has proven not achievable under an NSA that sleeps on duty.
It is the duty of all those who love our President or support him to rally round and face this hard truth. Nigeria cannot make any meaningful progress as far as its national security is concerned unless Monguno gives way for others who can do the job. The position of an NSA is not for the politically-inclined, someone whose only interest is the exoneration of himself of any blame; someone whose interest is his own person, not the system. If Monguno is frustrated as some of his supporters allege, he should have the decency to resign. That way, he will be saving precious lives being lost everyday.
Those of us who are desperate to see President Buhari succeed are pained that he has unknowingky allowed failure and inefficiency to continue to dog our security architecture. And, if Monguno has any true love for President Buhari, he should save the government the terrible embarrasement his continuous stay in office constitutes.