This is one article I never wanted to write because it concerned our military. I have tremendous respect for our Armed Forces and I appreciate the sacrifice they make to keep the country safe. I have friends and relatives in the military. I have lost some of them in this never-ending war in the North and general insecurity across the country. I am never happy to see our military vanquished, especially by some ragtag bandits.
I first read on the social media that bandits invaded the Afaka Barracks of the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA) where they operated for hours without hindrance and in the process killed two senior officers identified as Lieutenant Commodore Wullah and Lieutenant Okoronkwo. They abducted Major Dalung, whom they took away. Sadly, the body of Major Dalung was later found. They killed him and still had the nerve to contact the Academy to demand for a ransom payment of N200 million. I must admit that I initially dismissed the story as fake because I couldn’t figure what gave bandits the nerve and audacity to infiltrate the Defence Academy and successfully execute a terrorist act with precision and not even one of the attackers was arrested or killed.
I was in this state of denial when eventually the spokesperson of the Academy, Bahir Muhd Jaajira issued a statement confirming the incident. He said: “The security architecture of NDA was compromised by unknown gunmen who gained access into the residential area within the Academy. During the unfortunate incident, we lost two personnel and one was abducted.
“The Academy, in collaboration with the 1 Division Nigerian Army and Air Training Command as well as other security agencies in Kaduna State, has since commenced pursuit of the unknown gunmen within the general area with a view to tracking them and rescuing the abducted personnel.” The increase in general insecurity and now the invasion of our National Defence Academy continues the unravelling of APC led administration in Nigeria. The NDA debacle is an event that would never be forgotten in a hurry. This is an event worse than the Chibok moment because this attacked the heart of our military as an institution. When history looks back at this moment, it’s going to be a big deal. It’s going to be recorded and covered as one of the worst catastrophes in our war against terror for the following reasons: the failure of this administration to anticipate what they should have known. What the red lights were flashing the whole time was that Kaduna has been under attack and that securitymen and their facilities were targets of obvious attacks and as such ought to be alert and vigilant.
Sometime before now and in this column, I had written that terrorists and terrorists sympathizers have infiltrated all sections of our government, including the presidency, the National Assembly and the Judiciary. I have questioned the process of recruitment into our armed forces. The zeal to dominate others by filling people of a particular section of the country into every post and positions means there will be no proper scrutiny of the intakes and recruits, and that we are no longer building a National Army but a tribal and sectional army.
When we open our borders for every Fulani from Mali to Central African Republic, Sudan and Niger to surge into Nigeria as citizens and are issued with Nigeria National Identity Card, it means the country is gone. It means Nigeria is being handed over to foreign criminals. These new elements are not like us and never co-existed like us. They should be sent away because they are destroying our country.
The ease with which the security architecture of our Defence Academy was compromised is an indication that we are either careless or that we have insider active collaborators or both. It’s rather shameful that the bandits operated freely for hours, killed our officers, abducted one whom they later killed and fled without any resistance. It means we have an army that has lost the will to fight. It means that our enemies are neither fearful nor afraid of us.
What kind of army do we have? What happened to training and courage? What happened to all our investment on equipment? Even if all our Army personnel do is to frolic and drink pepper soup and beer, they shouldn’t put us into this kind of shame. If the army cannot defend their barracks and formations, if they cannot protect their wives and daughters from being raped and assaulted right inside their barracks it means they cannot defend the people and the nation.
It’s a shame Nigeria is collapsing right before our eyes. It’s a shame we don’t have security anymore and a bigger shame that no single place in Nigeria is safe and sacred anymore. I think everything is broken. I am saddened and deeply embarrassed by the record of this diabolical government. I am ashamed to admit some of the things happening in this country to my foreign friends but I am not surprised because this is the price and consequence of nepotism and weak leadership.
I imagine if I am the president and the invasion of our Defence Academy happened under my watch, what will I do? I will be addressing the nation. I will send a clear message to the bandits, terrorists and all those operating outside the boundaries of law; I will tell them in an unmistaken term that enough is enough! I will order them to surrender within 48 hours or be completely wiped out, and it doesn’t matter which faction of the terror group is involved in the attack. I will demand that they surrender and submit their guns or be killed. I will order the military to put down anyone with military grade weapons.
I will give the Service Chiefs a marching order to destroy all terrorists and terrorist enclaves. I will send our soldiers to the caves, the hills, the forests to wherever the terrorists may be, smoke them out and put them down. I will ensure there is no space allowed for them anywhere in Nigeria.
I will send a clear message to all terrorists that no ransom will be paid for any abduction and that anyone involved in abduction and insurgency will be summarily killed. I will ensure every of my words are met with profound actions. I will not project weakness but strength and confidence.
Unfortunately, I am not the president. I am only a political writer. But knowing this president and his antecedents, he will be expecting these terrorists to suddenly repent and be of good behaviour. But having tasted blood, they will not stop the bloodletting.
But knowing this president, he will be pleading with them to stop killing us. He will be trusting them with our safety and security. Knowing this government, a negotiation with the terrorist is already going on and the CBN Governor will be ordered to open the vault to pay out ransom money to the terrorists in any currency of their choice. This insider trading must stop and we have many examples of how our own government has enabled these criminals.
You don’t placate bloodthirsty terrorists; you put them down! Because if you pay a dime, they will ask for a pound. Their greed is elastic and insatiable. You cannot end their activities with platitudes. That’s not the language they understand.
Knowing this government, the terrorists will be taken selfies with some top government executives and clerics and posting on Facebook. Knowing this government, some of the terrorists will sooner than later be recruited into our military and police force so long as it serves some sinister agenda. If this government is not ashamed of what is going on, let me say to them that we are ashamed. We are infuriated by what is going on and all we want from them is not even a new Nigeria anymore as that will be a tall order but to return us to where we were in 2015.