MOST newspapers across Nigeria on Tuesday May 19th, 2015,
came out with almost the same bold headline:
“Buhari slams military
for hiring mercenaries”, with a small rider which says “it is a shame
it can’t secure 14 out of 774 LGAs in the country”. The retired Army
Major General was speaking when the elite members of the Arewa
Consultative Forum paid him a courtesy visit in Kaduna.
Ordinarily, President Muhammadu Buhari, ought not to be
challenged on this subject matter for some reasons. One, he is a
retired major general of the Nigerian Army. Two, he has seen
hostility during his days as a combatant. Three, he once led an
onslaught, during his service days, against another religious
insurgents [not of class of Boko Haram though] in the Northeast of
the country, when he even pursued them [insurgents] into Republic
of Chad territory during the days of Shehu Shagari in the Second
Republic. Four and most importantly [for the purpose of this
discussion], Buhari was the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian
Armed Forces for twenty months after overthrowing the
democratically elected government of the Second Republic.
The man was on his professional terrain therefore when he passed
that damned judgement on his own constituency which is the
military. If it is agreed that a former military commander, a former
military Head of State, a former Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian
Armed Forces was better positioned to say what he said, that itself
will be suggestive of precluding any counter opinion on the subject
matter from other quarters, most importantly, from any “bloody
civilian”. But to come to such conclusion shall remain another
fallacy of historical presentation, again, for some cogent reasons.
There are too many military strategists all over the world who are
not professional soldiers, yet they are the beacon or custodian of
knowledge in technics wars, impacting same to the professional
soldierswho go to fight battles with excellent results. Go to the best
military academies all over the world, you will discover that most
acclaimed excellent and brilliant officers with glorious war
achievement records passed through the tutelage of these “bloody
civilians” strategists. What this has proved is the fact that military
knowledge in prosecution of warfare is not an exclusive monopoly
of professional soldiers.
Another reason is the fact that machineries of prosecuting war, like
arms, ammunitions, other hardware [which included but not limited
to tank, armoured personnel carrier, night vision goggle, bulletproof
vests, helicopter gunship, bomber planes plus other heavy and light
equipment of the Navy are products manufactured by institutions
outside the military. These institutions are primarily properties and
jurisdiction of the civilians’ community which the military in Nigeria
would arrogantly refer to as “bloody civilian”.
We can go on and on to articulate many other reasons why military
operational knowledge is no more exclusive property of retired
military officers like the case at hand –”Buhari slams military for
hiring mercenaries”. Let us move on to discuss the issue but not
without giving another reason in a very recent case when the
Nigerian Military High Command was chastised by another former
retired four star general of the Nigerian Army, a former Head of
State, Olusegun Obasanjo and the reply the military top hierarchy
gave to “Oga”.
Unfortunately the acrimonious altercation was about President
Buhari and his certificate; which he claimed was with the Army
Headquarters. The Army HQ replied their former C-in-C in a
particular manner which irked General Obasanjo, and in his usual
character, “washed down” the Army HQ “for not displaying proper
military respectful conduct in dealing with their superior”. In putting
the record straight, while replying “Oga” Obasanjo on the matter,
the Military High Command affirmed that “it could be that their
former C-in-C [Obasanjo] is out of tune with the modern day trend in
the military, either in training, operation and other procedure”. That
was enough word for General Obasanjo on the subject matter. It is
also enough revelation for us; mostly the “bloody civilians”, and of
course to the “have-been-to” retired military officers, that
sometimes, their military knowledge, when they were there in active
service, might have been outdated.
Coming down to the matter in discuss, the newspapers’ report of
Tuesday, May 19th, quoted Buhari as having expressed
“disappointment with the way the military handled the war against
insurgency in the North East, wondering why the military could not
secure 14 out of the 774 local government councils in the country
without the assistance of ‘South African mercenaries’”.One only
hope that Buhari’s outburst against the military at this time is not
against the background of his certificate matter narrated above and
the way the military High Command responded to it because Oga
Buhari neither need to have been disappointed nor even wondered,
and this is for simple reasons.
One, the Nigerian military sent to the war “was not waiting for the
South African mercenaries” but were waiting for modern weapon of
warfare. They were waiting because over thirty years, all previous
Head of States and Presidents, including Buhari[Military Head of
State from 1984 -1986], refused to equip the military with modern
warfare weapons. So the military waited [oh, they were dying while
supposedly waiting as troops and officers were being slaughtered
on daily basis by the more equipped Boko Haram insurgents]until
President Goodluck Jonathan procured all the necessary weapons,
hence the difference that has told the history of victory we now have
in the North East.
Two, military philosophy of going to war [holy war as the theory
implies] is to “annex, defeat and conquer”. The Boko Haram group,
made up of well-trained soldiers with sophisticated modern weapon
of war, came to annex, defeat and conquer, just like their brothers
[ISIS] are doing in the Middle-east, but it is now a fact of history
that with the modern war weapons Jonathan procured, the same
Nigerian military revised the situation –not one local government
out of 774 in Nigeria is in the hands of any insurgents, even as of
the time the Buhari spoke. My conclusion is that President Buhari
ought to praise and eulogise his “boys”, with a standing ovation, for
“following the very good operational procedure he bequeathed on
them”.
This copy was sent in before the inauguaration of President
Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr. Godwin Etakibuebu, a commentator on public affairs, wrote
from Lagos.
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