Win or quit! That is the marching order of Nigerians to the newly appointed service chiefs. Nigerians are currently groaning under the reign of insecurity, including banditry, kidnapping, insurgency among others.
President Muhammadu Buhari, after foot-dragging for a long period, only a few days ago, gave the former service chiefs the boot even though their exit was garbed as “immediate resignation from office and service.” The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina announced the changes.
The sacked officers are Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas, and the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
The new service chiefs are CDS, Maj.-Gen. Lucky Irabor; COAS, Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru; CNS, Rear Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo; and the CAS, Air Vice-Marshal Isiaka Amao. But appraising the development, many eminent Nigerians, comprising governors, lawyers, security experts and non-governmental organisations, noted that the new service chiefs must endeavour to live up to expectations in providing security in the polity.
Describing the current security situation in the country as ‘embarrassing’, they urged the new service chiefs to begin immediately to wage a serious war on the vices undermining the nation’s integrity.
Former Commissioner of Police at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lawrence Alobi, said, “The expectations on them are high, they should be proactive, plan, synergise with other security agencies so that Nigerians can finally sleep with their eyes closed.”
A former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abdul Oroh, advised the new helmsmen to step up their games in providing security to Nigerians. Nigerians, he said, will no longer tolerate excuses.
He also canvassed that the immediate past COAS, Buratai and his colleagues should as a matter of urgency declare their assets before Nigerians. Oroh, a lawyer and former commissioner in Edo State, said the former service chiefs should be able to explain to Nigerians how they got whatever they had, ‘’because they have not worked in anywhere else except in the Services’’
Many Nigerians also took to the social media to set an agenda for the new service chiefs. They want the new men to get cracking, and give the nation a new lease of life. Samuel Nseabasi said, “Nigeria should try to eliminate insecurity before it gets out of hand. A country can only grow when people of good character are the leaders.”
Why new service chiefs can’t afford to fail
According to another respondent and security expert, Patrick Ikpeme, Nigeria is still far from the shores of peace and so needs officers with winning mentality. He said, “Apart from the particularly challenging nature of staff morale, the Nigerian military is overstretched and underfunded.
“In a war situation as we have today, morale and public support are as important as the actual war on the ground. “There are pressing challenges on insurgency and anti-Jihadism in the North-East and banditry in the North-West, as well as communal conflicts in central Nigeria.
“Separatist tensions in the South-East and piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, as well as kidnapping elsewhere, are still common. Nigeria is in a precarious situation and therefore needs officers with winning spirit to confront this war.
‘’Their successes or failures could have wide-reaching consequences: insecurity across Nigeria means that businesses are highly concentrated in Lagos, the economic hub, further deepening inequality,’’ the report added.
’Most people have no choice but to live in areas that are unsafe. People can’t farm, can’t work their crops, and that has implication on poverty rates.” An SBM Intelligence analyst, Ikemesit Effiong, told AFP, “Insecurity has a wider social and political cost.
“Every part of the country is dealing with a near-existential security challenge. Nigeria has ongoing military operations in 35 out of the 36 states.’’ The new changes are expected to breathe new life into the ranks of the top echelon of the military. Analysts, however, are concerned that the security overhaul might not bring overnight change to the security architecture in the country but could signal a key first step.
The new commanders may initially battle with the problem of attracting public confidence in their leadership. Already, residents of restive Maiduguri, the hotbed of Boko Haram activities, are greeting the news of the change of service chiefs with a renewed hope for change.
Kyari Sherif, a businessman told an international news outlet, “It is a thing of celebration in Maiduguri. Everyone is happy about the new development.” An estimated 36,000 people have died since the insurgency began in the North-East. An Abuja-based think tank, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), noted that ‘there is the need for a complete review of the counter-insurgency strategy’ if Boko Haram and the Islamic state affiliate, ISWAP, which controls large rural areas and roads in the region, where they kidnap and kill soldiers, civilians, and NGO workers, were to be defeated.
ACF, Afenifere, Ohaneze, PANDEF’s reaction Ethnic groups, who had been pushing for the sacking of the former chiefs include the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere; Middle Belt Forum (MBF); Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), as well as the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohaneze Ndigbo, challenged the new appointees to help bring sanity in the nation’s security.
ACF National Publicity Secretary, Emmanuel Yawe, said, “The cry for this change was everywhere. We only hope the new chiefs will justify the confidence the president has placed in them.’’
Afenifere’s national spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, stated, “He (the President) has not done a special favour to make us jump in joy. The nepotic way he has handled the security sector has created damage that will take a lot of time to repair if we shall ever be able.’’
The President of Middle Belt Forum, MBF, Dr. Pogu Bitrus, said, “These changes are coming a bit late in the day. The situation didn’t have to start degenerating to the level it is now before effecting the changes because as we are talking now, it is like we have already gone to war.’’
In its reaction, PANDEF, through its National Publicity Secretary, Ken Robinson, lauded Buhari on the new appointments. The national co-ordinator of Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum and former Ohanaeze leader, Chief Nnia Nwodo, berated non-inclusion of the Igbo in the new security arrangement.
“Buhari, thanks for making us in Igboland feel, once more, that we are not fit to head any of the security services.” Radical lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr. Mike Ozekhome, faulted Buhari for congratulating ‘the recently resigned service chiefs’ for their ‘overwhelming achievements’. Ozekhome condemned what he described the ‘purported resignation,’ instead of outright sacking, as ‘mere soft-landing provided for the service chiefs, who many Nigerians have for long clamoured to be sacked for their inability to proffer solutions to the spate of insecurity in the country.’ He described the outgone service chiefs as ‘tired necks.’
However, a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Jonah Wuyep (retd) expressed the confidence that the new service chiefs appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari would succeed in their task of tackling insecurity in the country. Wuyep, who spoke with one of our correspondents in Jos, said, ‘’I have so much confidence in the new Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Amao. “Amao is a brilliant and outstanding officer who would do well as Chief of Air Staff. He has the requisite experience for his new job.
“With his core competencies in strong leadership and professional skills, Amao had brought his wealth of experience to bear on all his assignments in the Air Force.’’ To succeed, Wuyep advised the new service chiefs to work as a team, even as he stated that they needed the right equipment to ensure they defeat criminal elements in the country.
On his part, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, challenged the new service chiefs to see their appointments as an opportunity to re-commit to the nation’s security architecture which, according to him, “has suffered a tremendous setback in the last five years.” Wike added, “This is an opportunity to serve the nation and I believe that the new service chiefs will be focused and dedicated
Action plans
In 2019, the army launched its “Super Camps Strategy”, calculated at reducing the number of smaller bases and fortifying larger ones to limit exposure of troops on the ground.
A careful appraisal of situation showed that between 2013 and 2015, Boko Haram insurgents were at their worst, claiming territories and establishing caliphates, but counter-insurgency operations have since surged post-2015 to reduce conflict.
According to a report, the super camp strategy was developed as a module to give the Nigerian Army a psychological advantage, in two critical components.
The report said, “One is taking the fight to the enemies in their domains, as against what was obtainable in the past where troops would wait for Boko Haram terrorists to bring the battle to them. ’The second component involves a routine introduction of counter-insurgency strategies that always takes the Boko Haram fighters unawares.’’
There is also a growing challenge of unemployment in the country, and this impacts a lot on national security.
For instance, a youth group, Yoruba Professionals Foundation (YPF), has warned South-West governors to ‘prioritize jobs or watch insecurity get out of control’.
“A trillion-naira budgetary allocation to Amotekun, police and army cannot quench insecurity where youth unemployment reigns supreme”, the group said in a statement issued by the president, Maxwell Adeleke and Director of Research and Strategy, Olawale Kadri.
The group said security challenges in the region posed a great threat to development and foreign direct investments.
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“According to a United Nations data, over 69 per cent of our population are below the age of 35 and unfortunately, the majority of crimes are perpetrated by people who fall between ages 20 and 35. This is the most active age in human life,” it said.
Also, Imo State governor, Hope Uzodinma, recently raised the alarm that the current wave of insecurity in the country is the worst in the nation’s history. He listed factors such as ethnicity, religious difference, illiteracy, unemployment, poverty and perennial problem of porous borders as causes and anatomy of insecurity in Nigeria.
“Poverty, according to him, is the strongest of the factors causing insecurity in the country.
The governor said, “Since going by available statistics, 51.4 per cent or 98 million Nigerians are living in penury with attendant penchant for crimes and criminality. It is hoped that the new change of guard will record tremendous success in the war against terrorism and insecurity in the country.”
The new warring generals
The new CDS, Delta State-born Irabor, was a member of the Regular Course 39 of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA). He served as a Commander of the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) of the Nigerian Army in Minna, Niger State. He also served as the Chief of Training and Operations (CTOP) at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja, as well as the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole. Irabor, an engineer and former Chief of Staff to the COAS, also headed the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) as the field commander.
The new army chief, Attahiru, was the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division, Nigerian Army. He had a running battle with Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East in May 2017, and was later redeployed by the then COAS, Buratai, after a string of news-making attacks by insurgents in Borno State.
Amao, the Osogbo, Osun State born air chief enlisted into NAF on January 19, 1984 as a member of the 35 Regular Course of the NDA. A former trainee/squadron pilot at Kainji, Niger State (1993-2004) and instructor/pilot at the 301 Flying Training School (FTS) in Kaduna (2004-2007), Amao served the Chief of Air Staff and Deputy Defence Adviser at the Nigerian High Commission in London. He was also an Assistant Director of Operations at the Defence Headquarters and Director of Policy and Plans at NAF headquarters. His last posting was as the Commandant of Armed Forces Resettlement Centre (AFRC) in Oshodi, Lagos.
The new Navy chief, Gambo, who hails from Nasarawa in Kano State, was born on April 22, 1966. He enlisted into the Nigerian Navy on September 24, 1984 as a member of Regular Course 36 and was commissioned a Sub-Lieutenant on September 24, 1988.
An underwater warfare specialist with a sub-specialisation in Intelligence, Gambo attended several military courses locally and abroad. An alumnus of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State, he also attended the South African National Defence College. Until his recent appointment as the CNS, he was the Director of Procurement at the Defence Space Administration.
