Buratai and the price for National Honour

I reflected intensely, on the presidential and National Assembly elections held February 23, 2019. My thoughts meandered far and near.  The gory images of violence before and after the elections kept assaulting my psyche. I feared and dreaded February 23. I wanted to relocate to a neighboring country for safety. I wasn’t alone in this […]

I reflected intensely, on the presidential and National Assembly elections held February 23, 2019. My thoughts meandered far and near.  The gory images of violence before and after the elections kept assaulting my psyche. I feared and dreaded February 23. I wanted to relocate to a neighboring country for safety.

I wasn’t alone in this cage. Nigerians were generally apprehensive. The signposts of phobia were everywhere in the country and President Muhammadu Buhari knew it. Mr. President, a security czar of the military ilk, got the message clearly that conventional civil security alone cannot police Nigeria on Election Day and post-election period; the feverish days results are enthusiastically awaited.

Buhari knew the army is the only saving grace.  So, he called the COAS and leader of counter-terrorism in Nigeria, Lt. Gen. TY Buratai to render assistance to regular civil security. Buratai complied with the instructions of his Commander-In-Chief (C-In-C).

To this minute, I can’t believe that the elections were not only peaceful, but free, fair and credible. The trouble shooters dreaded the sight of soldiers in obscure localities and the amassed weapons of mass destructions were not released on Nigerians.

I know, the party thugs and their debased chieftains knew any such attempt could be met with stiffer response from the Army. And as far as I know Gen. Buratai, the culprits will not escape. They will be hunted to the remotest part of their ancestral villages or fortified dungeons.

So, they never came out to ply their violent trade. And Nigeria is happier.  The election observers from the international community are more excited and have argued plausibly that Nigeria did not burst into flames anymore. They have commended the Nigerian Army and indeed, sister security agents for the marvellous job.

I hate violence. I hate killings.  I hate public anger expressed with swords and daggers. I understand, there is no admissible theory which prescribes absence of conflict, where human beings co-exist.  But dialogue is usually the way out. Where angst rise to the point of violence, I detest it infinitely.  But Gen. Buratai and the Army he leads have saved us again.

And it is the reason which has prompted me to scribble this piece. Gen. Buratai is always there at the hour of need.  He thinks Nigeria at all times. He thinks the security, peace and unity of Nigeria. I am hued from a military family. But in recent times, no Army General has impressed me like Gen. Buratai.  Most of us may not understand, the inferno Nigeria faced until President Buhari came on board and appointed Gen. Buratai as COAS with the silent message that “make your troops available for internal security, anytime I so request.”

We have remained the only country in Africa with multiple insecurity threats. Each time I reflect on it, I am always tempted to dismiss our nation, as a failed state. But when I look at President Buhari, he rekindles my hope and animates my faith in this country. He actions assures me that we shall not slide dangerously into perdition.

Those who attempted to compromise the electoral process in the first round of the elections met their waterloo. Soldiers arrested and handed them over to the Police for prosecution. We enjoy post-election peace today because Gen. Buratai was the silent “emperor” or shadows of peaceful elections or the omniscient eye watching over the security of Nigeria.

I don’t know when President Buhari is holding the next national merit award. But may I talk to my President publicly on this forum. Your Excellency, Sir, the COAS, Lt.Gen.  Tukur Yusufu Buratai is eminently qualified for the 2019 national merit honors in Nigeria.  I am a citizen of Nigeria from Nasarawa state and Gen. Buratai is my nominee.

I am not passing this message through a third party. Mr. President, my political leader,  I am addressing you publicly and directly.  I won’t suggest the title of the national merit honours you will confer on Gen. Buratai. But I know,  if you grant my request, you will give him one of very best on behalf of Nigerians in appreciation of his service to fatherland.

 

Odoma wrote this piece from Asokoro, Abuja.