Security Chiefs deserve commendation not condemnation

“Look at what we have on the ground before May 2015, the Boko Haram were even in Abuja,they were in Kano, they were in Kaduna. They were penetrating down to the south, we had to stop them. And for the past one and half years, we’ve not had any attack in Jos, neither in Abuja, […]

“Look at what we have on the ground before May 2015, the Boko Haram were even in Abuja,they were in Kano, they were in Kaduna. They were penetrating down to the south, we had to stop them. And for the past one and half years, we’ve not had any attack in Jos, neither in Abuja, in Kano, or in many other places, even as close as in Gombe.— Gen. TY Buatai, Nigeria’s Army Chief and Leader, counter-insurgency operations in an interview recorded and aired by BBC’s Hard Talk show, in January 2017 and rebroadcast by The News in January 2020.

In very conspicuous bias, premeditated motives and partisan undertones during plenary sessions on Wednesday, January 29, 2020, National Assembly (NASS) slammed the gavel in approval of negative resolutions on the President and our Security Chiefs.

This was after intensive debates which reviewed the state of insecurities in the country as manifest in the spate of renewed attacks and killings in parts of the country.

Some members noted the 2020 resumed pockets of onslaughts by Boko Haram/ Islamic State in West African Province (ISWAP) terrorists and suspected herdsmen, which resulted in killings of innocent Nigerians. Therefore, in their selfish thinking, they have passed a vote of no-confidence on the entire security architecture in Nigeria and senselessly endorsed their ouster.

Their sword and venom spared none. All were unfairly pulled down by NASS, from  the topmost  echelons in Nigeria’s security apparatus like the National Security Adviser (NSA), Military Chiefs, Director-General (DG), Department of State Security Service, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and other security outfits in the country in the age of Nigeria’s multifarious battles with insurgencies and insurrections.

To my mind, their deliberations on the security situation was not a bad idea. But the tenor of the debates in both chambers mesmerized me. It was not tailored towards solutions, but undisguised vindictiveness.

Only a few legislators attempted to discern the problems underneath the renewed acts of terror of different dimensions in Nigeria. None of the Heads of Nigeria’s security deserved a word of commendation and encouragement from NASS for the priceless sacrifices they have continued to make for the peace, security and progress of Nigeria.  NASS simply wished everybody goodbye for “failing” the nation.

What else could anyone expect from a congregation of national lawmakers, who are least concerned with public good outside their personal benefits? It stinks that NASS is more interested in siding the enemies of Nigeria against Nigeria.

It beggared belief that majority of lawmakers sided with an odd position, while deliberating on state of the nation on security.  The wisemen among them, who understood the dynamics and attendant impediments needed to be resolved before full assurance of securing Nigeria from armed mercenaries were in the minority.

Such issues like the gross under-funding of the security architecture, inadequate and outdated weapons, poor remuneration of troops, and insufficient number of personnel, among a motley of other debilitating problems were raised by faint voices. These spurred and berthed poor performance by security agencies in 2019/ 2020, but voices that were not strong enough to prick their conscience.

But the national parliamentarians’ obsession with the Security Chiefs overstay in office was lethal. I believe the NASS has a lot to learn from its pitfalls. It is never too late to bend even backwards to rectify an error. Obviously, the NASS resolutions on Mr. President and the Chiefs are impermissible errors.

Our NASS cannot pass the guilt of their pleasurable negligence or dereliction of duty on fulfilling its constitutional obligations to other leaders on the simplistic assumption that they clad and bask in the euphoria of legislative immunity on the floor of the chambers. The recklessness they exhibited can be corrected, only if they know the hard reality outside the confines of the chambers of NASS.

Touting President Buhari and the Chiefs as failures on securing the country in 2019 and the spillover to 2020, while exonerating legislators’ complicity resonates with maddening fury among sensible and clairvoyant Nigerians.

I keep referring to the wisdom of the prolific writer and famed international scholar, Prof. Chinua Achebe, who’s timeless warning that “Unless you know where the rains began to beat you; you won’t know the extent you are soaked.”

By last Wednesday’s action from our national parliamentarians, it animated my judgmental instincts, pinned to a scary and dreary reality. Its simply that NASS members have neither any inkling into the intensity of Boko Haram before May 2015. Nor how it was tamed and reasons for its resurgence or the path to solving the problem, while extending patriotic honours to those in charge and leading the troops.

I recall that by May 2015, when President Buhari came on board and appointed the current crop of Security Chiefs, Nigeria was under the worse siege by Boko Haram insurgents. It operated from a single plank, yet brutal in its violent campaigns or horrendous atrocities.

The then lone Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau frequently insulted and derided our collective strength of nationhood by releasing videos of these horrible executions and threatening more. IDPs camps swelled in the Northeast and spilled into  neighboring African countries by thousands of distraught Nigerian refugees fleeing from ravaging insurgency.

But the current impugned leaders of the counter-insurgency operation reversed the negative narratives as directed by the President. By December 2015, Boko Haram insurgency had been significantly decimated and technically defeated; Nigeria’s conquered territories retrieved from vicious terrorists and thousands of Boko Haram hostages regained freedom.  These are facts documented in national archives.

The NASS therefore has a religious obligation to reclaim its lost glory by doing the needful, including honouring the Security Chiefs.

All the Security Chiefs deserve national honours as the least they can get as appreciation from the national Government for their services to our country. Even if, institutions like NASS are deliberately blinded to this fact for whatever reasons, the world and those who understand global conflicts, prevention and resolution are celebrating Nigeria’s Security Chiefs.

Odoma is a public affairs analyst based in Abuja.