State House, you are hiding behind your finger

Musa had asked the Chadian leader about links between troops of the Multi-National Task Force operating out of Baga and mercenaries from South Africa fighting in the Sambisa forest. Deby parried the question, saying he had no information concerning any mercenaries. Shortly after Deby departed for N’djamena, security agents pounced on Musa, withdrew his tag, […]

Musa had asked the Chadian leader about links between troops of the Multi-National Task Force operating out of Baga and mercenaries from South Africa fighting in the Sambisa forest. Deby parried the question, saying he had no information concerning any mercenaries. Shortly after Deby departed for N’djamena, security agents pounced on Musa, withdrew his tag, and bundled him out of the premises through an entrance known as “Service Chiefs’ Gate” even though Prisoners’ Gate would have been more like it.
It is true that the Presidency has been saying for months that it hired no mercenaries to fight Boko Haram, that the foreigners seen in the North East battlefields were trainers and technical advisers. Well, around the time that State House was bundling out Musa, the leader of those trainers and advisers, retired Colonel in the South African Defence Forces Eeben Barlow was spilling the beans over there in Denmark. Speaking at the Royal Danish Defence College and also in an interview with the special forces’ website Sofrep.com, this apartheid-era bush warfare expert revealed how his company was recruited to help with the fight against Boko Haram.  He described how he rolled out an “aggressive” strike force, complete with an air force of its own, that aided the army to rout Boko Haram.  
Col Barlow’s former company called Executive Outcomes, made up of many ex-members of South Africa’s security forces, once helped the Sierra Leone Government to beat back Revolutionary United Front rebels. His new company called Specialized Tasks, Training, Equipment and Protection [STTEP] has about 100 men in Nigeria. He said they taught our army “unconventional mobile warfare” and have conducted “relentless pursuit” of Boko Haram, including the use of bush trackers to track insurgents’ movements in the Sambisa Forest. Barlow also said his forces helped with intelligence gathering, troop transportation and evacuation of casualties.
The question is, while the leader of the foreign helpers in Sambisa Forest is saying all these at a seminar, what was so “embarrassing” about a hapless reporter’s question to Idris Deby that you must bundle him out of the Villa like a Boko Haram IED? Chief Security Officer and all of you guys there at State House, remember what Chief M.K.O. Abiola used to say, that “a man cannot hide behind his finger.”

Military title in a royal palace?
I was intrigued by a short story on page 4 of yesterday’s Daily Trust about a certain very old building that collapsed within the Emir of Kano’s palace as it was undergoing rehabilitation. That was very sad and I wish the three persons injured in the incident quick recovery. The officer who addressed newsmen on the affair, Alhaji Mannir Sanusi, was described in the story as Chief of Staff to the Emir.
What? How did such a title escape from military barracks, sneaked into Government Houses across the country and has now seeped into a royal palace? You mean all the traditional titles in the emirate, most of them predating the coming of the Royal Niger Company, the Kings African Rifles and the Royal West African Frontier Force are not enough to accommodate any function in the emir’s palace? What about Sarkin Fada, Sallama, Magayaki, Madawaki, Sarkin Dawaki Mai Tuta, Sarkin Dawakin Tsakar Gida, Talba or even Dan Maje? Unless you correct this, our children will soon be unable to differentiate between a royal palace and the One Mechanised Infantry Division.