Danjuma’s Unguarded Utterances
If ever there was a recent case of unguarded utterance by an elder statesman in Nigeria, it was the one made by Lt General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma at the maiden convocation of Taraba State University in Wukari eight days ago. The former Army Chief and former Defence Minister said three things that a statesman should never say, if the meaning of statesman as we know it still holds true.
Danjuma said, “There is an attempt at ethnic cleansing in the state and of course, in some riverine and rural states in Nigeria. We must resist it. We must stop it. Every one of us must rise up.” This unfortunate statement fed into the mischievous narrative that herdsmen are on a mission to either wage a Jihad or to wipe out some communities for no reason. Like all Nigerians we frown at the spate of killings by criminals, bandits and killers in many states. These stem from economic conflicts between farmers and herders and while all hands should be on deck to address these conflicts, referring to them as ethnic cleansing as Danjuma did was aimed at adding fuel to fire, not seeking for a solution.
Danjuma also said, “Our Armed Forces are not neutral. They collude with the armed bandits to kill people, kill Nigerians. The Armed Forces guide their movements. They cover them. If you are depending on the Armed Forces to stop the killings, you will all die one by one.” Such a serious allegation against the country’s armed forces, which is ethnically, regionally and religiously mixed at every level, should at least have been backed up by concrete evidence but Danjuma offered none. That some individual soldiers might have misbehaved in the course of the many internal security operations is to be expected. Such soldiers should be reported to higher authorities to be dealt with but no one, a statesman at that, should use such incidents and rope in the entire armed forces of the country.
General Officer Commanding, One Division Major General Muhammad Muhammad gave Danjuma a fitting answer at the recent burial of twelve Army Privates who were killed by bandits at Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State. The GOC, who represented Army Chief Lt General Tukur Buratai, said that the deceased soldiers laid down their lives defending the nation from armed bandits. He added, “How then can we tell them that they are aiding those who killed them, that today they have paid with their lives to aid those who killed them? If we are responsible enough to make a statement, we should not generalize.”
Danjuma also said citizens in some states should rise up and defend themselves because they cannot rely on the security forces to defend them. This was a clarion call to anarchy. No doubt our security agencies have been unable to stop the spate of killings across the country. We expect a man of Danjuma’s security pedigree to offer wise and informed counsel as to how to expand, retrain and re-equip the security forces to more effectively address the challenges at hand. Meanwhile, we should thank them for their efforts and the high price they are paying to defend and protect us, even while we urge them to work even harder.