DANJUMA AND THE SECURITY CHALLENGES
On Saturday, March 24, Lt. Gen. T. Y. Danjuma raised tension in the polity when he pointedly accused the military of bias in the prosecution of its operations against security challenges in some parts of the country. Specifically, Danjuma alleged that ethnic cleansing orchestrated by the military was on-going in his home state of Taraba. There had been clashes between native farmers and herdsmen who settled in some states across the country including Taraba, Benue, Kaduna and Plateau, leading to killings and necessitating the deployment of security forces, especially the army. He had said, “The armed forces are not neutral. They collude with the armed bandits. They kill people, kill Nigerians. They facilitate their movements, they cover them”.
The retired general went further to ask the people to defend themselves if they did not want to die one by one.
For effect, Danjuma had chosen a strategic forum to vent his feelings: The maiden convocation of Taraba State University. The volatile statement coming from a Nigerian of the retired stature was not the type to be taken lightly. Danjuma had operated at the highest level of the military and government. He was the chief of the army staff under the Obasanjo military administration and the defence minister in a civilian government. So whatever he says on any issue in the polity has to be taken seriously. The nation was aghast. It was not only a call to arms but also a call to anarchy. Then, a question inevitably arose. The general, so influential, has access to the people in power. So, if his concerns were being ventilated in good faith, why were they not shared in confidence with the military high command or government itself, rather than going public with those concerns and in a manner that amounted to inciting the people? The military high command did the needful by probing Dajuma’s allegations. On April 9, the authorities announced a panel to do the job.
Inaugurating the panel, the Chief of the Army Staff, Gen. Tukur Buratai, said: “Statement of this nature (from Danjuma) could damage the reputation of the armed forces of Nigeria and thus cannot be ignored if the Nigerian Army is to continue to earn the trust of the populace”. He charged the panel, headed by John Nimyel, a retired major general, to do a thorough job.
The panel has since concluded its investigation and, in its report, said the allegations of bias and ethnic cleansing levelled against the military and, by extension, the federal government by Danjuma were unfounded. The dust raised by the former minister of defence had yet to settle when, last weekend, a report alleged that Danjuma had taken his campaign against the Buhari administration beyond the shores of Nigeria. The report alleged that he had led Taraba State governor, Darius Ishaku, and others in meetings with policy think-tank members of the Trump administration and influential lawmakers in the United States (US) on herdsmen killings in Nigeria.
The development has, because of its implications for the moves to end the security challenges faced by Nigeria, expectedly, raised red flags in government and the nation’s security circle. The security challenges, including the insurgency in the North-East and local farmers/herdsmen clashes, predate this administration but the Buhari government has left no one in doubt that it is determined to restore security to all parts of the nation. The latest gain in the peace restoration mission is the decision of the US government to sell several Tucano fighter jets to Nigeria, a step that is expected to help significantly in the battle against insurgency. Regrettably, however, if the report is true that Danjuma is out there, alongside the Taraba governor, continuing his campaign of ethnic cleansing in the country which has now been found to be unfounded, the fighter jets’ deal with the US government could be a casualty. Make no mistake about it; the deal could be threatened because the US is one country that values human rights which the allegations border on. The former minister is one of the very few high profile Nigerians the people still hold in high esteem not only because they have occupied sensitive roles in the nation but also because history has been kind to them. It was said in some quarters that then-Obasanjo military administration may have been unable to carry through the transition process without the cooperation of Danjuma. My take is that the general, having contributed so much to the process to build a democratic Nigeria, should not be in the vanguard of the campaign to throw spanner in the works of the deal with the US to surmount the security challenges facing Nigeria.
Terfa Jimoh, Jos, Plateau State