A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

Shuaib I. Shuaib urges all to support the government in trying times

In sponsoring a motion to go on recess, Senator Bala Na’Allah was speaking as a family member and a lawmaker feeling the pain of losing a relative in military uniform to the Boko Haram insurgency. Along with the country, it is the families of the men and women who have sacrificed their lives in defence of the motherland that suffer the pain most. With the adjournment, on November 22, 2018, the Senate could not have been more expressive in honoring the country and the dozens of army officers who were killed while defending the sovereignty of the nation and all of its peoples.

Lawmakers not only offered condolences but mandated a committee to visit the families of the slain soldiers and the Chief of Army Staff. It is the duty of our representatives in the National Assembly to demand for accountability and hold someone responsible for the death of every man in uniform. In that respect, they are right to demand for answers from anyone and everyone including the army leadership and the presidency. But not everyone has been that responsible in the call for accountability.

Since those very noble and commendable gestures from the senators, attempts to hold someone accountable have taken a frightening dimension. There is no denying the fact that we are in the middle of a political contest and President Muhammadu Buhari who is also seeking to retain his seat in the upcoming election will be used for target practice. He is after all, the Commander-inChief of the Armed Forces.

That the attack in Metele is a major setback in the war against terrorism is undeniable. It calls into question all the work and military strategies of the last three years. Just as apparent is that the border between Nigeria and Chad is the only one with security leakages, while all others are relatively secured. The first of the steps taken by the government was re-assessing the effectiveness of the Multinational Joint Task Force, and the immediate dispatch of the Defence Minister, Mansur Dan-Ali to Chad. This was followed by an increase in the targeting of terrorist hideouts by the Nigerian Air Force. There was also the army conference in Maiduguri and then the conference of heads of state in the Lake Chad region. But the attack has also had political repercussions.

Naturally, the ultimate goal of the opposition is to make voters lose faith in the president. Still, words have meanings and come with consequences. And reading into every word uttered by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in response to this tragedy, the words appear to be aimed at inflicting as much political damage on the president and the military hierarchy. The statement by the party can be broken down and analysed for their long term impact on the psyche of the rank and file of men in uniform and the country at large. It is understandable and even reasonable for the PDP to raise concerns about the wisdom and why the Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Baratai and other service chiefs should attend a political event. But seeking to make political capital out of a military tragedy goes beyond the realm of responsible politics.

Political contest aside, it is an age-old practice, at least in established democracies for politicians, opposition leaders, friends and foes alike to rally round their head of government in times of war and in trying times. Everyone and especially the armed forces must have faith in the government and their commanders. In many countries, war or unrelenting civil unrest had been and remains the only basis for the formation of a unity government.

There is probably no better example of this than the coalition government in the United Kingdom led by Sir Winston Churchill throughout the Second World War. Of course, Nigeria is not at war with any country. Rather, it is facing a terrorist insurgency but still has men on the battlefront. After the tragedy that struck the157 Task Force Battalion in Metele, Borno State, the opposition departed from that practice. It really was the Atiku Abubakar campaign organization that released the statement pointing out that the service chiefs were attending a political event where the president was launching his reelection policy document.

More than anything, this line of attack is not only aimed at discrediting the service chiefs but to undermine their authority in the institutions they represent. It serves as a potent reminder to every soldier at the battlefront, their families and the Nigerian public that while they were out risking their lives, their commanders and commander –inchief were playing for political power. That wasn’t the most damaging of the statement from the main opposition. They asked that friends wishing to shower Atiku with gifts to mark his birthday should instead give them to the families of the slain soldiers.

The fact is that taking care of these families is the responsibility of the army and the government. By offering aid to the families, there was intentional or unintentional undermining of morale within the rank and file and more significantly, sowing the seeds of discord between the army and their commander- in- chief.

The push to publicize the casualty figure and the names of the slain soldiers is call for accountability. In this period of politics and the high stakes contest for the presidency, not every demand for accountability serves the best interest of the country, especially if these demands will impact the security of the country. It is just as important for citizens not to lose faith in security agencies.

Seeking to undermine confidence in the army is also a mercenary group, Specialized Tasks, Training, Equipment and Protection International. The South African mercenaries adding their criticism to that of the opposition, attacked the government and dismissed the ability of the Nigerian Army as an institution to protect the country. This time, the criticism goes to the heart of Nigeria’s sovereignty with the army as its protecting force. This is the same group that was brought in by the Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP government in the weeks leading to the 2015 general election. The shame here is that this mercenary group was ever allowed to operate in Nigeria at the expense of building and equipping our own military.

The decision to move the Chief of Army Staff annual conference from Benin City in Edo State to Maiduguri was more a response to the attempts by the opposition party to tear at the fibres that bind societies and nation states together rather than the actual killings in Metele. Holding the annual conference in Maiduguri serves two purposes.

This is the army and Buhari’s way of re-asserting their commitment to troops, to the military as an institution and reassure the country that confidence and morale within the army is a top priority. Moving the conference was a confidence building measure to ensure that the trust between troops at the war front and the political leadership is not broken. That wasn’t the only impact. The government was also sending out a clear and unambiguous message that the northeast has not been overrun by terrorists or that Boko Haram has regained any territory. And in the end, images from the Maiduguri conference carried a far stronger message than words from the political opposition.