BUHARI, THE MILITARY AND MERCENARIES

Argues Buhari charges against the military are absurd

Most newspapers across Nigeria on May 19, 2015, came out with almost the same bold headline: “Buhari slams military for hiring mercenaries”; one with a rider, “it is a shame it can’t secure 14 out of 774 LGAs in the country”. The General was speaking when the elite members of the Arewa Consultative Forum paid him a courtesy visit in Kaduna.

Ordinarily, Muhammadu Buhari ought not to be challenged on this subject matter for some reasons. One, he is a retired major general of the Nigerian Army. Two, he has seen hostility during his days as a combatant. Three, he once led an onslaught, during his service days, against another religious insurgents [not of class of Boko Haram] in the northeast of the country, when he even pursued them [insurgents] into Republic of Chad during the presidency of Alhaji Shehu Shagari in the Second Republic. Four and most importantly [for the purpose of this discussion], Buhari was the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces for 20 months after overthrowing the democratically-elected government in the Second Republic.

The man was on his professional terrain when he passed that damned judgment on his own constituency which is the military. If it is agreed that a former military commander, a former military head of state, a former Commander-inChief of the Nigerian Armed Forces was better positioned to say what he said, that itself will be suggestive of precluding any counter-opinion

Godwin Etakibuebu

on the subject matter from other quarters, most importantly, from any “bloody civilian”. But to come to such conclusion is a fallacy of historical presentation.

There are too many military strategists all over the world who are not professional soldiers, yet they are the beacon or custodian of knowledge in technics wars, impacting same to the professional soldiers who go to fight battles with excellent results. Go to the best military academies all over the world, you will discover that most acclaimed excellent and brilliant officers with glorious war records passed through the tutelage of these “bloody civilians” strategists. What this has proved is the fact that military knowledge in prosecution of warfare is not an exclusive monopoly of professional soldiers.

Another reason is the fact that machineries of prosecuting war, like arms, ammunition, other hardware which include but not limited to tank, armoured personnel carrier, night vision goggle, bulletproof vests, helicopter gunship, bomber planes plus other heavy and light equipment of the navy are products manufactured by institutions outside the military. These institutions are primarily property and jurisdiction of the civilians’ community which the military in Nigeria would arrogantly refer to as “bloody civilian”.

We can go on and on to articulate many other reasons why military operational knowledge is no more exclusive property of retired military officers like the case at hand – “Buhari slams military for hiring mercenaries”. Let us move on to discuss the issue but not without giving another reason in a very recent case when the Nigerian Military High Command was chastised by another former retired four- star general of the Nigerian Army, a former Head of State, Olusegun Obasanjo and the reply the military top hierarchy got.

Unfortunately the acrimonious altercation was about General Muhammadu Buhari and his certificate; which he claimed was with the Army Headquarters. The Army Headquarters replied their former C-in-C in a particular manner which irked General Obasanjo, and in his usual character, “washed down” the Army “for not displaying proper military respectful conduct in dealing with their superior”. In putting the record straight, while replying Obasanjo on the matter, the Military High Command affirmed that “it could be that their former C-in-C [Obasanjo] is out of tune with the modern day trend in the military, either in training, operation and other procedure”. That was enough for General Olusegun Obasanjo on the subject matter. It is also enough revelation for us; mostly the “bloody civilians”, and of course to the “have-been-to” retired military officers, that sometimes, their military knowledge is dated.

Coming down to the newspapers’ report of May 19, which quoted Buhari as having expressed “disappointment with the way the military handled the war against insurgency in the Northeast, wondering why the military could not secure 14 out of the 774 local government councils in the country without the assistance of ‘South African mercenaries’”. One only hope that General Buhari outburst against the military at this time is not against the background of his certificate matter, and the way the military High Command responded to it because Buhari neither need to have been disappointed nor even wondered, and this is for simple reasons.

One, the Nigerian military sent to the war “was not waiting for the South African mercenaries” but were waiting for modern weapons of warfare. They were waiting because over 30 years, all previous head of states and presidents, including General Buhari, refused to equip the military with modern weapons. So the military waited until President Goodluck Jonathan procured all the necessary weapons, hence the difference we are witnessing in the war against the insurgents.

Two, military philosophy of going to war [holy war as the theory implies] is to “annex, defeat and conquer”. The Boko Haram group, made up of well-trained soldiers with sophisticated modern weapons of war, came to annex, defeat and conquer, just like their brothers [ISIS] are doing in the Middle-east, but it is now fact of history that with the modern weapons Jonathan procured, the same Nigerian military revised the situation – not one local government out of 774 in Nigeria is now in the hands of any insurgents, even as of the time the General spoke. My conclusion is that General Muhammadu Buhari ought to praise and eulogise his “boys”, for “following the very good operational procedure he bequeathed to them”. Etakibuebu, a commentator on public affairs, wrote from Lagos