Beyond new service chiefs: Nigeria needs a truly professional military
AREWA AGENDA- PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari rejected National Assembly resolutions and public demands to sack his utterly inept service chiefs. Suddenly, on January 26, President Buhari tweeted: “I have accepted the immediate resignation of the service chiefs.” But, akin to a “golden handshake”, he promptly nominated them as “non-career ambassadors”. Was there a special relationship between the ex-service chiefs and the president, or were they simply outstanding?
The Presidency said it’s the latter. In his tweet, President Buhari thanked the former service chiefs for “their overwhelming achievements in our efforts at bringing enduring peace to Nigeria”. And, in a statement justifying their ambassadorial nominations, the Presidency said: “The President is rewarding hard work and exceptional sacrifice by a set of military leaders who gave their best to the nation and will be remembered for their contribution to the security and survival of Nigeria as one nation.”
In self-congratulatory statements, the ex-military chiefs blew their own trumpet. Lt-General (retd) Abayomi Olonisakin, former chief of defence staff, said: “Under my leadership, the military reclaimed all territories controlled by Boko Haram.” Then, Lt-General (retd) Tukur Buratai, former chief of army staff, said: “The Nigerian Army under my leadership was able to achieve a great feat in the fight against insurgency in the country.”
This is incredibly condescending and insulting to Nigerians. Which country were President Buhari and the former service chiefs talking about? Were they talking about Nigeria where, despite multiple declarations of victory by government, Boko Haram continues to act with impunity, seizing army bases and slaughtering soldiers and civilians?
Were they describing a country where armed bandits, notably killer herdsmen, have ravaged villages and killed thousands of innocent Nigerians? According to the Global Terrorism Index, Nigeria was the third least peaceful country in the world in 2020, a position it has held for years!
Recently, the Gombe State governor, Muhammad Yahaya, said: “Nigeria is facing the worst security challenges in its history.” President Buhari himself told the new service chiefs: “We are in a state of emergency”! Despite being declared “technically defeated”, Boko Haram’s daringness scares the living daylights out of Nigeria’s soldiers. The Financial Times recently noted: “Large parts of country, particularly in the North-East and North-West, are outside of government control.” Truth is, soldiers often run away from Boko Haram insurgents.
The military’s weakness is not due to poor funding or equipment. According to Global Firepower Index 2001, Nigeria has the fourth most powerful armed forces in Africa after Egypt, Algeria and South Africa, in terms of budget, manpower and equipment, and ranks 35th in the world.
Of course, any military can be better funded and equipped, but there’s no excuse for the gap between military funding and capability in Nigeria. In a well-researched study last year, Dr. Temitope Abiodun, a scholar at the Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ibadan, found stark evidence of a mismatch between funding for Nigeria’s military, which is about $2bn annually, and its performance.
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But why? Well, according to the findings, corruption tops the list, with military personnel enriching themselves “by diverting public funds meant to fight terror and insecurity”. Then, there are politics, bad leadership and poor governance in the military hierarchy. While the top brass enrich themselves, the soldiers in the battlefield are neglected, engendering low morale among the rank and file. Indeed, according to some media reports, soldiers are resigning from the army.
Sadly, President Buhari condones the culture of mediocrity, incompetence and impunity at the leadership cadre of the military, which harms the entire forces. By keeping the underperforming service chiefs beyond their sell-by dates, he sent a message that poor performance was tolerable, and by rewarding them with ambassadorial nominations for non-existent “overwhelming achievements”, he showed that he puts personal loyalty above competence.
But here’s the key question: If the former service chiefs failed to achieve their military objectives, in terms of Nigeria’s security situation, why were they so indispensable to President Buhari and why did he treat them with such deference after their belated resignations? The answer may lie in what Buratai regarded as one of his achievements. The former army chief said that under his leadership, the army “ensured that democracy was supported and protected”. How? One interpretation could be that he foiled coup plans.
Indeed, in 2017, Buratai announced alleged coup plans, saying that “some individuals have been approaching some officers and soldiers for undisclosed political reasons”. Since then, there have been many coup scares, including ahead of Buhari’s second inauguration. The coup rumours seemed baseless, and I wrote about them. But if, indeed, the former military chiefs foiled coup plots during their tenures, that’s commendable, and it’s probably why, despite their poor operational performance, Buhari wanted to keep them in office.
But “supporting and protecting democracy” is more than loyalty to the president. When President Trump incited insurrection against the US Capitol in January, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a statement saying: “The U.S. military will obey lawful orders from civilian leadership.”
Truth be told, there’s no guarantee that Nigeria’s military will obey only lawful orders. I mean, elections are heavily militarised in Nigeria, with soldiers used to intimidate voters and rig elections. The military is also used to suppress legitimate agitations through coded operations like “Operation Crocodile Smile” and “Operation Python Dance”, and to crack down on peaceful protests, as the Lekki shootings showed.
For years, Amnesty International has accused Nigeria’s military of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Presidency denies this, but the perception is rife. The US won’t sell certain weapons to Nigeria precisely because of concerns about human rights abuses by the military.
Every country needs robust military capability to tackle internal and external threats to security.
Nigeria faces no apparent external threats but can’t tackle internal threats to its security. Sadly, its coercive arm is weak against insurgents but strong in suppressing legitimate agitations. Nigeria needs truly professional, sophisticated and apolitical armed forces!
By Olu Fasan
Arewa Agenda is a publication of young writers and journalists from Northern Nigeria geared towards peaceful coexistence and national development through positive narratives.
