On Tuesday, January 26, 2021, history beckoned on four gentlemen, Generals of the Nigerian armed forces Tuesday. Their appointments that day as Service Chiefs present them opportunities to write their names in gold in the current chapter of Nigeria’s history as the country is looking for champions who will stand up and be counted. Whether that materialises depends greatly on them.
The announcement of the appointment of new Service Chiefs by President Muhammadu Buhari brought great relief to a beleaguered nation that has been held hostage by an invading army of bandits and kidnappers. The paralysis that eclipsed Nigeria was itself caused by the ineptitude of the former military chiefs who were for over six years hoisted on the nation.
The mandate of the new team is to redeem Nigeria from the claws of death. Nigeria has been kidnapped by forces that are bent on taking over the country. Nigeria as a country has, wittingly or unwittingly, surrendered to the enemy who now dictates what happens.
The events of the last five years or so have left many Nigerians wondering as to the relevance of the military institution. If the powerful military, with its equipment, intelligence and doggedness cannot protect the ordinary citizens, then where lies their hopes?
That is why the obligations of these four gentlemen to Nigeria as military officers have never been so daunting as the one imposed on them by the announcement of January 26, 2021. That announcement brought a sigh of relief to Nigerians, hope for a new beginning. But will this work? For how long?
Our highways have become deathtraps, our neighborhoods and farmland have turned to killing fields. Our forests have become dungeons where murderous kidnappers keep hapless victims while negotiating for and waiting for the arrival of millions of naira as ransom. Those who have been lucky to return from such journeys tell tales of woes; of Nigerians chained, blindfolded, and being beaten mercilessly by their captors just to inflict maximum pain and in turn extract the highest possible ransom.
They tell of Nigerians, men, and women, who have been turned into ATMs by men whose abode in the first place is the bush, which explains why they have taken over our forests. They put price tags on their captives, based on what they see, such as the type of cars the fellows drove, etc.
Whether these murders are Fulani from home or foreign Fulanis, or some other tribe, is immaterial. They are enemies of Nigeria and must be treated as such. They have left the real or true Nigerians prostrate and emasculated.
The new military under the watch of these generals must determine what loopholes in our national life that these invaders have taken advantage of. How come, for instance, these kidnappers now know our deep forests better than even the natives in the areas, according to the story of a recent kidnapping victim in Ondo State? Where do they come from? What are their networks like? Who are their local collaborators? These are questions that military training prepares genuine officers to ask and get answers to.
Our new champions must therefore not see their appointments as being for them, their families, state or region, or religion. First, they should know that their call to duty in these capacities was the answer to the sincere prayers by men and women, of various regions, tribes, religions whose dignity has been utterly debased by the humiliation and trauma visited upon them by the invading army called kidnappers and bandits.
As long as any part of the country lives in fear, their task remains unfulfilled. As long as any Nigeria is afraid of moving freely, the mandate cremains a mirage. As long as our highways remain deathtraps populated by killer squads of whatever nationality, the nation remains in bondage.
The new military bosses are tested and trained hands. They are versed in military intelligence, strategy, tactics, and more. This is the time to deploy these to salvage Nigeria. There can be no better opportunity to fulfill one’s destiny and mandate.
