Between The Military and Local Hunters

Local hunters

THIS REPUBLIC By Shaka Momodu

Have you heard the news that the Nigerian military, the country’s trained professional force is daily being routed by a ragtag band of terrorists? Have you heard the news that our so called soldiers who swore to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria flee from ill trained, ill equipped band of murderous terrorists “Boko Haram”, abandoning their weaponry?

Well that’s the news. The entire military institution has continued to embarrass itself in the eyes of the whole world. Our soldiers can no longer fight; they have lost the inclination to fight. They have reversed the military code of conduct- ‘‘obey before complaint.’’ The new order is ‘‘complaints before obey’’.  Our military has come to symbolise all that is wrong with our dear country.

They complain all the time of being poorly armed and paid. Well, that used to make sense a few months ago, but not anymore. The army we now have flee at the sound of gun shots with their tails in-between their legs like scared dogs fleeing danger.  Oh! They have a phrase for it now, ‘‘tactical manoeuvre’’, a dignified phase to camouflage their shame.

If they are not manoeuvering into Cameroon, they would be manoeuvering into Chad or Niger Republic. Who are our soldiers’ manoeuvering from? Rag tag Boko Haram terrorists?

With the billions of naira spent on the military so far, it is amazing that there is nothing to show for it. Rather, what we have been given in return is a military that is more or less reduced to Boys Scouts, who were only trained to shoot catapult. As if this is not bad enough, it appears they were trained to aim and miss. I remember something else, they were also trained to beat harmless innocent civilians on the road, maintain security at weddings, parties and burial ceremonies. Someone just whispered to me that they are trained masters of oil theft and bunkering!

Little wonder that they now own choice properties all over the country and billions of dollars in cash in secured bank accounts. This is the tragedy that  has befallen our dear beloved fatherland. How did Nigeria get here?
Now compare our fleeing soldiers to this American soldier. A Brigadier General deployed to Liberia to help fight the dreaded Ebola virus. He was asked by a CNN reporter whether he was optimistic about the mission he and his fellow soldiers were sent to Liberia to accomplish - which was to stop Ebola in its tracks since they were soldiers trained to fight wars and not diseases like Ebola.

The General chuckled and confidently responded, “We in the military have extraordinary capabilities that the civil society does not have;  we are trained to face danger. While others run away from the sound of gunshots, we run towards it. We are trained to confront threats, wherever and however. Having said that, Ebola has become a threat to our (US) national security, we are optimistic that this threat would be put out. Yes, we are soldiers trained to fight wars, Ebola is now like a gunshot, and we are running towards it and we will neutralise it”.

This is an American General talking. He was brimming with confidence about the mission their commander-in-chief, President  Barack Obama had sent them, which was to contain the deadly infectious disease, a mission that was ordinarily away from their primary training – which is to fight wars and defend America. Chill ran through my spines, goose bumps sprouted all over my body as I watched and listened to him. That is a soldier’s soldier talking. But in Nigeria our soldiers flee at the sound of gunshots. They flee into bushes alongside fleeing civilians and beg to be lapped just to escape from a few ragtag terrorists.

Over two decades ago, Saliu Ibrahim, a former Chief of Army Staff under Ibrahim Babangida’s regime stated that the Nigerian army had been an army of anything goes. It was a sobering assessment then which only a few people took notice. For those who did not understand what he meant then, the Nigerian military of today is your answer. Men and women who flee at the sound of gunshots, men and women who abandon civilians to their fate in the face of danger, a military institution so broken that the senior officers are among the multi billionaires in our country today. National pride has never been this wounded, more so by an institution whose primary and constitutional duty is to defend the fatherland from any perceivable threat.
How do you explain a situation where some soldiers abandon their armoured tanks and sophisticated weapons, just on hearing ‘‘Boko Haram is coming’’?

They run away leaving the armoury like a gift to the terrorists. The terrorists take up these arms and begin to use them to advance their deadly campaign of terror, burning houses, killing innocent people, kidnapping and raping women and young girls that our soldiers were supposed to protect. What an embarrassment! How can Nigeria even raise its head in the community of nations, how can the country even claim to have a standing army in this moment of national security embarrassment, and need that is so urgent? Some people have risen to the rescue to redeem what is left of the pride of the nation brought down by unpatriotic and satanic leadership. Local hunters have suddenly become the lightening rod for a new hope to redeem the fatherland. They have risen to the occasion to defend their communities and it is yielding results.

They were able to reclaim the headquarters of Mahia local government of Adamawa State occupied by the terrorists killing 80.
One of the hunters, who spoke to THISDAY in Yola, said the capture of Mahia town on Monday by terrorists motivated the local hunters in the town to mobilise other hunters in neighbouring communities to team up against the terrorists in order to recapture the town.
The hunter also said it was the military that prevented them from dislodging the terrorists because “they are not constituted security forces and could not be trusted with such a mission.” He appealed to the military authorities to screen them and give the go ahead to take on the Boko Haram terrorists, expressing confidence that they have the capacity to dislodge the terrorists from several communities.

“If the military can authorise us and provide back up, we will wipe out the terrorists because we know their hideouts and if it is juju(voodoo), we also have it and can use that to identify them. “Boko Haram terrorists fear us because they know what we can do, let the military leave us with Boko Haram and see what is going to happen. We took advantage of the fact that the soldiers had fled the area and we used the opportunity to kill them and chased others out of Mahia,” he said.

Providing further insight into how the hunters drove away the terrorists, he said he and his colleagues ambushed the terrorists who were on their way to Mahia from Mubi and killed about 80 and chased out the few left. After successfully routing the terrorists from Maiha, the hunters repeated the feat in Mubi, liberating the town from the vice grip of the terrorists. The military was reduced to a nominal role of watching from behind. What a shame! Where is the courage of our soldiers? What has happened to all the years of training our soldiers received?  What manner of cowardice is this!?

Why is the campaign against these terrorist being prosecuted in fits and starts and in such uninspiring manner? Why are the terrorists dictating the pace of the fight? Why is our military reactive and not proactive? It is only when Boko Haram strikes or seizes a town that our soldiers respond. Is this how to fight a war that threatens the very survive of our country? Why can’t our military lead a sustained offensive with the  sole aim of defeating the terrorists once and for all? The whole manner of prosecuting the war speaks volumes about our military high command.

I am not a soldier but clearly something is wrong here. The unfortunate thing is that the lives of innocent people are lost as a result of the incompetence of our  military commanders. Something has to be done quickly.
There is a clear lack of thinking by those entrusted with the security of the nation. How else does one explain the disorganised  prosecution of the war which has allowed the terrorists to put our military on the back foot all the time? Initially, it was easy to live in denial that military’s  failure  to secure the homeland  and  live up to its constitutional responsibility was not so much a failure, but isolated setbacks.

But to continue to believe this,  is to continue to wallow in delusion and stupidity. And What is the definition  of stupid? Knowing the truth, seeing the truth but still believing the lies. The truth here,  is our military can’t fight. Local community hunters have fared better in confrontation with the terrorists  than our soldiers. It’s a painful reality I am still struggling to come to terms with.

Re:  Seven Years  of  Fashola My Take Away

By Sheriff Koko

Hitherto, I have refrained from joining issues with the Lagos State Government, because I have come to realize that they have become victims of their own spell binding spin. The Government is suffering from arrogance of ignorance (They do not know, that they do not know as much as they do not know.) However, I was prompted to do this rejoinder because of Mr. Shaka Momodu’s reference to the “Oshodi inanity” as a great achievement. In the circumstance I feel obliged to confront this received opinion and point out a reasonable option to the inappropriate action, which on the surface may seem so eminently sensible. Obviously, the symptom (bedlam) may have been suppressed but the ailment (lack of planning) has not been cured.

I spent my first year in the Secondary School at Ikeja Grammar School. Oshodi, so I am eminently qualified to write about “Oshodi” because I have been familiar with the terrain since 1969 to date. (Incidentally my wife is nee Oshodi) Oshodi is one of the towns that grew out of response to railway Stations like Sogunle, Agege, and Yaba. But the dramatic transformation was occasioned by the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway which turned Oshodi to the Major Transport Hub and takes the shine off Yaba. It is to be noted that Oshodi would have been more chaotic, had the railways thrived. It was in response to this transition to a major hub in the mid 1970’s that Oshodi became a major commercial centre. The thinking Nigerians recognized the need to take economic advantage of the footfalls at Oshodi, (the huge volume of commuters seen as potential shoppers) the budding entrepreneurs decided to convert tenement Houses to shops.  But, the Government did not think of how it could review the land use plan to meet the exigency of the changing scenario; i.e to undertake a makeover with a view to tapping the huge retailing mine.

In the 1960’s and 1970’s Government had bus hubs at Cappa, Yaba, Race - Course and Keffi to cater for the limited buses we had then and there were shops and kiosks to meet the refreshment needs of commuters. But, in the 2000’s with hundreds of buses, there are no purpose built/designed terminals. Or is there any adequate bus terminus in metropolitan Lagos? A thinking government should have been proactive enough to redesign the bus-stops at Ogba, Ajah, Mile 2, Iyana- Ipaja, Iyana- Iba and Agric. in Ikorodu into proper and adequate terminals

The chaos in Oshodi was a manifestation of Government low thinking or no thinking. Government should have embarked on a complete makeover of Oshodi into the Central Transport HUB in Lagos State because of the connectivity of Roads; Railways and nearness to the airports. More importantly being the busiest bus INTERCHANGE receiving buses from the four axis of Lagos. Examples of what OSHODI ought to be as it obtains in thinking jurisdictions, are New York’s Grand Central Terminal; Singapore’s Dhoby Ghaut Station; Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station; London’s Clapham junction or Berlin’s Hauptanhof.

The lame excuse for not doing the right thing would have been to say that the area had been developed, but that would be lame excuse because shops were demolished for the current landscaping. The adjourning land was the defunct Lagos Municipal Transport Service land and would have fit the bill of integral part of the Terminal perfectly.  Moreover, the privately held land on the other side of the railway line could be acquired under Eminent Domain law or more creatively by engaging the landowners in mutually benefiting commercial proposals, which apparently the current developers must have undertaken. Funding could not have been an issue because it is a viable proposition on its own and by itself, as evidenced by the activities of private developers at the Bolade end and the Ikeja Cantonment.

Thus, the displacement at Oshodi should have been a creative relocation rather than the current misplaced dispersal. The primary responsibility of a leader is to identify or better still anticipate the basic needs of the society and meet the needs. At the appropriate time we shall ask the citizens of Lagos whether the critical issues/ challenges/needs staring at them have been addressed in the past 16 years. The Lagos state Government has been the beneficiary of the citizens  low expectations from the Government. Secondly, the law of relativity must have influenced the judgment of Lagos citizens, i.e. when people compare the proceeding 8 years of locust with the 7 years of Fashola they feel better and assume Government is performing.  However, if we compare the last 7 years to the 4 years of Jakande’s VISIONARY leadership we cannot say Fashola is performing. But for me, the international norm is the irreducible minimum benchmark to measure performance. As Lagbaja asked in one of his songs Oyinbo get 2 heads?
Sheriff, Koko

Source: Thisdaylive