Featured, Politics

*Why repentant terrorist must not be in Nigerian Army – Maj. Gen. Umahi (rtd)

* The problem with the war against terrorism in Nigeria.

*Gumi’s statement is a crime against the army

*How armed forces can win war against insurgency

*Why South Easterner can be president in 2023

MAJ. Gen. Abel Obi Umahi (rtd),  chairman, Middle Pillars Security, MPS, is also a pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Umahi is passionate about Nigeria and very concerned about the insecurity ravaging the country at the moment. In this rare exclusive interview with Realnews team of Maureen Chigbo, publisher/editor and Benprince Ezeh, reporter, Umahi detailed the pitfalls in the handling of the security situation in the country by the immediate past service chiefs and what can be done by the armed forces to get victory for Nigeria. He also talked about internal security doctrine, the South East bid to produce the next president of Nigeria in 2023. His views are thought provoking and incisive. Excerpts.

 

Realnews: With the tension in the land which has to do with insecurity, do you think the new service chiefs will make any difference? How do you assess them?

Umahi: I think the difference they make will depend on the mode of operation adopted. During the last dispensation, it was a kind of compartmentalized operation they were carrying out. Army was doing their thing. Air force was doing their thing. I do not think there was real integration that is expected in joint operations. So to my mind, I believe that these new service chiefs that have been watching these developments from the sideline are in best strategic positions by their ranks and their appointment. They must have found out the reasons why the operations were not as successful as they ought to be, especially in the Northeast and also in the Northwest. I think the appropriate thing for them to do to be successful in giving Nigeria the desired security is to resort to joint operations the way it is taught in military academies. If they do joint operations, you will find out that the efforts, if it is a land operations of the Nigeria army, the Nigeria air force, will be properly integrated in such a way that they will achieve force multiplier to be able to defeat the common enemy. So, this joint operation ought to be conducted at the Defence Headquarters level and the overall commander will be the chief of defence staff, while the chief of army and air staff will give the required support for the operation to be successful. If they do this, you will find out that when the ground troops are going for an operation, the air force will be readily available to give them air support, air cover. And when the commander on ground calls for air support, the facility (air asset) that is backing that operation will be readily available to respond at no time. So you find out that the operation will be seamless and there will be victory for the armed forces and victory for Nigeria.

Realnews: You were in the armed forces and you retired as a major general of the Nigerian army. And you played your role. You must have observed when there was unity in the army. Would you say that unity still exists in the Nigerian armed forces?

Umahi: Well, if you are talking about social unity, I am not in the barracks as it where, I can’t say for sure.  But the truth about the armed forces (and in fact it is a general truth concerning relationships) is that when people are in big trouble, there is this integration and bonding. In the military, they call themselves ‘buddy’ because each person could avert what will cause the death of the other person. You cannot find any brother closer than your buddy in operation. But there is a snag, today, maybe not today, it may have been there, but not as pronounced as it is today. People in the service, I am sure very few of them, tend to have and give their loyalty to religion and tenacity. And when such exists, when there is no cohesion, absolute complete cohesion among the body of troops, those ones that hold their allegiance to religion, will become a source of danger to lives of the rest of the troops. Because if the troops are moving from one surprise attack location to the other, such a disloyal soldier, such an unpatriotic soldier will carry phone and call the adversaries that a league of troops is coming such way. The advisories will lay ambush, take troops by surprise and slaughter them. There is no body of troops that won’t suffer casualties when surprises occur.

Realnews: Would you say that has been happening in the Nigerian army because we have heard of stories of Boko Haram ambush. Would you say that those that are inclining to ethnicity can give away their buddies?

Umahi: Of course, and I am also against passing “people’’ (repentant terrorists) into the armed forces. You just can never say where the loyalty of such people will be.  So I believe that any repentant terrorist in the army is nothing but source of danger to the rest of the troops, who are loyal and fighting the cause they are called for. So if it is true that terrorists and militants have infiltrated the armed forces that could be the source. And I think this war will never be won.

Realnews: So that is the reason why Lt. Gen. Tukur Burutai (Rtd) said that the insurgency in Nigeria will take 20 years before it can be wiped out?

Umahi: I don’t think I agree with him. If he made the statement, then it must have been a spur of the moment. I do agree that fighting terrorism is like drinking tea with knife. I do agree, but if the Nigerian government can open up the necessary lines of operation that are used, adopted for such security threat, then the war will be won. There is what is called the kinetic aspect of operation; that is when the military are involved. But that alone cannot win this war, there must be what is called information line of operation, there must be the diplomatic line of operation. We are not deploying all of them at the same time. It is the deployment of all the necessary required lines of operations that will give us victory and give it to us very fast.

Realnews: You talked about the infiltration or bringing of repentant terrorists into the army. The army has warned the Islamic scholar Gumi when in a video, he said that those killing the bandits are Christians because the bandits are Muslims. How do you see such a statement coming from an Islamic scholar and a former captain? What impact is that going to have on the military? Even though the army also responded by cautioning Gumi, don’t you think the damage has been done? Can it be repaired?

Umahi: In a sane society, in other climes, it is not the army that is supposed to respond to Gumi. It was supposed to be the government’s appropriate agency. You see, that is the height of crime against lives of members of the armed forces, that’s what Gumi committed. It’s the height of crime against the security of this nation, that’s what Gumi committed. Such statement is so sensitive that it could lead to insurrection, implosion within the armed forces, resulting in the disintegration of this nation. Because what is binding us together is more or less the armed forces. They are the ones taking the bullets for the rest of us. So, to say something that will further endanger their lives is height of rascality and irresponsibility, and I think it is not the army that was supposed to answer Gumi. It was supposed to be the appropriate authority within the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Governance in Nigeria is such that there are no integration, necessary integrations. Even, that is still the problem with the war against terrorism in Nigeria. No integration. Look, when things work properly, the ministries and government agencies have portions in fighting this war, they have their place in fighting this war. And they don’t even know. When there is appropriate internal security doctrine, everybody knows what to do in times of security emergency. Because we are in time of security emergency in this nation. So what is the judiciary doing to enhance the war against terrorism? When people are arrested, are they quickly passed through the furnace of justice to teach others a lesson, to discourage others. But as it is, there is revolving door, and they enter through a door and go out through that door, that is when they are even brought into the judiciary. But in a time of national emergency, the judiciary should know that, I have a role to play and this is what we are doing to ensure that we perform our role in this situation. The ministry of information will know that this is what they are supposed to do, the ministry of internal affairs will know that this is what we are supposed to do. All these with other agencies, their actions and activities will go towards the same direction; the solution for this country, but we are far from doing that.

Realnews: As a retired Major General did you find it surprising that an ordinary Islamic scholar will have intelligence as to where the bandits are, go into the bush to meet the bandits, record the meeting with the bandits, and even circulated it in the televisions, and the social media and yet the military that has a Directorate of Intelligence, the defence intelligence, air force intelligence in all the three arms of the armed forces and still don’t have any idea where the bandits are? But an Islamic scholar do.  Even from the videos, somebody can analyse and pin point the location where they are and use it to fish out the people causing the problem?

Umahi: Some people know what the rest of us do not know. There are some things that some people know that the rest of us don’t.  The people in government are against the role that the rest of us don’t know. Otherwise, there is nothing stopping the armed forces from taking action based on the information available. At least, when this man entered the bush, he entered from a certain direction, the vehicle that took him could have been tracked so that the exact location would have been known. But it didn’t happen, which means there is something the people in authority know that the rest of us do not know and they do not want us to know.

Realnews: Is that why they allow Gumi to be rooming and talking anyway he wants?

Umahi: Of course, he is untouchable.

Realnews: The Chibok girls were kidnapped, the Dapchi, the Jagebe girls and Kangara, all these are hundreds of people and no one is aware of how the movement was done. As a military man, don’t you think there is something very suspicious about these activities? Is it a conspiracy between the government and the military, the DSS and all of them to hear and see nothing?

Umahi: I do not know, I am not in government and I am not in service, but there are things that could be happening and people will begin to guess. That is the way I see the operation. There are things that are beyond the ordinary imagination. There are things happening that ought not to be happening. There are developments, which we take for granted that they will never be the case, but then we see them right on the ground. My problem is that with all these scenarios is the lives of innocent Nigerians and those in the armed forces that they are wasting. They are wasting the lives of innocent citizens. Abnormalities have become normal.

Realnews: You are the president of Ndigbo Lagos, and Ndigbo are spiritedly making a bid for the presidency of Nigeria of South East extraction. Do you think this is achievable in 2023?

Umahi: It is achievable. It is very achievable for some reasons. Number one: the people of the Southeast have supported other geo-political zones to become president, and they bore no grudge against them in the process. Now that it has gone round, the only part left to produce the president, is one of the tripods of this nation; Igbo nation, dominantly in the Southeast region of this nation. The Yoruba has a very big picture when he is in the position, and he services that picture. So the Igbo man, who is the president of Nigeria, will be president of every part of Nigeria and will be president that will be concerned about the peace and security of this nation. Because when there is insecurity, the first casualty is an Igbo man. So he knows that it will be his number one duty to secure the whole of Nigeria for the safety of all tribes in the country and for the Igbo men, who are all over the places to carry out their legitimate concerns without fear of intimidation. So to that extent, I think an Igbo man will be a good president of the nation. Number two: Nigeria for once needs to shift from pure politicians to a politician that has sense of economy, sense of business in his head. Total politics is frivolous. But mixing politics with a sense of business means that the government can be run as a business enterprise with all the compassion, with all the deep calculations, return on investment, for every money that comes into the coffers of this nation that will be accounted for. Igbo man has that acumen. Igbo man is enterprising. He is business minded. So we require a government to revisit such wealth endowed by god on this nation for once. It has never happened.

Realnews: Godfathers decide who to bring, who to sponsor. And most of the time they foist the leadership they want on the populace. So do you really think they will allow the leadership of a true Igbo man that understands the environment, with the knowledge of the economy, leadership knowledge, well-educated to come and be the president of this nation and will not find someone they think they can pick from somewhere to be dancing to their tune?

Umahi: I think virtually every Igbo man is a trader. Have that confidence in every Igbo man. There is no Igbo man that will be there and not be an Igbo man in terms of being business like in administration.

Realnews: But we have some Igbos who are governors in their States who have done nothing for their people. The major reason why there is so much disenchantment, mistrust on the part of leadership is that majority of those who have governed some States in the South East have not really performed optimally.

Umahi: I agree with you absolutely. But I just want to add that the space at the national level is a little bit different from the space at the local level and the State level. At the State level, someone is contending with the local godfathers, but at the national level, even if there is god-fatherism, nobody from one part of Nigeria will be the dictator of what happens or what the president does. But if there are godfathers from the various geopolitical zones and they agree to make an Igbo man the president, of course, the Igbo man has to be fair to all the geographic zones and that will be in the interest of the whole Nigeria. So what he will be up against in Nigeria is corruption; that any government that comes in will be accountable. As a matter of fact, if you put a dummy at the White House, the government will run smoothly because they have developed strong institutions and weak personalities. So when the institutions are strong, that is, what is called a political culture. When we have strong stable political culture, the institutions are strong and it doesn’t matter who is in the White House, America will run its full course in every area of administration in government. So I think that is what Nigerians should be thinking about. The issue of godfatherism, I know it will die in this nation very soon. Once Nigerians become more cautious, politically cautious, ones Nigerians rise like the end SARS youths rose, not violently, but much matured, carrying Nigerian flag, not running Nigeria as a nation down, but making specific demands from government in power, things will change. Even as we know we are growing. So if all of us join, we will cause things to happen. So if other geo-political zones have been bringing leaders, presidents of this nation, very soon, the issue of godfather will not be a discouragement because it has always been there. But I tell you, that factor will die in Nigerian politics very soon.

Realnews: Since Ojukwu died, it appears that there has not been any unifying factor, someone with that kind of stature, who though he was always in the East, but ones he speaks from the east, people from Lagos listen, everywhere people listened. We don’t have that kind of person again.

Umahi: We don’t need it.

Realnews: So what do we need?

Umahi: We don’t need that. That is the strong personality that we are talking about. When the strong personality becomes a monster, when the strong personality takes laws into his hand, and behaves as if every other person is a nonentity, we don’t need that in Nigeria. They don’t have such personalities in America. They don’t have such personalities in the United Kingdom.

Realnews: But we have power brokers in the US and UK, such that when they stand against a policy in the US, the government has to do a rethink.

Umahi: That is, you are saying a government, not bringing someone to power; they are not the ones that bring people to power. They can support one candidate or the other, but it is not that they are the ones that call the shots. Even if we develop power brokers in Nigeria, it is better than having personalities.  In Nigeria, it’s all about personalities and such people do anything they want in this nation and get away with it.

Realnews: Would you say that the current Igbo leadership has failed the younger ones?

Umahi: I don’t think so. They have not done well, most of our Igbo leaders have not done well. And the youths also have not done well. When youths no longer want to study; the female youths want to use their body to earn money, the male youths want to get money by all means to settle lecturers to earn marks, they come out uneducated from the university, and they don’t have the confidence. They may have their animal boldness, but the confidence that is given by knowledge, the confidence that is given by wisdom is lacking. When you throw stuff at them, for them to analyse, they chicken out. So the youths have failed the age, the age has failed the youths.

Realnews: What is the way out?

Umahi: The way out is we need a new orientation.

Realnews: When will that new orientation start? Who will start it? Is it those who have failed?

Umahi: You and I.

Realnews: How is that going to come about?

Umahi: They say drops, little drops of water make an ocean. We are not thinking that we will just wake up tomorrow morning and see the change. It is going to be a build-up. Line upon lines, precept upon precepts, a little here, a little there and we will get there. If the focus of our youths today can be like the focus of those youths that led the end SARS, I tell you, Nigeria will change. But most of our youths, even the young graduates, (I still draft my papers, it is not supposed to be so, at my age, can’t I just call any of my workers to do it for me?) but if you do, what you will get will irritate you. And you will wait in vain. Our education system is faulty. These are some of the issues we need to address. We are building more universities, but we are not building any human beings. Our problems are foundational, and we need to start rebuilding from family unit level. Those that have money, they mess children up. They give them what they cannot afford on their own – at your level, when you travel, while you fly business class, you find secondary school students flying first class. If the person graduates can he afford even the economy, what salary can keep him there? How do we reorient them? When does he finish the university? You have destroyed him. That is for those who have money. And some people who do not have money continue to show their indiscipline. You see them fighting every day in the presence of their children. These are the things we need to come up with ways on how to deal with.

Realnews: It is a little bit heavy when you look at all these problems we are having in the society. Is there any advice you have for Nigerians, for families as regards to bad governance we have in the country and how things can be better in the future?

Umahi: Well, you know, I believe in the Nigerian project. And I am an unrepentant believer in the fact that Nigeria will one day become great. I believe it and I see it could be far off. I think the way we will begin to turn things around is number one, let us have a good government at the center. Let us restructure Nigeria. It could be gradually, it may not be overnight. If we restructure, we get more sense of business governance to the various political leaders at different regional levels. Whatever levels we have chosen as the structure for the new Nigeria. So when we do this, you find out that the various regions will begin to compete one with another. Healthy competitions this time around. Alignment will change, orientation will change and all these will end up lifting Nigeria and Nigerians to the pedestal we want to be. I think these things hold sway in our bid to move Nigeria to the rightful place it is supposed to be. The way we are today is amorphous, is amoebic, it has no shape and no real structure. We are not going anywhere. Bill Clinton said ‘there is nothing wrong wobbling, but if a nation is wobbling, it must wobble in the right direction’. Nigeria is not wobbling in any right direction. So we must first of all do the micro needs that we need to put Nigeria on the track of survival, and then the macro issues will begin to happen at the hills of a new Nigeria.

– Mar. 22, 2021 @ 09:40 GMT

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