President Muhammadu Buhari has gone up with the appointment of some of the most intelligent and knowledgeable officers in the Nigerian armed forces as service chiefs early this year. On Tuesday, January 26, the president removed all the four former service chiefs, replacing them with young vibrant officers. These included General Lucky Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lt-General Ibrahim Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Air Marshall Oladayo Amao, Chief of Air Staff (CAS), and Vice Admiral Zubairu Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff (CNS).
As soon as this appointment was announced, commentators began to pour praises on the president for doing things right this time. He was praised by his critics, too. His new appointments are of high quality in terms of official announcements about their background. This was welcomed and pleasing to President’s critics who in the past had accused him of appointing only Northerners. President Buhari has also, apparently, balanced the appointment with respect to the region of origin.
Though the military is the only institution where national identity is stronger than ethnic and religious identities which tend to predominate in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari has been facing criticisms for his failure to address security issues and, at the same time, especially in the predominantly Christian south, for choosing his military chiefs from among his own northern Muslim Hausa-Fulani community.
But with this recent appointment, critics and even sworn enemies of the president are saying he has done well. Nobody can accuse President Buhari again of appointing only his tribesmen as service chiefs. In the appointment of these service chiefs, two are Hausa and Fulani, one is Yoruba while one is Igbo. Hence the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria appear to be represented: Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo
This is congruent with the principle of “Federal character,” which holds that government positions should be equally distributed across the federation. The new chief of defense staff, Gen.Lucky Irabor, is from Delta State in the South-south. The chief of army staff, Lt-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru is from Kaduna in t
he North. The chief of navy staff is Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo, is from Kano in the North, and the new air force chief of staff is Air Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao, from Osun state, South-west.
Meeting the new appointees at the President Villa, Abuja, the following day after their appointment, President Buhari congratulated them on their new roles while pledging his support to the armed forces. He charged them to be patriotic and serve Nigeria wholeheartedly. It was President Buhari’s first meeting with the service chiefs who were appointed on Tuesday.
They were led to the meeting, which was held behind closed doors, by the Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi, (rtd). According to a statement by presidential spokesperson, Mr Femi Adesina, the president urged the new appointees to be loyal to the country, adding that the country was in a state of emergency.
“We’re in a state of emergency. Be patriotic, serve the country well, as your loyalty is to the country,” President Buhari said.
“There’s nothing I can tell you about the service because you are in it. I was also in it, and I will pray for you. I also assure you that whatever I can do as Commander-in-Chief will be done so that the people will appreciate your effort,” he was quoted as saying.
The timing may have been a bit off, but the president was spot on with this strategic appointment and his charges to them. Since then many public affairs watchers and commentators have been praising President Buhari over the appointment of these sterling military officers. Prior to his making the appointment, there had been a groundswell of calls from stakeholders on him to change the former service chiefs. The appointment of these new service chiefs represents an exciting new development for the war against terror and banditry.
It is also a culmination of strident calls by stakeholders for a change of strategy in the conflict going on in the North-east Lake Chad Region, especially against the Boko haram insurgents, which has claimed over 100,000 lives since it started in 2009. Equally, data shows that 1000 military and security personnel were killed while about 3.7 million people have been internally displaced, according to the 2021 statistics of the Human Rights Watch.
In its own report, the United Nations Committee on Human Rights (UNCHR), says 30,000 refugees have fled the North-western part of the country to the neighboring Niger Republic in the last two months. According to the reports, “growing insecurity and atrocities across North-western Nigeria, most of it at the hands of armed gangs that rob, loot, rape and kill.”
But with the appointment of this new set of service chiefs and a change of strategy, analysts believe the war on terror and banditry would be won within a short while, judging by the antecedents of the service chiefs. Both Major-General Irabor and Major-General Attahiru have been theatre commanders of operation Lafia Dole, at different times.
And as Nigerians swim in the euphoria of this appointment, they want the roads to be free from kidnappers’ control. Nigerians pray for an end to the insurgency. In order to achieve all these, the citizens expect the new service chiefs to bring new ideas. They desire an entirely new approach to tackling terror and banditry. They spoke of their high expectations and what they believe the new service chiefs should do differently. Tackle Boko Haram, herdsmen from all fronts.
while many Nigerians are happy that this appointment will usher in great benefits for Nigeria. But John Campbell, an American expert on political and security developments in sub-Saharan Africa has this to say: It remains to be seen whether the new team will be any more successful than the last. The military remains under-resourced. But the drivers of conflict, especially in the north and in the oil patch, are primarily (not exclusively) political. But no political initiatives are underway to address the widespread sense of grievance. Absent political initiatives, critics see the replacement of the service chiefs as reminiscent of “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”
Does this observation by Campbell really contain some grains of truth? Truth is, there is absolutely none! A lot of Nigerians say reference to the Titanic is far off the mark and derogatory. While many agree that insurgency is like cancer, and fighting it is not an easy thing because it is nature, they believe that the service chiefs will succeed if they work as a team.
Commodore (Dr) Kunle Olawunmi, an associate professor of Criminology and Security Studies, doesn’t share Campbell’s view. He believes the service chiefs will succeed, though insurgency is difficult to fight. He says a soldier is trained to fight external war, not insurgency. That is why the war against insurgency is not a very easy thing. He says it is asymmetry warfare. You can’t easily recognize insurgents, they have no geographical territory, this keeps shifting. So insurgency is like cancer.
“You see, I was once a principal war officer. Who organize the logistics for these people? How come they have such firing power? One thing to know is there are different dimensions to insurgency-economic, ideological, political dimensions. I would advise Irabor and his team to tackle these dimensions and bring down the center of gravity of insurgency. They can do this if they work as a team. They have what it takes to make Nigeria gainfully tread the path of peace, security and progress”. Says the retired Naval officer..
Many experts share a similar view with Commodore Olawunmi. Former Minister of Defence, Major General Godwin Abbe (retd) says “For the new men, I think it is important they realize that fighting insurgency is like a team of doctors trying to cure a cancer patient. It is very unprofessional to predict that a cancer patient will be cured or that he will recover fully. That is what insurgency is, all you do is to approach the challenge from various dimensions that could bring the insurgency to submission. In the case of Nigeria, the new service chiefs should try and work together as a team because in unison they will certainly do much better and they should be more ruthless in their approach to acts of disloyalty.”
To Paul Oni, Nigerians will be at peace with the way life is panning out for them as a result of what the new service chiefs will achieve for them if they work as a team. There is also need to counter the ideology of the insurgents while dealing with other dimensions. “The new service chiefs truly have plenty to offer,” says Squadron Leader Paul Oni, (rtd).
“I think it’s important to always give your best in everything you do,” he says. Whatever you do give it your 100 per cent. “These generals will do that and help us achieve some sanity and confidence to move about.”
Indeed Oni seems right. This is because as soon as they were sworn-in by the president, the Chief of Defence Staff went on a visit to Borno state with the other service chiefs.
Little wonder Irabor is the go-to person for major stakeholders looking to up to how a change of strategy in the war against terror could be achieved. So he has capacity to do things differently from what used to be. He has more experience, resources and intelligence than merely “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic as asserted by Campbell. Rather he comes with ideas and innovation to build an entirely new ship with good materials. Having been battle-tested by being theatre commanders of operation Lafia Dole, at different times, underscores how experience will help General Lucky Irabor manage issues as Chief of Defence Staff, advancing the Nigerian armed forces. The same goes for Geneal Atahiru in terms of managing the army. Equally, Air Marshall Oladayo Amao and Rear Admiral Zubairu Gambo, too. Each of them has astounding ability of forecasting trends and solving problems. They will bring their experience to bear in making Nigeria safe and secure for all.
They have all studied and trained in various prestigious institutions across the world and have attended several military, leadership and transformational courses. These courses popular among the military and security personnel are not just about warfare or how to build war strategy alone, but are also billed to develop peace-building, promote a community-building ethic and a belief system that values life, rules of engagement, personal development, social responsibility, management and strategic expression. There are a lot of ‘out of the box’ and different innovations they will bring to bear on the country’s armed forces, ensuring strategic disciplines and practices. So they have all what are needed to end insurgency in the country.
Soon many people will recognise the benefits of their raft of collective efforts as Nigeria begins to reap the benefits of it. This is the opinion of Col Roberts Falola, (rtd). “The mix of administrative, intelligence and combat actions on all fronts will render some favorable results. Field operations at the North-east theatre will see more success from now on. The western fringe will also see peace. ”
How do you predict that, The TELESCOPE asks Col. Falola
“I don’t have a crystal ball to peer into,” says the 70-something, with a laugh. “I’m able to visualise a day when a lot of things would improve with the activities of these service chiefs. Great services will be delivered to the nation. And confidence and hope would soon replace fear and despondency in different parts of Northern Nigeria. At the same time, the military will transform their operations to implement new global standards.”
He lists a few ‘signals’ that he noticed in different parts of the country. He describes this as coccoing: “People are tired and do not want to go farm and go out at midnight anymore. Restaurants are no longer crowded on Saturday evenings. New services are not springing up to help them enjoy life any more.
Falola also sees some encouraging signs on the horizon. “We have seen somel improvement at the war against insurgents since the appointment of these generals in the last two months. Their logistics and routes have been destabilized, and movements curtailed. This was mainly led by better trends in the military which continues to recover ground from the insurgents. This will be further supported by higher activities at the Defence Headquarters and the service chiefs,” he states.
For the time being, seat belts fastened and doing the right things seem to be the formula for future success, fully deployed by these service chiefs. And the Chief of Defence Staff General Irabor took the first step in this direction when he and his team travelled to Borno state to see Governor Umara Zulum as soon as they assumed office.
These are dedicated, intelligent, outstanding and highly productive officers with good background in value and character.
General Leo Irabor is from Agbor in Delta State, he was a member of the Regular Course 39 of the NDA. He served as a Commander Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) of the Nigerian Army, Minna. Irabor also served as Chief of Training and Operations (CTOP), Defence Headquarters. He served as the theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole and headed the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) as the Field Commander. He also served as the Chief of Staff to the Chief of Army Staff. He is a trained engineer.
Lt- General Attahiru Ibrahim until his appointment as the Chief of Army Staff, was the General Officer Commanding 82 Division, Nigerian Army. He was appointed to lead the offensive against Boko Haram in the North-East in May 2017. He was, however, redeployed by the then Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai after a string of attacks by the insurgents, including after giving him a deadline of 40 days in July of that year to deliver Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau dead or alive.
Air Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao, the new Chief of Air Staff, , was born on September 14, 1965 at Enugu. He hails from Oshogbo in Osun State. He enlisted into the Nigerian Air Force on January 19, 1984, as a member of the 35 Regular Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy. He had previously served as Trainee/Squadron Pilot, NAF Unit 99 ACTG Kainji (1993-2004), Instructor Pilot/Squadron Pilot, 301 FTS Kaduna (2004-2007), Air Assistance to Chief of Air Staff, Deputy Defence Adviser, Nigerian High Commission London, Assistant Director of Operation Defence Headquarters, Director of Policy and Plans, Nigerian Air Force. Until his appointment, Amao was the Commandant Armed Forces Resettlement Centre Lagos.
Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo was born on 22 April 22, 1966, and hails from Nasarawa Local Council in Kano State. He enlisted in the NN on September 24, 1984, as a member of Regular Course 36 and was commissioned Sub-Lieutenant on September 24, 1988. He is an Underwater Warfare specialist with a sub-specialisation in Intelligence. The senior officer has attended several military courses, which include; Sub-Technical course and Officers Long course both at NNS QUORRA. He also attended Junior Division 48/89 and Senior Course 26 both at AFCSC Jaji.
Other courses attended include the National Defence Course at the South African National Defence College. Until his recent appointment as the CNS, he was the Director of Procurement at the Defence Space Administration. He holds a PGD in Transport Management and a Master’s degree in Transport Management (Logistics option), both from the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology.
These brilliant trend-spotters and very patriotic officers would be opting for a strongly intelligence-infused operations which has become vital to boost performance. With them good times are here, the ship of the state remains afloat and stifle away vitality from insurgency and banditry. That way, Nigeria can find the real treasures to stand on in the service chiefs.
Many elder statesmen, traditional rulers, and influential figures will be playing a leading role in bridging and or mediating these fissures to bring about lasting peace. This is one area where influential people like His Eminence the Sultan of Sokoto and Ooni of Ife and some other traditional rulers will matter this year. General Gowon and General Abdulsalam Abubakar will probably go round on peace-building initiatives to meet stakeholders, mostly traditional rulers.