Rejuvenation and reinvigoration of the Nigerian Army the Buratai approach

By Abubakar Sani,Diwa Indar and Emmanuel Ezeomena

As someone whose government was overthrown in a coup d’etat spearheaded by his Chief of Army Staff in August 1985, President Muhammadu Buhari must have taken serious time to reflect and rethink measures in appointing General Tukur Yusuf Buratai as his army chief last year. 

Not only because the Nigerian Army was inept, corrupt and politicized to a fault at that time, but also because a vicious, blood thirsty terrorist group that was rated as number two in the World Terrorism Index was raiding, rampaging and ravaging the north eastern parts of the country.

The military officers appointed to lead the Nigerian Army in the war against the terrorists—Generals Ihejirika Azubuike and Kenneth Minimah couldn’t deliver the proverbial sheep from the vicious lions as soldiers threw away their mal functioning riffles and fled to either Cameroun or Niger republics. In deed Professor Paul Collier Oxford University was right when he said that, “Future civil wars will take the form of a government pitted against a private extra legal military grouping. They will variously be called rebels, terrorists, freedom fighters, or gangsters, but their essential characteristics will be the same. These wars will also be a throw back, but to a very different period: the time before nation states cohered.”

So the Buhari administration came with a mindset to search and appoint a David to confront the vicious lions and bring safety to the sheep which in this scenario are Nigerians located in the north east. After conducting its due diligence, it settled on General Buratai, then a Major General co-coordinating four African nation’s military forces to checkmate Boko Haram.

The army chief gallantly swung into action when he was appointed by heading straight to Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state to spend his sallah break with the rank and file of the army. This single act of empathy and bravery boosted the morale of the troops which was at its lowest ebb at the time. Troops located in the north eastern region to fight Boko Haram terrorists for the first time saw a real General that deserved to be called their Chief; a Chief without pot belly who was physically fit and truly committed to the fight against Boko Haram to the extent that he was ready to put his own life at stake. One of the soldiers located in Maiduguri said that with Buratai leading them from the fore front, they have no option but to win the fight or die fighting. The entire people of the region suddenly recoiled from their pessimism and begun to trust, rely and collaborate with the army.

Maybe because General Buratai hails from Borno state, and numerous people from his village, friends and families have been either harassed, humiliated or killed by the terrorists or it is just patriotism and professionalism, the man changed the story of the north eastern parts of Nigeria, particularly Borno,Yobe and Adamawa. It is thus the function of a good leader to find the correct solution to a gamut of limiting factors to human progress, aiming at liberation of man. A leaders act becomes heroic, not when it preserves the life of the leader at the expense of his followers, but when it fires an ember in a heap of ash; when it sparks new enthusiasm in a spirit of desperation, when it injects new verve and vivacity into exhausted possibilities, and plots a path through a cul de sac like the one General Buratai met when he took over as army chief. The North East Star magazine has been following and tailing the army chief since his appointment. We can authoritatively report that it took professionalism, due diligence, courage, fiscal discipline, motivation and self-sacrifice/denial for General Buratai to win the war against Boko Haram.

The North East Star discovered that General Buratai’s immediate family members don’t usually have free and regular access to him at the peak of the conflict. He relocated to Maiduguri to coordinate the fight, and to him too much phone calls was a luxury that he couldn’t afford so as to remain focused. His wives and children were deprived of his presence and affection. It was therefore not a surprise to see Maiduguri International Airport re-opened, and all road blocks removed in the region to allow free passage of people and their goods. No wonder the army was able to re-open Damaturu-Biu road, and later on Maiduguri-Damboa –Biu-Yola road. Same with the most vital Maiduguri-Bama-Dikwa-Ngamboru road. For those who don’t know this route is central to the economic development of the region. It allows for the movement of people and goods from and to Cameroun, Chad, Niger, Sudan and the Central African republics.

At the moment the entire north eastern region of the country is as calm as the serpentine in June. The army has been rejuvenated and reinvigorated through motivation, leadership by example, fiscal discipline and better equipments. The dignity and pride of Nigeria has been restored as what was termed as “civil war” by the Nigerian Civil War veteran, General T.Y Danjuma was defeated. However a study conducted by the North East Star magazine showed that post conflict societies are fragile, and the strategy that can have a long lasting solution is peace-keeping evolving into economic recovery speeded by aid.

Nigeria has witnessed about nine coup d’états with the bloodiest one being the July 1966 counter coup. According to a scholarly research conducted by Paul Collier of Oxford University the effects of a coup d’états are severe. He wrote that, “Though a clear effect of a coup in the year of the shock is that it reduces income by around 3.5 percent, the main costs of coups might not be the brief after effects of a successful coups, but the consequences of the continuous fear of them” He further added that, “Even worse, coups might not be provoked by bad governance but by the opportunistic greed of the army.”Collier’s research showed that about 336 coups have been planned in Africa alone, which 191 made it through to the stage of an attempt, and 82 made it all the way to a successful coup. Thus the reason why the nation’s army chief position is most vital is because the occupant is expected to maintain and ensure professionalism in the army with a view to keeping the army out of politics, and remaining constantly loyal to democratic authorities.

This onerous task rested on General Buratai. There has been a plethora of rumors of attempted coups recently but General Buratai has been able to ensure that the army remains in the barracks. It is also not a secret that two sinister groups want to see that the Buhari administration is ousted before 2019.The first group is made up of corrupt politicians who are currently being investigated for corrupt practices by President Buhari. This group of people are the ones manipulating the Niger Delta militants to destroy oil extraction installations so as to cripple down the nation’s economy. At a time they succeeded in bringing down the level of oil production from 2.2 million to 800,000 barrels per day. Some of these people are members of the ruling party but a large number of them are members of the Peoples Democratic Party. Their major obstacle is the army chief. General Buratai’s eye is scrutinizing the army and bad eggs are being flushed out. There are strong indications to suggest that some of the top army officers and police recently retired are their loyalists.

The second group is external, and it is allegedly led by an Iranian. The Iranians have been arming the Islamic Movement of Nigeria for years with finance, scholarship, political connections and arms so that their brand of Islam can take hold in Nigeria. And Sheikh Ibrahim Elzakzaky, a very charismatic Islamic preacher who was a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria was able to increase the followership of the shia sect through intimidation of the masses and the state government. No one could stand the man and his followers in Zaria for years, including past Kaduna state governors until the emergence of Nasir el Rufai and General Buratai. The latter stood his ground and showed the sect that there is civil authority in Nigeria, and that the army is sovereign. General Buratai made everyone in Kaduna to understand that Nigeria is secular, and that no religious leader can become a law unto himself. This, it was reported was what angered the Iranians to begin to orchestrate a grand scheme that involves some legal luminaries, journalist and social analysts to engineer the sack of General Buratai. Thus, Femi Falana was acting a script when he called for the dismissal of General Buratai. According to Max Gbanite, a credible terrorism consultant, the same Falana justified Nuhu Ribadu when Ribadu was accused of owning properties in Dubai. He based his argument on the fact that the laws of Nigeria don’t forbid a public official from owning properties in foreign lands. It only forbids foreign bank accounts.

It is therefore not a surprise when Sahara Reporters published a story about the ownership of two real estate by General Buratai and his two wives in Dubai even though the man has declared the property in his Asset Declaration Form of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).Their major angle of the propaganda is that the money used to acquire the Dubai property was illegally gotten. The two wives of Buratai have been running a lucrative cooperative society known Sana’armu since when their husband was a Brigadier General in Kaduna, and this cooperative society has provided loans of various amounts to people to start or expand their businesses. It is a fact that women are millionaires on their own. They are hardworking women whose rights to privacy were violated by the outright publication of their international passports in the scandalous story simply because they teamed up with their husband to acquire real estate in Dubai. We gathered that some of past army chiefs owned multi billion Naira hotels in Abuja yet no one is taking about it. The whole enchilada is to make a mockery of the government’s anti corruption posture, and lead it to take a wrong decision by sacking General Buratai as army chief. This will then pave the way for them to re organize and re arm Boko Haram, increase the vandalization of oil facilities so as to cripple the economy, inflict grave fear and terror on the citizenry, and finally stage a coup.”In civilized societies, the freedom of conscience and fair criticism is regarded as the dynamo of a political system in search of a better future,” wrote Arthur Nwankwo in his book,Before I Die. It is okay to criticize people in government as long as the criticism is fair but smear campaign to tarnish the image and hard earned reputation of a nation’s critical human resources is a great disservice to that nation.”Instead of investigating and analyzing what obstacles stand in the way of political stability, self reliance and positive economic development as well as mobilizing the teaming masses of the nation toward the path of change and social reconstruction, some news media are doing the opposite: disinformation and mis-education,” said Dr. Khalifa Dikwa, a university don in Kaduna.

Genera Buratai’s offence was that he rejuvenated and reinvigorated the Nigerian army. He was able to restore to the Nigerian Army to its former state and give vigor to it; he filled it with life and energy. He was able to do because he was indeed a true General. According to the US GeneralLeadership Forum,Generalship is defined as “military skill in a high commander.” Military leaders are trained in leadership at the earliest stages of their careers. Officers learn officer ship as they progress through the ranks and experience the rigors of leading other dedicated, talented men and women. But one learns generalship not in a classroom, but through observing and experiencing other senior military leaders who themselves effectively exercise their generalship in challenging situations. Said another way, Generalship, like leadership, reflects a learned set of skills that equip us to effectively move things forward in our spheres of influence. Each of the traits of Generalship can and should be readily adopted by those in positions of leadership in every sector—government, private sector, nonprofit organizations, and yes, particularly the military. Here are the top 10 traits of Generalship that describe what every leader must be:

STRATEGIC VISIONARY – They think, act, lead and develop others in a strategic manner.

DECISIVE – They make decisions and make them at the right time.

COURAGEOUS – They exercise physical and moral courage to serve as the beacon for others to emulate and follow.

ACCOUNTABLE – They lavish praise on subordinates when victories occur and take responsibility when the team falls short of their objectives.

INTEGRITY – This is flat out non-negotiable! There is no room for questionable character in Generals, generalship or leadership.

DRIVE – They make something happen. You can have a good plan and a good team but someone must drive the team to the top of the summit.

TEAM BUILDER – The team that must be built here is very high level. Coalitions and disparate parts must be brought together in unison to achieve much higher goals.

CHANGE AGENT – They recognize who or what needs to be changed and then commit to making the required changes.

STANDARDS – They maintain high personal standards.

POISE – They lead with flair and class and always conduct their self in an unflappable manner.

DIPLOMATIC – They create political alliances outside their own organization to achieve common goals and objectives.

As Titus Livins said it “Luck is of little moment to the great general, for it is under the control of his intellect and his judgment.” The above mentioned qualities which General Buratai’s predecessors laced were what made him to succeed as army chief, and not mere luck.

Recently there was a grand scheme by some people to manipulate the President to sack Ibrahim Magu as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) because of the uncompromising posture of the man in fighting sleaze and corruption but the President refused to bend and instead requested the Senate to confirm Magu as substantive Chairman of the EFCC. As usual their weapon against Magu was smear campaign through an alleged bribery scandal in the arms probe panel.

Investigations carried out by the North East Star magazine revealed that President Buhari is very pleased with the army chief and the National Security Advisor, Babagana Munguno, also from Borno State. These two strategic and vital players of the Buhari administration are not only competent and trustworthy but they also possess loyalty— an important quality required of all principals from their subordinates or appointees.

A study conducted by the North East Star magazine also showed that nine out of every ten people in the north east are satisfied and grateful to General Buratai who to them symbolizes the entire network of armed forces that got together to crush and wipe out Boko Haram from the north east.

National security is a public good par excellence, and it requires stability, continuity and proper coordination of government’s security outfit to ensure it. So far the security team of the Buhari administration is working perfectly well even though the economic team is nothing to write home about.