By Mike Kebonkwu Esq
President Muhammadu Buhari changed the Service Chiefs about three months ago with General Attahiru Ibrahim emerging as the Chief of Army Staff. The marching order to the Service Chiefs was loud and clear, they are to bring the security situation in the country under control. It did not include investigating their predecessors in office whether they utilized the money for arms procurement or whether the weapons were purchased.
Furthermore, the moment he becomes the Chief of Army Staff, (COAS), an imaginary line is drawn in the sand between his tenure and his predecessor. And in line with the mood of the nation, the COAS should be leading the charge in the fight against insecurity as the whole nation has become the frontline.
It will, therefore, be a huge distraction to corner the COAS, demanding audit of his predecessor as members of the House of Representatives Adhoc Committee on Arms and Ammunition Control did recently. The COAS was lured into their lair and brought within killing range in what apparently appears to be an innocuous summon or invitation from members of the Committee. But the Committee members could as well have extended the invitation to the former Service Chiefs and every other individual specifically fingered in the transactions of arms procurement.
Their action reminds me of a saying amongst the Ika ethnic group of Delta State “that the cock would leave its adversary and begins to twist its neck in anger against the earth”. Otherwise, the immediate past Service Chiefs supervised and superintended over the purchases and procurement which the House Members are making inquiry into. They came before this same National Assembly and were screened and cleared as non career ambassadors. One of them told the National Assembly that it would take another twenty long years to defeat insurgency in the Northeast. The same individual that had told the nation over and over again that the military had defeated the insurgents and that he was only conducting mopping up operations. The National Assembly did not probe any further and went ahead to reward the immediate past Service Chiefs with ambassadorial posting to their eternal shame and failures.
While the former Service Chiefs held sway, the same House ignored issues of huge oversight that demanded explanation in relation to Defence spending and utilization of budgets. During their elongated tenure, the Service Chiefs were competing to build universities in their villages. Did the National Assembly appropriate money for building these universities by the Service Chiefs? Nobody told us anything. Where did they get the funds and who gave approval for such huge capital intensive projects in the midst of execution of war against insurgency and insecurity across the country, assuming it was a priority?
It is, therefore, quite puerile to pin the new COAS down and be demanding explanation for what the House Committee members themselves may have been guilty of being complicit. It is instructive that the general stood up to the overfed bullies who have abandoned their core duties and responsibilities.
They abandoned their duties when rather than go into the business of the day which we understand was explanation of purchases of arms and ammo during the tenure of his predecessor, the committee members demanded apologies from the general for not coming before the Committee at an earlier invitation. The general, who had explained the reasons for his inability to come earlier, retorted in a calibrated language that he felt that an explanation was as good as an apology in the circumstances.
The Committee members who would not take such insolence were enraged and livid with wild anger and outburst. The Committee members accused the general of not being civil, insisting that when he comes before Parliament, he ought to be civil. Watching the footage, with the committee members displaying such rage, one wonders who on earth displayed un-civility of a bully between the House Committee members and the general.
By the way, I am aware that General Attahiru Ibrahim is an infantry soldier noted for high level of discipline. As an infantryman, he has been honed into a machine and a warhead with antenna, always at alert. An infantry soldier is like a shark; he smells blood miles away and does not shy away from a fight. The typical soldier he is, he would not allow the committee members to draw his blood first; the bullet was not meant for him.
The beefing and puffing under any circumstances was uncalled for. Elected representatives of the people are there to serve the people and not to harass and intimidate citizens like commandants in a colonial prefecture. It is not one of their duties to demand for apologies from citizens when they should seek explanation on any issue. It is high time therefore that elected representatives and government officials came down from their high horse and stop treating citizens condescendingly, as lords of the manor.
The insecurity we face today in the country in the main is caused by bad governance and the huge corruption by our public office holders who misappropriate monies meant for developmental projects. Our roads are death traps because they are poorly built or constructed with over inflated budgets. The National Assembly members do not care a hoot about the roads which they have abandoned preferring private jets and choppers as means of transportation to their villages. The Power Sector is decrepit and near collapse, Doctors are on strike; teachers are on strike, and our hospitals cannot even serve or qualify as consulting clinics. Now we are face to face with the challenge to our corporate existence as secessionists’ agitations rend the air while these clowns engage in unnecessary distraction.
It is time to interrogate ourselves on the calibre of people we elect into positions of authority. Throw ethnicity and religion to their pigeon holes; they have become divisive vehicles by politicians who behave like buccaneers helping themselves to our common wealth. The take away is that public office holders should come down from their high horses and stop bullying ordinary citizens.
Leaders at every level of government occupy their positions and offices in trust. They are not to assume so much airs and arrogance with bloated ego that everybody should bow down before them. We have for too long lived under this siege mentality where public officers assume that they should be deified and venerated taking the National Assembly to be their pantheon. They are wrong, the members of the National Assembly have no right to demand for apologies from citizens; they are not lords and masters of the people. Good enough they met their match in someone who understands the turf.
The author who is of Koyen-Hi Kebonkwu Chambers, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja in Nigeria is also reachable on 08055065075
