Most definitely, as a fall out from the planned failed putsch, President Bola Tinubu fired his service chiefs last week. This was expected. The thought alone of a coup within the ranks of the military is unacceptable. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is in order.
His appointment of replacements to immediately fill in the slots was expected, and they have been screened by the Senate. The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Olufemi Oluyede was elevated to Chief of Defense Staff. The former Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa was booted. Major-General W. Shaibu was appointed Chief of Army Staff; Air Vice Marshal S.K. Aneke took over as Chief of Air Staff, while Rear Admiral I. Abbas took over as Chief of Naval Staff. The Chief of Defence Intelligence, Major-General E.A.P. Undiendeye who most likely played the most significant role in uncovering the dastardly plot was retained. The National Security Adviser, Mal. Nuhu Ribadu, of course, remained: he is the President’s most instrumental official in coordinating security policy.
The new service chiefs will continue from where the former chiefs stopped. But they must approach their roles in even hastier pace. The former chiefs, through the coordination of the National Security Adviser had set solid footing and laid good foundation for the work the new chiefs would be expected to execute. They had eliminated several threats and made the country considerably safer. I acknowledge that it is impossible to eliminate all security threats at this moment, given Nigeria’s peculiar situation.
The threat of Boko Haram still lingers, even though the ideology is fading. Credit must be given to the Armed Forces as they have dealt good blow to that terrorism ideology. But they must do well to clean it up completely and deny any further breathing space to the terrorists. Nigerians in the North East must be able to return to normalcy soonest. Maiduguri and its environs should no longer be known for terrorism but for commerce as it once was known for.
The same goes for banditry. The Kaduna-Abuja Expressway, was a thoroughfare that kindled fear in the hearts of travellers is much safer. Thanks to the efforts of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and the security agencies he coordinated to effectively man the route, and flush out the bandits in those areas, making their venture unprofitable. The major kingpins have been eliminated through well-coordinated campaigns of the security agencies. Despite all these, banditry in Nigeria is not yet history. Every now and then, those who have been chased out of towns and highways scramble out of their holes to unleash terror in villages and communities, seeking food and ransom.
Our new chiefs have the duty to complete the good job that was started. They must meet the bandits in their hideouts and eliminate all of them. Nigerians are eager to write off this phase of criminality even as we move closer to a more secure and safe country.
The good work conducted in the South Eastern parts of the country, where the near-defunct IPOB has no capacity to conduct attacks must be upheld. Mal. Nuhu Ribadu, in his remarks in Kaduna recently attested to the fact that the Monday sit-at-home order has lost grip in the region. Our new chiefs need to ensure that the people of the South East fully resume full normalcy of their lives in the shortest possible time.
In the South South too, militancy has ebbed. It’s complete end must be sustained.
When President Bola Tinubu appointed these service chiefs, he charged them to justify the confidence he and Nigerians reposed in them by enhancing professionalism, vigilance, unity, and camaraderie within the Armed Forces.
Let me highlight one key point from the President’s charge. It is the need for more professionalism within the armed forces. Again, I reiterate that it is an irresponsible thing, a perversion, and the height of disrespect for Nigerians that a group of members of our armed forces even conceived the thought of a destabilisation of our democracy.
The new service chiefs must have in their consciousness the very problem that saw to their elevation in rank and assignment. If they want to keep their jobs they must rid their services of all forms of unprofessional conduct. The armed forces must remain in the barracks with no business in the politics of our country. All officers that think otherwise must be flushed out completely. Democracy is here to stay.
My most crucial word to the new chiefs comes at this tail end. It is the matter of collaboration with each other. The successes that the former Service Chiefs were able to record were not the doing of any single service alone. It was the outcome of successful collaboration under the coordination of the National Security Adviser, Mal. Nuhu Ribadu.
Through Mal. Ribadu’s coordination, they delivered swift blows to terrorist heads, eliminated bandit leaders, and restored sanity to our highways and business spaces. Coordination and collaboration were key to this. If our new chiefs must rise above the bar set by their predecessors, they must work closely with Mal. Ribadu—he has proven to be a strong central midfielder, as those familiar with football will say.
Working in silos was unfortunately the bane of the late President Buhari’s security architecture. We must not return to that after steady progress has been made by the Office of the National Security Adviser. With these few words, I wish the new chiefs the best. I pray that Nigeria will be safer under their watch. God be with them.
Mohammed T. Abiodun is a historian, he writes from Abuja.
