Someone might call it passions of hate or pathological hatred. But personally, I had no endearing affection for Nigerian soldiers. The sight of a soldier easily generated instant anger in me. That a soldier is honed to sacrifice his life for me and others never pricked my conscience.
My psyche was resolutely assailed with bubbling images of soldiers as professionals whose incivility, bruteness, crudeness, beastliness and indecency had no limits. At some point, I wished another planet would have been created for soldiers, separate from where other normal human beings dwelt. I am haunted by this revulsion for soldiers.
The re-commencement of democracy in Nigeria from 1999, reinforced my gory images of soldiers. It was a time I confirmed soldiers as savages, rapists, uniformed partisans, licensed killers of innocent civilians, destroyers and evangelists of the repulsive doctrine of “gun-might is absolute power.”
My personalized conceptions about soldiers kept thriving, and momentarily watered like shrubs on the river bank by their pervasive misconducts. Each time I remember the Odi massacre in Rivers state or ruminate over the Zaki Biam military invasion in Benue state, and hordes of others, the magnitude of bloodshed of innocent souls develope some goose pimples on my skin. These invoke an infinite feeling of terror on the personality of an average soldier.
But time changes. My perception about soldiers dramatically changed in 2015. President Buhari emerged the democratically elected leader of Nigeria. He reconstituted the team of his service chiefs. And a native boy from the arcane or the rural, but the lush countryside of Biu in Borno state, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai (now retried), was appointed Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS).
President Buhari doubled his burden by crowning him leader of the counter-insurgency operations in the age of insurgency. Before his appointment as the COAS, I never heard of Gen. Buratai’s name in the Army. But he sauntered on the scene of Nigeria’s warfare against Boko Haram terrorism, at a time it had delt a fatal blow on the country; a path smoothened by other ancillary criminalities by armed gangs.
We heard of tales of soldiers effeminately shirking from the warfront in the heat of battle with enemy forces; Nigerians were pained and humiliated by narrations of constant soldiers’ mutinies in the frontlines. These rebellions were not just happenstance, but consistent.
I was further piqued at tales of soldiers bolstering electoral frauds in Nigeria. It was glaring Nigeria had an unprofessional, undisciplined, unpatriotic, disloyal and partisan Army. My hatred for them was circumstantial and understandable!
The task to rebirth Nigerian Army fell on the hands of Gen. Buratai upon his appointment as COAS in 2015. He had to match the reformation, reorientation and repositioning of the Nigerian Army alongside facing the vicious forces of terrorism ravaging Nigeria.
So, from the outset, Buratai enunciated his mission of transforming the Nigerian Army into a professionally responsible and responsive Army alive to the performance of his constitutionally assigned roles of protecting and preserving the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nigeria. It was his operational philosophy.
I paid close attention to the actions and inactions of Buratai as he embarked on this strenuous national assignment. It wasn’t easy for me to approximate the theatre of war in the Northeast, where the heat was intense to monitor what Gen. Buratai was doing firsthand. So, initially relied on the local and foreign media reportage of the operations of Gen. Buratai in the theatre of war. I interrogated what the media churned out and made deductions vis-à-vis his impact on the anti-insurgency combats.
I was very fascinated at the manner the former COAS and the then, leader of the anti-insurgency operations quickly wrapped his reformation of the Nigerian Army with in-house trainings; field operation exercises, seminars and workshops, which reawaken a dormant Army. He swiftly responded to soldiers’ complaints about poor armouries and resolved the lingering issues of unpaid or delayed entitlements for soldiers as well as reviewed their allowances upwards.
Buratai religiously adhered to the new Order of Battle (ORBAT) and redefined Rules of Engagement (ROE) for troops, which upheld the human rights of Nigerians in high esteem and sacrosanct. For Gen. Buratai (rtd) it was an unpardonable abomination for a soldier to indulge in human rights abuses and escape unpunished. So, he established the Human Rights Desk for the Nigerian Army and unlike in the past, soldiers received court summons and appeared in regular courts to defend allegations against them.
When Gen. Buratai substantially doused the tension of terrorism in the Northeast, I accepted the offer of the job of a humanitarian aid worker in the Northeast under a foreign organization (name withheld). Our main assignment was to assist the Nigerian government to carter for the humanitarian crises created by the years of insurgency in the region. We traversed various parts of the Northeast, especially Borno state, performing these chores in IDPs camps, which housed thousands of displaced persons.
That was when I came into personal contact with Gen. Buratai in the battlefield while he was still in active service. We met several times and at different locations. I began to appreciate soldiers through their professional conducts in the warfront. It loved it and it gradually began to diminish the innate hatred which I nursed on them for years.
Specifically, I began to love Buratai by his humane disposition and actions. He consistently visited troops in different locations in the trenches and personally led counter-insurgency operations at the warfront alongside his troops. He gave his mind and soul to it. He draped with uncommon patriotism and loyalty to this cause and influenced soldiers in like manner through leadership by example.
Generally, troops howled epaulets of Gen. Buratai as a “solders’ soldier,” and civilians nicknamed his the “the peoples soldier.” He was unreservedly loved by soldiers, who were buoyed by his numerous incentives and reward for excellence in the frontlines without discrimination. They replicated through positive combats at the frontlines.
Similarly, I noticed Buratai was also the doyen of IDPs and communities embroiled in terrorism. Though, it was outside his call of duty, but Buratai often visited IDP camps, consoled and gave them the message of hope. Soldiers under him also displayed the same humanism on these distraught and distressed Nigerians. Some troops, even organized school lessons for children of IDPs in the camps free-of-charge.
Gen. Buratai’s revival of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), sited various projects in different host communities of the Nigerian Army, in his bid to redefine military/civil relations. Communities enjoyed roads, bridges, electricity, schools’ renovation and water projects as well as free medical services offered by the Nigerian Army. The gesture endeared communities to both Buratai and soldiers.
I tried to understand why Buratai had to expend the Army’s meagre and insufficient budget in funding social amenity projects in communities; whilst it was the responsibility of government. Unknown to many, Buratai’s adopted philosophy on the war against insurgency to lure communities on the side of the Army, rather than insurgents.
Furthermore, communities across Nigeria respected and honoured Buratai’s leadership because of the multiple Army capital projects dotting these areas. The Army schools and new hospitals located in these communities generated massive employments, created wealth opportunities for the local populace and improved standards of living of members of the host communities.
The former Army chief, reputed as a rare military strategist and tactician discerned that Boko Haram terrorism thrived because it had pervasive sympathies from the locals. Insurgents lured the neglected people with gifts and incentives, with the dubious promise of a better life if the natives support the violent jihadi campaigns to succeed. Many fell for the tricks, got initiated into the Boko Haram sect and became the informants, logistics suppliers and protectors of insurgents in their midst from the eagle eyes of soldiers.
Buratai was determined and very resolute in completely defeating and winning the war against insurgency for us. So, Buratai sought to break this satanic cord between members of communities and the insurgents by introducing the CSR projects to complement the efforts of government as well as poison the minds of the people against Boko Haram terrorists. This initiative assisted greatly in implanting the spirit of resistance to insurgents in the psyche of the locals.
All these inspired me to the leadership of the Nigerian Army by the former COAS, Buratai. It also dramatically changed my negative perception of soldiers which almost became a nightmare to my life. So, Buratai came to help his country overcome the pestilence of Boko Haram terrorism and applied himself to achieve this mission in so many ways.
That’s why, beyond the sounds of guns and boots in the battlefield, Buratai’s reign also stretched into conquering the sociological enablers of bourgeoning terrorism in our country. Certainly, his leadership of the Nigerian Army carved a niche for itself and left an enduring mark of excellence, which occupies a prime place in history books.
Rawlings writes from Maiduguri, Borno state.