On Friday, March 7, 2014, the new Minister of Defence, Lieutenant General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau (rtd) and Minister of State, Defence, Senator Musliu Obanikoro, assumed office at the Ministry of Defence (MOD), Ship House, Abuja. Jibrin Baba Ndace examines the tough job ahead of the two ministers
The handing and taking over ceremony
The Minister of Information and supervising Minister of Defence, Mr Labaran Maku, did not disappoint the audience who gathered to witnessed the handing and taking over ceremony. As expected, he praised the service chiefs and the armed forces in general. He thanked President Goodluck Jonathan who gave him the opportunity to serve in that capacity. He urged the new ministers to support the armed forces. And like many appointees of this administration, Maku came hard of Borno state Governor, Kashim Shettima.
“I must say that the service chief have done quite a great job, of maintaining the security situation in the country, I must also say that I saw a lot of innovation in general from the armed forces, for me that was very crucial. Because without innovation, without the capacity of Nigeria to at least produce some of the systems, we can never really have a fulfilled armed forces, so during this period we saw a lot of things and the height of it, was the commissioning of the unmanned aerial vehicles that was produced by the air force, using their own internal resources and personnel.
“They are all now in service helping the country to gather information, doing security surveillance, I think that was really something we are all very proud of.
The same thing has happened in the navy and airforce, there are local systems, that are being maintained either by our own personnel, or new ones being introduced , innovation for every sector particularly for the armed forces is very crucial, and I hope that General Gusau and Obanikoro coming would like to see more of that, in terms of what our armed forces are able to do at home to meet the immediate needs of warfare and management of the armed forces.”
“I must emphasize that we have serious security challenges in the country, the last five months here have brought these issues closer to me, because am able to see firsthand the challenges we face. We have challenges in the north east of the country which are persisting, I know for sure that our armed forces have been doing a great job, for many people outside who see the sporadic killings that are taking place in the last two weeks, the impression is that the armed forces are doing nothing.”
Clearly referring to Governor Kassim Shettima, Maku said: “Even the a state governor had the misfortune of indiscretion, when he said it would appear the armed forces of Nigeria where not capable of fighting the terrorist, I think that was serious indiscretion. And I can forgive that because maybe he did not quite know the deeper work that was going on and is still going on in the northeast. Iam aware that in the last four weeks, there has been a lot of pressure on the terrorist, because the armed forces have been going directly to their bases and that is why we are seeing a lot of those sporadic attacks which comes sometimes out of frustration and anger, I know so much is going on and is not something that we will talk on the pages of news papers.
“I commend the armed forces for facing the challenges head on, and we must change the story as quickly as we can because it’s crucial for this country.
“I want to also emphasize that a lot of the elements have been coming across the boundary and we have had occasions to discuss that very frankly and we believe that Nigeria is also in touch with their neighbors to contain the situation.
We have challenges beyond the north east, unfortunately Nigeria over the years has not been able to tackle the question of groups operating outside the state and causing a lot of havoc.
“I must say that in several parts of the country we have communal crisis between grazers and farmers which has also been penetrated by all sorts of elements that are using it as an opportunity for criminality.”
He said the armed forces must continue to be loyal to the commander-in-chief. “Loyalty is 100 percent and cannot be 99 percent; the most important element of a soldier is his loyalty to the constitution of Nigeria and to the commander in chief.”
“We are heading toward an electoral situation in Nigeria, and there has been a lot of utterances from within and outside the country, relating to the unity and future of Nigeria, I am aware that Mr. President has variously assure the world that this elections will be freer that what we saw in 2011. One great thing the armed forces must continue to do is remain very loyal to our constitution and to democracy.
“The past experiences has not helped the country, we all know that perhaps without those military interruptions Nigeria may be at par with countries like India, Malaysia and other countries. So interruptions have not helped the country. Nigeria has no future outside democracy”.
Return of General Gusau
Gusau’s appointment as defence minister is seen as a fitting recognition of his over four decades experience in the military, defence, security and intelligence circles. And his remarks taking over ceremony was less than two minutes. He was clear about the task before him and aware that it was a mission that require less talk and more action.
He said: “As somebody who has been in the military I have been following the trend of events in the ministry, and I come to the conclusion that he did his job very well. Reading through the hand over notes I carefully looked at the structure of the ministry of defence, including the detail of its institutions, I have also studied the responsibilities of the various units and manpower dispositions both in the civil and military.”
Expectation
General Gusau is no doubt a house hold name in both local and international intelligence community. This is Gusau second coming under Jonathan administration having served as National Security Adviser (NSA). Incidentally, he was appointed NSA on 8 March 2010 and resigned September, the same year.
He acknowledged that a lot have been achieved in the past, but more needed to be done. “The ministry has recorded remarkable successes in some areas, and they can do much better in others, I applaud the achievements of the past and look forward to adding our modest contribution in the months ahead. I also pray that the courage and commitment of our troops in mission areas, both at home and abroad, particularly for their sacrifice in recent times.”
He admitted that the challenges before him and his team were clearly daunting, but surmountable. “The challenges are evidently daunting but surmountable; with the help of almighty Allah and our collective resolve and determination we will get to the destination that will give Nigerians the confidence that the country is indeed a safe place for everyone.” Even though, he didn’t say anything about expectations of Nigerians and indeed, the international community on his appointment as MOD, there is no doubt, that the expectations are very high.
Speaking with Blueprint, a defence and security expert, Max Gbanite, said Nigerians and the international community hold General Gusau in high esteem and looked forward to an eventful tenure that would impact positively on security situation in Nigeria. “General Gusau is a household name in the international security community. He is competent. He know the problems. But he cannot solve the problem alone. He must take the collective wisdom of all Nigerians.”
Gbanite who condemned the senseless killing of school children by Boko Haram, noted called on Gusau to constitute a war cabinet.
“I want him to constitute a war cabinet that should include service chiefs and strategic security experts. So that at every point of crisis, the federal government would approach it from the point of superiority. So that we can match insurgents weapon for weapon, uniform for uniform. In that wise, he should create a new tactical battalion that will begin to haunt the insurgents in a proactive manner. ”
Gbanite also advised Gusau to partner with the media and also encourage federal government to fund civil-military relations within affected communities in the North-east.
“He should partner with the media, so that they report defence and security issues as Nigerians and not as enemy combatants. He must encourage the federal government to fund civil-military relationship for quick impact activities so that communities destroyed by the insurgents can be rebuild”.
