Service Chiefs of the Nigerian Armed Forces, especially since 2010 to date, are war profiteers and most of them bath in illicit wealth after stimulating and fuelling conflicts wherever they are asked to go and maintain law and order in Nigeria. Therefore, the talk of ethnic cleansing by ex-Lieutenant-General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma is a gross exaggeration because he knows that the composition of the Nigerian Armed Forces is not mono-ethnic. All major ethnic groups are represented in the Nigerian Armed Forces but, just like Nigerian politicians and civil servants, they are unpatriotic to the nation and disloyal to the citizens. Thus, what characterizes war profiteers was exposed by the ex-military General Danjuma when he asserted, "The security forces, rather than protect the people, facilitate the movement of armed attackers and often provide cover for them." Let us look at how the top echelons of the Nigerian Armed Forces have exploited conflicts in Nigeria to amass illicit wealth.
Lieutenant General Azubuike Onyeabor Ihejirika was the Chief of Army Staff from September 2010 to January 2014. It was during this period that Boko Haram gradually began its attacks in the Northeast of Nigeria. Of all the Armed Forces, the Army under the leadership of General Ihejirika was responsible for the ground troops that should engage Boko Haram and flush them out of existence in Nigeria at that time. However, Lieutenant General Azubuike Onyeabor Ihejirika did not only recruit ghost soldiers on whose behalves he and his high ranking officers collected salaries, but the few soldiers sent to fight Boko Haram insurgents were poorly equipped, militarily. Nevertheless, he awarded at the same time three contracts with a total value of N5.940 billion to DYI Global Services Ltd and Doiyatee Communications Nigerian Ltd for the procurement of military hardware, including 20 units of KM. 38 Twin Hull Boats and 6 units of 4X4 Ambulances fitted with radios. Between March 2011 and December 2013, DYI Global Services Ltd and Doiyatee Com. Ltd were paid N5,103,500,000 out of the total contract value of N5.940 billion by the Nigerian Army. On verification, the contracts were performed only to the value of N2, 992, 183, 705.00. During the same period, the two companies without any competitive bidding got paid the sum of N3,000,000,000.00 for the procurement of various types of Toyota and Mitsubishi vehicles for the Nigerian Army. Even though the Army Chief of Logistics at that time authenticated job completion certificate, the delivered vehicles were no where to be found in the Nigerian Army. Analysis of the various bank accounts of the two companies involved in the billions of naira with the Nigerian Army between March 2011 and December 2013 revealed that billions of naira were transferred to the accounts of relatives of General Ihejirika namely, Raymond Ihejirika, Nkechi Ihejirika, Ndubuisi Ihejirika, Orji Ihejirika, and Kingsley Ihejirika. Beside these, General Ihejirika awarded contracts to two companies owned by his brother-in-law, Chinedu Onyekwere, worth N3,658,293,846.94. By December 2013, as bank accounts of General Ihejirika and his relatives were overflowing with funds meant for purchasing weapons to fight insurgents, Boko Haram was expanding in the Northeast unchallenged. Thus, reorganisation of the Nigerian Armed Forces Command structures became inevitable and General Ihejirika and others were retired.
In the new Command structure, Air Marshal Alex Subundu Badeh became Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lieutenant General Kenneth Tobiah Jacob Minimah became Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Air Marshal Adesola Amosu became Chief of Air Staff (COAS) and Chief of Naval Staff was Admiral Dele Ezeoba.
On resumption of office, on 20 January 2014, the new Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Subundu Badeh, assured the nation that by April 2014, Boko Haram and its murderous insurrection would be history. "I can say confidently that this war is already won. The security situation in the Northeast must be brought to a complete stop before April 2014. We must bring it to a stop before April so that we will not have constitutional problems in our hands," Air Marshal Alex Subundu Badeh said. On 14 April 2014, the month when Air Marshal Badeh promised that Boko Haram would have been defeated, about 300 hundred school girls were kidnapped at Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram and transported in motor convoys to Sambisa forest, situated 60 kilometres from Chibok without encountering any Federal forces in a state under a declared emergency rule and dawn to dusk curfew. On August 24, 2014, Abubakar Shekau declared, on behalf of Boko Haram, Gwosa in Borno State as the Capital of Islamic Caliphate. In the home state of the Chief of Defence Staff Badeh, Adamawa, Boko Haram were in control of Michika, Magadali, Mubi North and Mubi South local government council. In fact, Boko Haram renamed Mubi, Madinatul, meaning the city of Islam. In other climes, Air Marshal Alex Subundu Badeh would have resigned along with his other military colleagues but in Nigeria where glutton appetite to accumulate money without work among western educated Nigerian public officials, both civil and military, is above moral principle, he and his military colleagues stayed in office to engage in shadow war with Boko Haram. Amazingly, the cover headlines of the Daily Trust, Leadership and Punch Newspapers in Nigeria of 31 July 2015 reported Air Marshal Badeh to have said at his retirement ceremony in a Military Barrack at Abuja on Thursday, 30 July 2015, that he presided over a military that was ill-equipped and troops poorly motivated to fight Boko Haram. Why was the military under the leadership of Air Marshal Alex Subundu Badeh ill-equipped and troops poorly motivated to fight Boko Haram?
Viewed from the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria, the purchasing power and the standard of living of majority of Nigerians, it is no exaggeration that the Service Chiefs of the Nigerian Armed Forces are over-paid for their services to the Nation. Yet, they are afflicted by the same syndrome of everything for me and nothing for others that afflicts all public officials in Nigeria. They are like bewitched hens always sucking the yoke of its eggs. When the EFCC searched the house of Retired Air Marshal Alex Subundu Badeh on 24 February 2016, at Number 6, Ogun River street, off Danube Street, Maitama, Abuja, one million US dollar ($1m) cash was found. It is remarkable that the search took place almost seven months after the Air Marshal had retired. Recovered document revealed that between November 2012 and November 2013, when he was Chief of Air Staff, Badeh deposited the sum of $900,000 (Nine-hundred-thousand US dollars) into his personal account. Between January and December 2013, Air Marshal Badeh withdrew the sum of N558.2 million from the NAF account every month after payment of Air Force Personnel salaries. Like all Nigerian public officials, even a twenty-four hour employed Air Marshal Badeh had a brief case company named Iyalikam Nigeria Limited, through which he laundered monies stolen from the Nigerian Air Force account. In a letter dated 23 June 2004 and signed by a fictitious Salamah Badeh, the wife of Air Marshal Badeh, Mary Badeh, became the sole signatory to the account of Iyalikam Nigeria Ltd. However, computer showed that the letter was received in the bank on 21 March 2016!! Money stolen from the NAF by Badeh were traced to Prince and Princess Multiservices Limited, managed by Mary Badeh, through which a Shopping Mall was bought cash down for N1.4 billion. Retired Air Marshal Alex Subundu Badeh, is currently being prosecuted by the EFCC for stealing N3.97 billion from the NFA he headed as Chief of Air Staff up to December 2013.
From January 2014, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu replaced Badeh as Chief of Air Staff. Amosu who was retired in July 2015 got his house searched by the EFCC in February 2016 and raw cash of $115,000 was recovered from one of his residences. The EFCC claimed that it has received N2.4 billion via bank drafts from Air Marshal Adesola Amosu. However, the EFCC is still pressing for his trial along with former NAF Chief of Accounts and Budgeting, Air Vice Marshal Jacob Adigun, and a former Director of Finance and Budget, Air Commodore Olugbenga Gbadebo. The EFCC alleged that a total sum of N21 billion had been stolen from NAF by the trios. Not only that, there were instances where weapon and ammunition contractors paid kick-backs to high ranking Air Force Officers. A case sample is that of retired Air Vice Marshal Olutayo Tade Oguntoyinbo, who evidently received N166 million as gratification from a contractor, Societé D'Equipmenteux Internationale Nigeria Limited, through a Wema Bank account belonging to his company, Space Web Integrated Services Limited. At the time of the bribe, Air Vice Marshal Oguntoyinbo was the Chief of Training and Operations of the Nigerian Air Force but at the same time he was full time Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director and sole signatory to the Wema bank account of Space Web Integrated Services Limited. As I have already pointed out, SEI Nigeria Limited is owned by two brothers, Hima Aboubakar and Ousmane Hima Massy from Niger Republic, one of the countries bordering Nigeria in the North and where Boko Haram are known to take refuge after attacking Nigeria.
The Chief of Army Staff, after Lt. General Ihejirika, from January 2014 to July 2015 was Lieutenant General Kenneth Tobiah Jacob Minimah. Details of his illegal conversion of military funds to his personal wealth are yet to be published by the EFCC. However, General Minimah, according to the latest bulletin from the EFCC, has refunded N1.7 billion to the Federal Government www.thenationonlineng.net/2-1bdeals-ex-army-chief-minimah-returns-n1-7b/
Normally, the Armed Forces officials who looted military funds that led not only to the expansion of insurgents in Nigeria but murder of innocent souls should have been Court Martialed at Military Tribunals and not tried in civil courts where conclusions have been tactically and deliberately delayed. As we have seen there has been no consequence for the unpatriotic crimes committed by Ex-military officials in the kidnap of Chibok girls, therefore a repetition of similar crime was encouraged at Dapchi, which is situated on a plane land stretching about 200 kilometres to the border of Niger Republic. That one-hundred and ten girls could be kidnapped from their College and ferried in convoys for hours on major Damaturu-Bayamari road without being apprehended by any of the Nigerian Armed Forces confirms, with apology to Donald Trump, that Nigeria is a shit hole. War profiteers planned the kidnap of 110 Dapchi girls and executed their release through ransom paid from the security votes into the pockets of so-called negotiators of freedom of the kidnapped girls. On October 13, 2016, Governor Kashim Shettima announced that 21 of the kidnapped Chibok girls were released by Boko Haram after negotiations despite the fact that the Army Chief of Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, had announced the defeat of Boko Haram on 25 February 2016 and promised that the rescue of Chibok girls was under way. On Friday, 23 December 2016, Lt. General Tukur Buratai announced the capture of Boko Haram's Camp Zero situated in the heart of Sambisa forest at 13:35:00 hours. Thus President Buhari congratulated Buratai and the Nigerian Army for their feat on 24 December 2016. Yet, Boko Haram could still file into Banki town, in Borno State, to release 82 Chibok girls after negotiations involving international red cross and Switzerland. Boko Haram insurgency has become a big business in which some people are earning big money, no matter how bloody. Back to Danjuma's alleged collusion of the armed forces with bandits to kill people all over Nigeria, one is puzzled to read a statement issued on Sunday, 25 March 2018, by the Nigerian Army Spokesman, Brigadier General Texas Chukwu saying, "It is noteworthy to state that at the inception of AYEM AKPATUMA, Operation Cat Race, the Taraba State Government, did not co-operate with the Nigerian Army due to the army's stance to remain absolutely neutral in the herdsmen-farmers crisis. The Nigerian Army will continue to remain as such." A Governor is not only the head of the government in a State but also the Chief Security Officer of the State. When a State Assembly has passed a Bill and the Governor has signed it into law, all law enforcing agencies in that state are bound to comply with that law, until it is declared null and void by any competent court of law. The Nigerian Army cannot and should not be neutral when the constituted authority in Taraba state is challenged by any interest group. By declaring itself neutral in the conflict between herdsmen and farmers in Taraba State, the Nigerian Army has absolutely declared its presence there needless and useless. The Nigerian Army has not been sent to Taraba state to spectate at the horrific murders caused by herdsmen who want anti-random cattle grazing law enacted by the government repealed. In claiming neutrality in the conflicts between nomadic pastoralists and farmers in Taraba or any other state in Nigeria, the Nigerian Army has abdicated its responsibility to protect Nigerian lives and as such retired General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma is absolutely right in calling on the populace to defend themselves against bandits and marauders.
S. Kadiri
Skickat: den 30 mars 2018 13:51
Till: 'chidi opara reports' via USA Africa Dialogue Series
Ämne: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ethnic Cleansing
Alleged Ethnic Cleansing and the Military
Jibrin Ibrahim, Friday column, Daily Trust, 30th March 2018
Nigeria's former Defence Minister and Chief of Army Staff, T. Y. Danjuma, on Saturday accused the Nigerian armed forces of aiding the on-going killings in the country, especially the deadly attacks in his home State of Taraba. "The armed forces are not neutral," General Danjuma said at the maiden convocation of the Taraba State University in Jalingo; "They collude with the armed bandits to kill people, kill Nigerians." He added that the armed forces rather than protect the people, "facilitate" the movement of armed attackers and often provide cover for them. His conclusion was chilling: "If you wait for the armed force to stop the killing, you all die one-by-one," The way forward he said was for the people to defend themselves.
There has been a national debate on his comments. This is partly because he rarely speaks and when he does people listen. People also know he is a close confidant of President Buhari and the expectation is that if he has a message for the Government, he has the access to directly reach the summit of the State. The consensus therefore might be no one is listening to him so he decided to speak out to create impact. The other reason for concern is that people know he chooses his words carefully so this is not an outburst but a decision to openly rebuke and express his disgust against the institution, the Nigerian army that made him.
Many people feel that his statement might push people towards arming themselves and creating anarchy as they give up on security agencies and procure arms to descend on their neighbours who they have re-categorised as enemies. This is my own main concern. We all know that the armed forces often overreach themselves and violate the rights of people. We also know that currently, the armed forces are deployed in at least 32 States in the country where hey are engaged in operations. I recently served on the Presidential Panel Investigating Alleged Human Rights abuses by the military and there are three things that struck me from the evidence we heard. The first is that there are indeed human rights violations by the military but it is not systematic. The second is that when communities are asked whether the military should be withdrawn from their area, the universal response was NO because there are security concerns that only the military could handle. The third issue is that for most Nigerians, the police, who should normally be the agency to handle civil conflicts, is so bad that the military is the only viable option for now. It is for this reason that I am concerned about the blanket condemnation of the military by General Danjuma.
The other concern I have is the assertion by the General that: "There is an attempt at ethnic cleansing in the state and of course, some riverine states in Nigeria. We must resist it. We must stop it. Every one of us must rise up." He did not say who was committing the genocide against whom. The assumption among those listening to the General is that the genocide is by "Fulani herdsmen" against indigenous communities in Taraba State. If indeed this is the assumption, then there is a problem. Taraba State is one area where there are credible reports of large-scale massacre of Fulani pastoralists and there is evidence that the killings go both ways. We need to be careful about the way in which we use concepts such as ethnic cleansing.
The term "ethnic cleansing" came into wide usage in the 1990s, to describe the treatment suffered by particular ethnic groups during conflicts that erupted after the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. It would be recalled that after the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina declared its independence in March 1992, Bosnian Serb forces waged a systematic campaign of forced deportation, murder, torture and rape with the aim of expelling all Bosnian Muslim and Croatian civilians from the territory of eastern Bosnia. This violence culminated in the massacre of as many as 8,000 Bosniak men and boys at the town of Srebrenica in July 1995. In his 1993 article "A Brief History of Ethnic Cleansing," published in the magazine Foreign Affairs, Andrew Bell-Fialkoff writes that the aim of the Serbian campaign was "the expulsion of an 'undesirable' population from a given territory due to religious or ethnic discrimination, political, strategic or ideological considerations, or a combination of those."
Using this definition, historians have rolled back the term to apply to the aggressive displacement of Native Americans by European settlers in North America in the 18th and 19th centuries as ethnic cleansing. The case of Rwanda in the 1990s is also categorized as ethnic cleansing because members of the majority Hutu ethnic group massacred hundreds of thousands of people, mostly minority Tutsis, from April to July 1994. The most prominent example of extremist nationalism-fuelled ethnic cleansing was that of the Hitler regime in Germany and its campaign against Jews in German-controlled territory from 1933 to 1945. This movement began with cleansing by deportation and ended in the horrific "final solution"—the destruction of some 6 million Jews (along with some 250,000 Gypsies and roughly the same number of homosexuals) in concentration camps and mass killing centres. The term ethnic cleansing is often linked to genocide, and is today considered to be "crimes against humanity" and "war crimes." We therefore need to be care about the way we use it.
The allegation by General Danjuma about the lack of neutrality of the armed forces is serious and should be thoroughly investigated. We live in a country with a long history of lack of neutrality of security agencies. During the First Republic, the NPC regime of Tafawa Balewa declared a State of Emergency in the Western Region to give the police full "freedom" to harass the opposition. In the North, the Native Authority Police was used as an instrument to harass and intimidate the opposition and these practices played a major role in eroding the legitimacy of the democratic order leading to regime collapse. During the Second Republic, the police were also used to intimidate the leadership of the opposition states and state police commissioners acted as if they were alternate governors posted to impose the "federal might". This created a huge political anomaly as state governors are supposed to be in charge of peace, security, law and order in their states. Now that the military is deployed all over the country on operational duties, the feeling of lack of neutrality could pose a real problem of State legitimacy.
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