By Emeka Alex Duru
Former Chief of Army Staff, General Theophilus Yakubu (TY) Danjuma, has joined the league of elder statesmen and retired service personnel, currently unfazed with the security situation in the country.
The former defence chief who spoke at a convocation ceremony of Taraba State University, Jalingo, on Saturday, March 24, literally passed a no-confidence vote on the armed forces over the regime of insecurity that is sweeping across some states in many parts of the country.
He, in fact, accused them of colluding with armed Fulani herdsmen in carrying out their murderous activities against unarmed farmers and other residents of the affected communities.
“Our Armed Forces are not neutral. They collude with the bandits to kill people, kill Nigerians. The Armed Forces guide their movements; they cover them. If you are depending on the Armed Forces to stop the killings, you will all die one by one”. He asked the people to rise up and defend themselves.
Danjuma, in making the call, somehow, echoed a similar alert that had been raised by former President Olusegun and erstwhile military head of state, Ibrahim Babangida. The two, who had commented of the poor state of affairs in the country, had asked Nigerians to consider voting in another set of leaders in the next general election.
Danjuma, former defence minister, however chose to concentrate on the poor security situation in the land.
His unusual outing, took many by surprise. Known essentially for his trademark taciturnity on public issues, he is rather seen as an establishment man, especially when one of his former colleagues is in power.
For instance, at the onset of the current civilian dispensation, while the clamour was high for a thoroughbred civilian at the helm of affairs, he had rallied support for Obasanjo, vowing at a time, that if the former president failed to make it at the ballot, he would go into exile.
Obasanjo, eventually won the election and Danjuma was rewarded with the position of defence Minister. Even in office, while not known for engaging in populist outings or taking overt positions, he was seen as a stabilising voice for the administration.
There were insinuations that Obasanjo’s gambit for tenure elongation and his disapproval for the project, made Danjuma not return with the administration for a second term.
Not much was known about his role in the making of the Umaru Yar’Adua/Goodluck Jonathan administrations. But he was not known to be favourably disposed to the Jonathan era.
However, there were insinuations that he was initially at home with the Muhammadu Buhari presidency. A particular incidence in their days of service, tended to support this impression.
Following the assassination of the then head of state, General Murtala Mohammed, on February 13, 1976 and nomination of Obasanjo as his successor, there was heated within the inner circle of the administration on who, between Buhari and late Shehu Yar’Adua, should be appointed the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters.
Danjuma, then, the Chief of Army Staff, was said to have argued that taking Buhari, who was considered a better soldier, to the office, would be a huge disservice to the army and the country.
He preferred leaving him in the core military duties where he could likely rise to be the Army Chief, later.
The argument, TheNiche gathered, was what informed the choice of Yar’Adua as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, considered as a more political office, and less military engagement.
The rapport between Danjuma and the President, many felt, had existed in the current administration. But the understanding, seems to have snapped.
Danjuma’s native Taraba, as some other states in the North Central, has been under series of attacks, without the security agencies coming to their rescue.
He has, thus been understandably rattled. When therefore he spoke, he roared like a wounded Lion, calling on his kinsmen and other Nigerians bearing the brunt of the Fulani herdsmen attack, to rise and defend themselves.
“I ask every one of you to be alert and defend your country, defend your territory and defend your state. Defend yourselves because you have no other place to go”, Danjuma cried.
Incidentally, the call by the retired general came barely two days after residents of the Takum and Ussa Local Government Areas of Taraba, had accused the Army Operation in the State, Ayem Akpatuma (Cat Race) of providing cover for the killer herdsmen to attack and kill villagers in the areas.
His comments have since been attracting reactions. While some see the intervention as being timely, given the creeping savagery of the herdsmen attacks, others accuse him of merely shedding crocodile tears because the unjust and atrocious system which he allegedly supported and hugely benefitted from, has turned against him and his kinsmen.
Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, agreed with the retired general that the killings formed part of ethnic cleansing agenda that the people must resist.
According to Afenifere spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, “T. Y. Danjuma has said the truth. If the government cannot defend the people, the people should defend themselves. When you have an Inspector General of Police, who, instead of disarming herdsmen who are carrying weapons, is asking those defending themselves to submit their own arms, that shows clearly that there is an ethnic cleansing agenda and Gen. Danjuma is right in observing it.”
Erstwhile Newspaper Editor, and former Enugu State Commissioner for Information, Igbonekwu Ogazimorah, however has a different and perhaps, more philosophical interpretation of Danjuma’s call.
While admitting the timeliness of the call and the weight it carries, he argued that the partisanship of the Army on matters affecting some sections of the country, is not new.
He also wondered how Nigerians, being encouraged by the former Army Chief to defend themselves, would confront a murderous group that has the support of a National Army.
“Nigeria Army, from July 1966, was not structured to be neutral. But it has a constant regime of Master Class. Danjuma made a point.
“Let him go ahead and make the real sense. Where do we get the weapons to combat a murderous group backed by the National Army?”, he asked.
Critics of the retired general accuse him of contributing in the rot currently eating up the Armed Forces by his participation in the July 29, 1966 coup that saw the kidnap and assassination of the then Head of State, General Johnson Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi and accompanying pogroms that saw the massacre of the Igbo in many parts of the country.
Danjuma’s participation in the coup and the subsequent civil war, were his major credentials for access to national stardom and corresponding privileges, ever since.
In some quarters, therefore, the general is seen as reaping from the ugly seeds he helped sow.
The Army, his primary constituency, is also not sleeping on his accusations. In a statement on Sunday, the Army, said the comment by Danjuma was unfortunate, accusing Taraba State Government of refusing to cooperate with its men in the ongoing Exercise Ayem Akpatuma in the region.
In similar vein, the Federal Government, has, through the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, faulted the general, arguing that his comments were “highly uncalled for,” and an invitation to anarchy.
Danjuma, has not shifted on his position, by Monday, March 26. Neither the Army nor the Federal Government, had also given indications of any further actions on him. And the debate rages.
