The Defence and Foreign Affairs
latest report published by the International Strategic Studies Association
(ISSA) based in the United States of America, has stated that the deaths of a
former Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Sabundu Badeh (retd.) and a
former Chief of Administration of the Nigerian Army, Major General Idris
Alkali, “were not a coincidence”.
ISSA is a Washington-based
non-governmental organisation with a worldwide membership of professionals
involved in national and international security and strategic policy.
President of ISSA, Gregory
Copley, told ThisDay that their analyses were not released to the public but to
governments that the organisation has affiliation with.
The report released over the
weekend and obtained by the newspaper stated that corruption among top military
chiefs appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari is the reason Nigeria is losing
the war against Boko Haram terrorists.
It stated that at present, the
Nigerian government had completely and comprehensively lost control of the
engagement with Boko Haram and could show no instance when the government
presently had tactical, theatre, strategic, or information dominance of any
aspect of the conflict.
It reads in parts, “It is fair to
say that the Nigerian intelligence community itself is no longer sure what
groups even comprise ‘Boko Haram’, nor has it addressed the international
logistical, ideological, and support aspects contributing to the ongoing
viability of the groups.
“The conflict will almost
certainly prove the undoing of the present government of President Muhammadu
Buhari at the February 16, 2019, presidential elections.
“Despite this, the only
significant engagement which the Nigerian military leadership — up to and
including the National Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen. (rtd.) Mohammed Babagana
Monguno – seems to prioritise is the fight to stop the leakage of information
about massive corruption, running into the equivalent of several billions of
dollars, in the purchase by senior military officers of major military capital
goods and military consumables, including the troops’ own food.
“The conduct of the war in the
North is tied to the corruption in the military, and Buhari — ring-fenced by
his own team — is unable to tackle the issue.
“His poor health does not help,
but he had always (even as a military president, taking office on December 31,
1983) been indecisive and vindictive.
“This ongoing set of
characteristics mean that the coming months will be dramatic, even more than
the dying days of the preceding administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
“It is significant that Buhari,
who received the findings of the commission as much as a year ago, has refused
to allow it to be made public and he, through National Security Adviser
Monguno, has attempted to have the commission disband.
“However, it is believed that
Monguno and Buhari are aware that copies of the report are beyond their reach
and could be released unofficially if further attempts are made to assassinate
commission members.
“The commission, investigating
defense procurement from 2007 onwards, made significant strides which were
initially accepted by the Buhari government, until the scope of the inquiry
went beyond the period relating to the former government of Pres. Goodluck
Jonathan, and began to show corruption patterns extending into officers still
serving under President Buhari.”
The report stated that the death
of a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal (retd.) Alex Sabundu Badeh
(who became Chief of Defence Staff), and that of a former Chief of
Administration of the Nigerian Army, Major General Idris Alkali, on September
3, 2018 were not a mere coincidence .
It said, “Given the upsurge in
momentum by ‘the highest levels of government’ to stop the findings becoming
public from the corruption commission on defense procurement, it is plausible
that the attribution of a criminal ‘kidnapping-attempt-gone-wrong’ against the
Air Chief Marshal was a convenient excuse to ensure that the victim — Badeh —
could not divulge in court the pattern and details of corruption which has
grown even more rampant in the current generation of defense leadership.
“On September 3, 2018, the
retired Chief of Administration of the Nigerian Army, Maj.-Gen. Idris Alkali,
was also killed, ostensibly by a gang of youthful protestors who set up a
roadblock near Jos, the capital of Plateau State. His body was discovered on
October 31, 2018. And his death was blamed on ‘an irate mob’, who were
protesting in the Du-ra-Du community against the September 2, 2018, killing of
11 members of their own community.”
The report further stated, “No
significant economic or political progress can be achieved in Nigeria until the
issue of the Boko Haram insurgency is resolved. Other insurgencies are also
expected to emerge, or re-emerge, particularly in the Niger Delta. And while
other pending internal security issues are important, it is on the BH issue
that the prestige, credibility, and reliability of Nigeria is assessed by the
international community. Thus, all questions of the viability of Nigeria as a
candidate for inward foreign direct investment (FDI) and international
cooperation are dependent on a resolution of the BH issues.
“Domestically, resolution of the
BH issue is a pre-requisite to enabling issues of intra-Nigerian regional
equity imbalances to be addressed. Moreover, the credibility of the Federal
Government as an arbiter of justice is assessed by the domestic electorate and
the world community.”
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