Buhari Is The Problem, Not The Service Chiefs

By Charles Ogbu

Those who are asking for the sack of the service Chiefs as a solution to the upsurge in Boko Haram terrorism are missing the point.

Nigeria is not currently being overrun by terrorists because we have a set of incompetent service Chiefs or soldiers who can not fight the terrorists. Not at all. THE ONLY REASON THE BOKO HARAM TERRORISTS ARE HAVING A FILLED DAY IS BECAUSE WE HAVE A PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF WHO SHARES THE SAME IDEOLOGY AS The TERRORISTS AND AS A RESULT, PREFERS PANDERING TO THE TERRORISTS AS AGAINST FIGHTING THEM.

In fact, a betting man would bet that the only difference between the Boko Haram terrorists killing and maiming and beheading Nigerians in the Northeast and our President and Commander-In-Chief is in their name and location. One is named “Boko Haram” and operate from the bush while the other one is named “Muhammadu Buhari” and operate from Asorock but if we were to remove the cloak of fear of detention by state oppressive forces, we would all admit they are both pursuing the same goal and doing a very good job of it.

You that is reading this, you know this is exactly what is happening even if you may be too scared to admit it.

To be clear, the service Chiefs have proven to be only as useful as the ‘P’ in psychology. But they are not the reason why insecurity is at its peak. The Commander-In-Chief is.

There is something called Root Cause Analysis. It is simply a method of solving problem by first identifying the underlying cause(s) of the problem in order to identify and apply the appropriate solution. For example, if a man is suffering from headache, Root Cause Analysis believes attempts should be made to find out the underlying cause of the headache and treat that cause instead of going the adhoc route of treating the headache which is but a symptom without going for what is triggering the symptom.

Applying the Root Cause Analysis problem solving method here, it is clear that the Service Chiefs are not in office to implement their security ideas. They are in office to work according to the directive of their Commander-In-Chief. And the directive of the Commander-In-Chief is the one that sees these Boko Haram terrorists arrested at a grave cost to our military men but rather than being prosecuted and jailed, they are fed fat with taxpayers money before being released back into the wild at the same time these same terrorists are making a spectacle of killing, burning, maiming and beheading our soldiers and civilians alike. So our Service Chiefs are only but the symptoms here. Sacking them, as desirable as it seems, won’t solve the problem as long as the Commander-In-Chief who is the ‘Root Cause’ of the problem still retains this demonically devilish policy of “rehabilitating” and releasing arrested Boko Haram terrorists into the society in the heat of the war.

Just this Sunday, there were reports of Boko Haram roasting not less than 30 Nigerians alive in Borno state but a day after that, the Borno state commissioner for information, Babakura Jato announced to newsmen that the Muhammadu Buhari regime has released a total of one thousand four hundred (1,400) Boko Haram terrorists into the society after what they termed “rehabilitation”

WHO “REHABILITATES” AND RELEASES CAPTURED TERRORISTS BACK INTO THE WILD AT A TIME THE TERRORISTS ARE STILL VISITING DEATH AND DESTRUCTION ON HIS COUNTRY?

Even America with her sophisticated military doesn’t release arrested terrorists in the heat of the war because the chances of these terrorists going back into the wild to continue killing are very very high. C’mmon! These are not guys fighting for money. They are fighting for what they believe in. Ideology! These are guys who see paradise when they look through the barrel of the enemy gun. They are convinced that what they are fighting for is just and right and are prepared to die for it as they’ve repeatedly demonstrated. De-radicalizing such people takes a very long time and requires specially trained personnel which we currently lack and even at that, there are still no guarantee. This is why even after believing the terrorists are de-radicalized, the best military in the world will never make the deadly mistake of releasing them into the society at a time their colleagues are still spilling blood. But Buhari is doing this even when he’s seeing that the spate of killings by these terrorists is on the rise. How does he think the soldiers would feel seeing terrorists who killed their colleagues being fed fat and looked after with public fund before being released to go continue killing?

And this is while the victims of the terrorism (both soldiers and civilians) are yet to be rehabilitated. Who does this if not a terrorist-friendly President?

We have come to a point when we must stop calling a spade a working tool and call it by its name.

For the service Chiefs and some senior military officers, the so called war on terror is a huge franchise but for our President, it is much more than that. President Muhammadu Buhari is running a terrorism-friendly regime. And until he stops his unholy intercourse with Boko Haram, Nigeria will keep losing gallant soldiers and civilians to these terrorists.

Ogbu is a socio-political analyst and good governance advocate. He can be reached on Twitter @RealCharlesOgbu