By: Femi Fani-Kayode

Last friday the United States Government released a damning human rights
report on Nigeria, saying “grave violations of human rights” continued to
increase in 2017 while officials who perpetrated them were never
prosecuted by the Federal Government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
It also said, inter alia, that Nigeria is suffering from “ethnic,
religious and regional violence”.
This is the bitter truth and the report is a welcome development.
Ethnic cleansing, genocide, mass murder, state-sponsored terror,
unprecedented corruption, monumental incompetence, the persecution of
opposition figures and their families, the violation of court orders, the
intimidation of the National Assembly, the Judiciary and the Fourth Estate
of the realm which is the media, the targetting and cold-blooded murder of
Christians, Igbo (IPOB) youths and Shiite Muslims, the gradual and
incremental Islamisation of the nation, the humiliation of the Church and
Christian clerics, the covert support for and encouragement of murderous
Islamist and jihadist terror groups like the Fulani herdsmen and Boko
Haram and so on and so forth are now the cornerstone and hallmark of
President Buhari’s govermmemt.
Worse of all he did not have the National Assembly’s approval to withdraw
$496 million from the Federal Governments Excess Crude Account which he
used to pay for the 12 Super Tucano jets that he purchased from the United
States and that are to be supplied to the Nigerian Airforce by 2020.
This makes it an illegal expense which, under our laws, is an impeachable
offence. It also makes the whole transaction unlawful.
Even more troubling is the fact that, as long as Buhari is in power, those
jets are as likely to be used against innocent and defenceless Nigerian
civilians, including women and children, as they are against terrorists.
I sincerely hope that these issues will form part of the deliberations and
discussions that will take place in the meeting betwen President Donald
Trump and President Buhari in Washington on 30th April.
They should also discuss the shameful way in which the President Barack
Obama’s administration interfered in Nigeria’s 2015 presidential election
and assisted Buhari to come to power and the $500 million that the Buhari
administration contributed, through various fronts and companies like the
Chagoury brothers, to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
And now to the meat of this essay.
In terms of high level military, intelligence and security operations and
what are known in western intelligence agencies as “black ops” few events
in our history come close to the one that took place in Dapchi a few
months ago.
I am not referring to major or cataclysmic events which also had the
imprint and involved the input of numerous foreign and domestic
intelligence and security agencies like the murder of General
Aguiyi-Ironsi in 1966 and the coming to power of Lt. Col. (as he then was)
Jack Yakubu Gowon or the murder of General Murtala Mohammed in 1976 and
the coming to power of General Olusegun Obasanjo or again the murder of
General Sani Abacha and Chief MKO Abiola in 1998 which led to the release
from prison and the second coming to power of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Those are the obvious ones.
I am referring to the more subtle ones which had less obvious but equally
identifiable motives. I will not go into detail and I will not expose the
motives. I will just mention the events and the facts surrounding them.
First was the cold-blooded murder of Gloria Okon, an international drug
courier, that was working for powerful government officials and men and
women in high places and that was about to spill the beans when General
Muhammadu Buhari was in power in 1985.
Second was the elimination of Dele Giwa, a prominent and highly respected
journalist, by agents of President Ibrahim Babangida’s government in 1986.
Third was the C130 military plane crash in Ejigbo, Lagos in 1992 in  which
158 junior and middle rank army officers were tragically killed. The plane
was brought down and those gallant officers were left to die slow and
painful deaths in the swamp because the rescue operation was purposely
delayed. It was more of an execution than a plane crash.
Fourth was the slaughter of Kudirat Abiola, Chief MKO Abiola’s wife, Chief
Alfred Rewane, Rear Admiral Omotenhiwa and hundreds of other pro-June 12th
and NADECO leaders and operatives by General Sani Abacha’s military junta
between 1995 and 1998.
Fifth was the mysterious “plane crash” in Kano in 1996 in which Ibrahim
Abacha, the first son of General Sani Abacha, together with his close
friends Bello Dangote, Omieba Princewill and a number of others lost their
lives. The fact is that most of those that died were killed after the
plane had crashed at the crash site by unknown elements and there appears
to have been a struggle on the private jet before it came down.
Needless to say the whole thing was covered up by military intelligence
and the truth was buried. Not even General Abacha, who was Head of State
at the time, knew what actually happened and who was involved until much
later.
Sixth was the murder of numerous high profile leaders and political
figures during the tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo between 2000 and
2007 including Chief Bola Ige, Chief Marshall Harry, Chief Dikibo and many
others.
Seventh was the bombing of Odi town in Rivers state by the military during
the course of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government in 1999 in which
hundreds of civilians were murdred.
Eighth was the masscre of dozens of people in Zaki Biam in Benue state by
the military during the course of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government
in 2001.
Ninth was the blowing up of the Bellview Airlines plane over Lisa, Lagos
state in 2005 in which over 100 people perished and which was passed off
as a fatal accident and plane crash.
I have said it before and I will say it again: I became Minister of
Aviation one year after that crash and I had access to all the relevant
security reports and American NTSB documents. According to that NTSB
report the plane did not crash but was brought down by what was described
as “a low-level incendiary device” which had been planted on the plane
before it took off by unknown elements.
Tenth was the murder of Mohammed Yusuf, the founder and erstwhile leader
of Boko Haram, whilst in the custody of the Nigerian Police in 2009 during
the tenure of President Shehu Musa Yar’adua.
Eleventh was the blowing up of a building in Prophet TB Joshua’s SCOAN
Church in Lagos by remote control detonation from a drone as a consequnce
of which over 200 people, including many foreigners, were killed in 2013.
Even though the whole event was recorded on CCTV, including the drone and
the detonation, this was largely ignored by the authorities and no
meaningful criminal investigation into what was clearly an act of terror
took place.
The whole thing was passed off by the Government of the day as an accident
due to a faulty foundation even though the intelligence agencies knew
better.
Despite the Lagos State Attorney General’s simplistic and foolhardy
assertion that the State Government would “pursue the case against TB
Joshua and his Church to a logical end”, the truth is that what the
government is dealing with is a premeditated and well-orchestrated act of
terror carried out by highly proficient, skilled and experienced
operatives and not one of involuntary manslaughter which came about as a
consequence of negligence on the part of the Church authorities or a
faulty foundation.
The Lagos State Attorney General, as naive as ever, has no idea that he is
being used, that he is on a wild goose chase, that he is helping to shield
and protect the real perpertrators of the crime and that he seeks to
destroy the legacy and name of an innocent man and Church.
The truth is that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has much work to do if he
really wants to know what happened because the “faulty foundation” theory
is a brilliant ruse.
I challenge him to ask for all the relevant security reports on this
matter. They tell a very different story indeed.
Twelfth was the abduction of the Chibok girls in 2014 which was planned,
funded, executed and orchestrated by rogue elements in our intelligence
agencies in collusion with some disgruntled northern politicians and key
members of the then opposition including three sitting governors.
Thirteenth is the secret and cold-blooded mass murder and illegal
incarceration of thousands of IPOB youths and members by security forces
over the last three years.
Fourteenth is the state-sponsored mass murder of Shiite Muslims at any
given opportunity and the ruthless persecution of their members, including
women and children over the last three years.
Fifteenth is the overt support that the Federal Government has
consistently provided for the Fulani herdsmen who have slaughtered
thousands of innocent and defenceless Nigerians, including women and
children, over the last three years.
Sixteenth is the covert support that Buhari himself and key players in his
political party and administration have given Boko Haram over the last 6
years by funding their operations, openly identifying with some of their
core values and ideals and seeking to protect them from the proscription.
They have also protested publicly when the military hits them hard,
insisted that the Army uses kid gloves when fighting them, released their
top commanders, refused to target and kill their key leaders and paid them
vast sums of protection money and ransoms which the terrorists have then
used to purchase more arms.
In terms of special ops and secrecy Dapchi falls into this category of
events. And the fact that Leah Sharibu, the only Christian amongst the
over 100 “abducted” girls, was the only one that was not released speaks
volumes. The message is simple and clear.
These complex covert operations are commonly  referred to in intelligence
circles as “black ops”,  “extreme measures” and “wet work” and they are
always done in the utmost secrecy and with the full knowledge and
sometimes assitance and logistical support of either one or two other
friendly and trusted foreign intelligence agencies.
The motives for the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth will be made manifest
next year during the presidential election in the event of anyone daring
to give Buhari stiff resistance or a hard fight.
This time around it will not only be the dog and the baboon that they
intend to soak in blood if a strong challenge is presented to Buhari but
the whole of Nigeria and the west African sub-region.
That is why $2 billion has been released from the Excess Crude Account in
the last four months to supposedly “fight terrorism”.
That money will not be used to fight terrorism but to arm the terrorists
in preparation for the conflict that lies ahead.
Now that President Buhari has formally declared his intention to run in
the 2019 election and seeks a fresh mandate I fear that what is coming our
way is not just an election but a series of cataclysmic events that will
change our lives and our country forever.
Nigeria, with its incredibly incompetent and carefully hand-picked and
selected leaders, has been targetted by the powers that be and the chaos
and anarchy that we are witnessing in our country today is contrived.
Sadly the Nigerian people have been hoodwinked and appear to be incapable
of putting the jigsaw together, asking the relevant questions and
demanding the appropiate answers.
They cannot see and neither can they fathom or comprehend the evil
machinations of the hidden hand or the dark and sinister world of covert
operations and black ops.
They are more than content and happy to watch Big Brother Nigeria and to
see, read and believe the rubbish that the government feeds them through
the local media.
Saddled with a largely uninquiring press, the truth is that we are more
often than not misled and misinformed with a labyrinth and forest of
official lies, government cover-ups and disinformation.
I have often wondered why such a well-educated and dynamic people are so
trusting when it comes to their Governments and I have often asked why
some of us are so naive.
If we wish to know the truth and get to the bottom of such matters we need
to sit up and do far better. I trust God that perhaps one day we will do
so: that is if the coming chaos does not consume us all first.