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By Dr. Kolawole Kayode<\/p>\n
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While Mr. Buhari\u2019s integrity seems to remain beyond reproach, one fact that is becoming clearer to me by the day is that honesty is required but not sufficient to deliver our beloved nation from its subsisting conundrum. In popular Nigerian lexicon, one may ask, \u201cna honesty man go chop?\u201d In other words, besides a change agent\u2019s commitment to transparency, which is very important, there has to be effective execution capacity as well.<\/p>\n
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Any reader of my recent articles cannot but discern my obvious admiration for President Muhammadu Buhari and the tremendous opportunity his accession to power portends for Nigeria. Thus, in accordance with the real ethos of democracy and effective followership, I am obliged to constantly hold the General\u2019s feet to the fire to ensure that he succeeds, in the collective interest of all Nigerians.<\/p>\n
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Accordingly, I have to say that the President\u2019s three foreign trips since his inauguration appear to be nothing more than an attempt to be seen to be taking some action geared toward dealing with the resurgent activities of the terrorist gang, Jama\u2019atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda\u2019 Awati Wal-Jihad (more commonly known as Boko Haram) in the northeastern part of the country.<\/p>\n
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Precisely, the President visited his Chadian counterpart, General Idriss Deby Itno, on June 3rd 2015 and met with Niger Republic\u2019s President Mahamadou Issoufou the following day. Thereafter, Mr. Buhari jetted off to the Bavarian alps in Germany for discussions with the so-called G-7 club of the world\u2019s leading nations, that is excluding Russia and China.<\/p>\n
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Before I am misunderstood, let me state clearly that the rationale for regional collaboration (i.e. with Chad, Niger, Cameroun, etc) is well founded, based on the fact that Boko Haram\u2019s operational camps, logistics network and recruitment apparatus are located right across these very same countries that comprise the multinational task force.<\/p>\n
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What is highly questionable is the timing of these recent presidential junkets. If the objective was to familiarise himself with these two very strategic West African neighbours, did President Buhari not already have that opportunity during the pre-May 29th 2015 inauguration visits of both dignitaries to felicitate with him at Defence House, Abuja?<\/p>\n
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While Chad\u2019s President Idriss Deby Itno came on May 11th 2015, Niger Republic\u2019s President Mahamadou Issoufou\u00a0 visited on May 21st 2015. Moreover, both leaders attended the inauguration proper and thereafter had private audiences (or quasi-summits) with President Buhari.<\/p>\n
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Given the preliminary discussions with these 2 leaders as highlighted above, there was, in my humble view, ABSOLUTELY<\/em> no imperative for the reciprocal visits to these same countries without the President first putting\u00a0 his house in order. One imagines the Chadian and Nigerien leaders were expecting more substantive discourse on the counterterrorism roadmap going forward.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Francophone (i.e. French-speaking) leaders would probably have been very disappointed because not only did the President not have anything concrete to bring to the table, he also travelled without any principal aides such as the National Security Adviser, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) , etc.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Why did Mr. Buhari travel without his key advisers? Well, the answer is that the President has not appointed them yet. Considering that national security is the Administration\u2019s obvious priority, why have the appointments for the offices of the National Security Adviser and other tri-service Armed Forces heads not been decided?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As far as I know, the President\u2019s request for clearance to nominate advisers was expeditiously approved by the 7th National Assembly before their tenure lapsed on June 4th 2015. Which means new appointees such as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief of Staff to the President, Principal Secretary, etc, should already have been named.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Meanwhile, besides the absence of any urgency in his recent trips to the above named Francophone countries, the President should be very circumspect in his dealings with them, especially Chad\u2019s President Idriss Deby Itno. After all, it was Mr. Idriss Deby Itno who, at various times in the recent past, disparaged Nigeria, claiming that Chad could and would vanquish Boko Haram single-handedly.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was this same Idriss Deby Itno who, touting his links to the highest level of Boko Haram\u2019s leadership, announced a phantom \u201cceasefire\u201d on October 17th 2014, which he had personally negotiated with an impostor Boko Haram \u201ccommander\u201d, Danladi Ahmadu. In the process, Nigeria was reportedly fleeced of several millions of dollars.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n No sooner was the deal announced than the intensity of hostilities escalated. Two weeks later, when Boko Haram\u2019s leader, Abubakar Shekau, disclaimed Danladi Ahmadu as a fraudster and repudiated the alleged truce as utterly false, Idriss Deby Itno claimed that it was Nigeria\u2019s immediate past President, Goodluck Jonathan, who originated the entire caper.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Again, sometime in Novemebr 2014, Idriss Deby Itno purported to have access to such credible\u00a0 intelligence that he claimed to know precisely where the elusive Abubakar Shekau was hiding. Recently, when he visited Abuja on May 11th 2015, he denied any knowledge of the terror masterminds\u2019s whereabouts.<\/p>\n The same argument against the Francophone junket also applies to the President\u2019s whistle-stop visit to Germany, perhaps even more so given the very recent betrayal by the United States of America (United States) and some key G-7 nations when Nigeria needed their support most. The pretext for their action was spurious human rights violations allegedly committed by our armed forces. Using their proxies e.g. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International; leading media platforms such New York Times, Voice of America (VoA), Cable News Network (CNN), etc, these hostile nations have since sought to smear Nigeria at every turn.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While not condoning any atrocity under any circumstance, these hypocritical foreign accusers have forgotten that Boko Haram militants are known to frequently carry out their own savagery using uniforms and weapons belonging to Nigeria\u2019s regular forces. Does it not stand to reason, therefore, that most of the egregious abominations attributed to Nigeria\u2019s brave armed forces could actually have been committed by the depraved members of the murderous sect?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At this point, I have to re-emphasise that President Buhari really ought to adopt utmost caution in his dealings with the United States and these so-called allies whose agenda is purely dictated by their national interest, which is understandable. Mr. Buhari\u2019s recent public statements and actions suggest that he believes the United States and the United Kingdom are dependable allies. Nothing could be further from the truth.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Though these self-acclaimed foreign allies of Nigeria promised to provide robust security assistance, it not only failed to materialise but the United States, on one occasion, actually blocked the sale of Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters by Israel to Nigeria.\u00a0 That is to say Israel was ready to deal but was over-ruled by their \u2018big brother\u2019 \u2013 AMERICA.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shunned by the United States and core European countries, Nigeria turned to Russia, Israel, China, Pakistan and others who supplied the required weapons systems, intelligence platforms and ammunition that helped turn the tide against Boko Haram. In fact, when the Americans discovered that the Nigerian Air Force had acquired armed surveillance drones, they were very ashamed indeed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Apparently, it was Pakistan and Russia that provided the training that has resulted in our gallant forces being the ONLY <\/em>African military with the capacity to operate armed drones. So I was very embarrassed to hear President Buhari gushing at the inaugural dinner about seeking military support from \u201cAmerica and Europe\u201d, when he should rightly be seeking to consolidate the existing relationships with reliable allies such as Russia, Israel, Pakistan, etc. IS A FRIEND IN NEED NOT TRULY A FRIEND INDEED?<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n There is another reason why President Buhari should urgently reconsider his fixation with the United States and the United Kingdom. His predecessor, former President Goodluck Jonathan, was also generally tolerated by both the White House and Downing Street until President Jonathan signed the anti-homosexuality legislation in January 2014. From that very moment, as far as these strange people were concerned, it seems Goodluck Jonathan could not do any thing right.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I am ready to wager that the apparent effusive support for Buhari by the United States and the United Kingdom certainly has strings attached. After the anti-gay law came into being, these unfriendly friends continued to pressure Goodluck Jonathan to undo what had been done, right up till his last day in office on May 28th 2015. I won\u2019t be surprised if this matter suddenly turns up very soon, as a precondition by these foreign undertakers for the consummation of certain critical tansactions in Nigeria\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr. Buhari should observe how other even more traditional allies of the United States, nurtured viable alternative arrangements at very important moments\u00a0 when the former were disappointed by the Americans.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In 2013, after the seemingly unconstitutional removal of immediate past Egyptian President, Mohammed Morsi, the United States suddenly suspended its annual US$ 1.3 billion defence aid, which it had delivered unfailingly for almost 40 years, as Egypt\u2019s reward for the historic peace accord with Israel, i.e. the iconic Camp David treaty.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Did Egypt go begging the United States? No way\u2026!!! Egypt simply turned to Russia, which promptly commenced engagement. The moment this happened, the United States began courting Egypt to resume defence cooperation. President Abdel Fattah Al Sissi promptly received a standing invitation from President Obama to visit Washington. To date, President Al Sissi has ignored the overture to visit the White House. Eventually, on Tuesday 31st March 2015, the United States announced that it had resumed military ties with Egypt. SO PRESIDENT AL SISSI SHOWS HOW TO RELATE WITH THE AMERICANS.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Iraq experienced an even more frightening incident. In June 2014, the renegade terrorist entity known as the Islamic State captured the very strategic town of Mosul and confiscated a huge arsenal of advanced American-manfactured military hardware that had been supplied to Iraq\u2019s armed forces. From that base, the Islamic State<\/p>\n launched a daring advance toward Baghdad.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Terrified, the Iraqi authorities made several desperate appeals to their \u2018godfather\u2019, the United States, requesting supplies of vital aerial platforms. \u00a0Unfortunately, the United States, which had become Iraq\u2019s defacto security guarantor since the 2003 invasion, procrastinated. In Nigerian parlance, one would say, \u201cthe United States was blowing grammar\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Who did Iraq turn to in this critical hour of need? You guessed right: Russia. Within a few days, Russia had delivered several Sukhoi-25 attack jets accompanied by Russian fighter pilots and technical advisers. Fortunately, some Iraqi pilots were already proficient in operating Soviet Union (now Russian) military aircraft. That is the story of how Iraq was rescued from being over-run by the Islamic State.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n With all due respect, President Buhari needs to quickly assemble his team of technocrats and commence work earnestly. The impression one gets today is of\u00a0 a nation that is just drifting. Already, local media have recently reported incidents of potentially dangerous conflicts by rival security agencies amidst the lacuna created by the President\u2019s either apparent indecision or undue tardiness in constituting the critical\u00a0 organs of his government. Again, my fervent prayer is for the President\u2019s success, to the overall satisfaction of all Nigerians and the glory of Almighty God.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By Dr. Kolawole Kayode<\/p>\n <drkolakayode@gmail.com>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Dr. Kolawole Kayode While Mr. Buhari\u2019s integrity seems to remain beyond reproach, one fact that is becoming clearer to me by the day is that honesty is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n