Armsfree Ajanaku
The expansive Chinua Achebe auditorium inside the Mamman Vasta Writers Village, Mpape, Abuja, looked every bit the ideal space for a book event of this magnitude. A prominent backdrop depicted the event as a literary excursion with a “soldier, gentleman and writer.”
It bore the spartan-like image of the soldier, turned author, retired General Lucky EO Irabor.
In the picture, the general’s army green unform was meticulously starched, with all his epaulets gleaming to great effect.
On its own, the image evoked the sense of pride, fondness and professionalism Nigerians would like to recall about their military in its glory years.
No, not the recollections of the misdeeds of the rabid soldiers of fortune, whose misadventure into the political space stifled Nigeria’s democratic evolution, entrenched impunity and made nonsense of due process and effective governance.
The version of the military Nigerians would recall with fondness was one that evoked a nationalist and pan-Africanist ethos. It was an institution that oozed courage and capacity for the realization of the manifest destiny of the globe’s most populous black country.
These qualities were apparent in portraiture of soldier-statesmen who straddled the Nigerian landscape and summoned the resolve to fight for the dignity of the Black race.
Those soldier-statesmen defied the obstacles posed by the prevailing racist and supremacist world order of the 1960s and 70s to fight against anomalies like colonialism, apartheid and other indignities, which undermined the rights of Africans.
One example of these acts of courage would be gleaned in the immortal words of General Murtala Mohammed at the first extraordinary session of the heads of states and governments of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).
General Mohammed denounced apartheid in these words loaded with conscience and clarity: “When I contemplate the evils of apartheid, my heart bleeds and I am sure the heart of every true blooded African bleeds.
When we talk of these evils we are assured of the ‘sympathy’ of the Western countries, but when we call for sanctions to end this shame of Western civilisation, suddenly the glitter of gold in the form of high dividends becomes more convincing a consideration than the lives, the liberty and the well-being of Africans.”
As such, General Irabor’s austere and ascetic physique certainly brought to the mind of the audience the moral leadership, combat readiness and utmost professionalism, which shaped the storied exploits of the Nigerian military.
While the general’s disciplined physique stoked these recollections, there appeared to be a silent tension in the auditorium.
This silent part of the excursion explored questions relating to why the current professional capacity of the military has not translated to an end to terrorism, banditry and sundry national security threats within Nigerians own borders.
For the literati who gathered for the reading, this was the central question beyond the high praise for the book: Scars: Nigeria’s Journey And the Boko Haram Conundrum.
So as the event emcee got proceedings going, these contradictions seemed to hang thickly.
Why should Nigeria be so endowed with men and women with the professional capacity to solve a problem, yet grapple for nearly two decades with the unconscionable decimation of lives?
With the type of knowledge and exposure Nigerian military officers possess, why should the country struggle to annihilate this band of extremely bloodthirsty and outrightly evil outlaws.
What on earth could be responsible for the current inability and failing of the same Nigerian military, which enforced peace abroad and received global recognition for its achievements?
How deeply dissatisfying has it been that for nearly two decades, wanton killings and mindless slaughter of Nigerians at the hands of Boko Haram insurgents has become the national norm.
Subsequently, the corollary to the unvoiced verdict was that the Nigerian military should not be on the back foot in the noble task of vanquishing terrorists.
Therefore, expectations remain high that those legally saddled with the task of protecting Nigeria’s territorial integrity should be on the offensive, taking the fight to the criminals, not the other way round.
Although these posers were not entirely discussed, they offered the opportunity for a more nuanced interrogation of retired General Irabor’s Scars: Nigeria’s Journey And the Boko Haram Conundrum.
The highly praised book chronicled the general’s experiences on the frontlines of the war against the Boko Haram insurgency. It largely focused on his tour of duty as Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).
The general himself set the tone in his welcome remarks, when he declared that: “a weapon ends a conversation, but a book begins one.”
And so it was; the panel of discussants convened by ANA immediately took up the task of facilitating the conversation to address the raging questions at the core of the book. To be sure the most penetrating perspectives are shared, ANA convened a very cerebral panel of professors as discussants.
Chaired by Professor Razinat Mohammed, the panel had Professors Okey Ikechukwu and Oyinye Nwagbara as discussants. The panel chair got the conversation going by referencing the similarity between military discipline and the high level of discipline required of an author.
She commended General Irabor not only for being a highly professional officer but also for demonstrating his discipline through the art of writing.
On his part, Professor Ikechukwu used the soldier first concept to explain how important it is for Nigeria to utilize the capacities and core competencies of military and intelligence officers trained at huge expense to the country.
He noted that in the leadership structures of many great countries in the world, leaders with military or intelligence backgrounds are given strategic roles to play.
He bemoaned the fact that in Nigeria, many of such officers, with all their capacity and experience are left on their own as the country fails to further the reap the massive investments made in training and retraining them.
In his intervention, Professor Nwagbara further expanded the conversation on capacity within Nigeria’s forces.
He enthused that the armed services possess the capacity, courage and professionalism needed to vanquish any threats.
He illustrated this with a story from the frontlines about how Nigerian Airforce officers successfully landed a military aircraft on a very short runway, where forces from even more advanced countries thought it was impossible.
Professor Nwagbara, a former United States military officer, narrated that story was told to him by amazed American colleagues who served on the same frontline with the Nigerians who achieved the feat.
This testimony, he noted goes to show that the problem is not the lack of capacity in the Nigerian armed forces. It could thus be deduced that if the problem has never been the absence of capacity and courage on the part of the men and women of Nigeria’s armed services.
There was therefore not much prompting to see that the inability to end chronic insecurity in the homeland may be connected to the lack of political will and the resources required to get the job done.
All through the discussions, there were anecdotes of miserly budgetary allocations and releases, which could barely scratch the surface, in terms of the weaponry, equipment and operational requirements for a final showdown with the enemies of the Nigerian State.
This point was further buttressed with stories of how tractors meant for agriculture had to be converted for military use. In some cases, abandoned vehicles had to be refurbished and repurposed for deployment to the front lines.
No doubt, the question of resource inadequacy loomed large in the broader context of the country’s failure to end the escalating insecurity.
Of course, the logical reaction in the audience focused on how to ensure the political leadership, especially in a democracy becomes conversant with these needs of the military to ensure they are provided.
The desperation for a safe, secure and violence-free country was clear. Curiosity was therefore high about how to translate the identified capacity in Nigeria’s military to concrete outcomes in terms of peace and security.
At the reading and book discussion, a great deal of the poetry and spoken word performances by the students sought answers to the worsening crisis of insecurity.
Of course, some difficult questions arose in the course of the interaction, which the general tried to answer within the short timeframe.
He, for instance, attempted to explain the reasons behind the military’s alleged takeover of the fishing business in the town of Baga.
The fundamental question was whether this was part of the military campaign against the insurgents or was it a whimsical push to deny the people of the town their source of livelihood?
Irabor responded that the military had no choice but to keep closer tabs on the fishy part of the fish business.
He said the military high command, through compelling intelligence gathering came to the realization that a good deal of the insurgents tended to get the funding with which they carried out their nefarious activities from the fish business.
Nonetheless, the general was also frank enough to admit that things got to a point where some bad eggs within the military started abusing what was supposed to be an initiative to cut off the funding for the terrorists by entrenching themselves as fish merchants.
General Irabor went further to stress that on his watch, the military high command did not allow these infractions to go unpunished.
He stressed that officers and other rank found culpable were duly punished and a good number were removed from their commission. As expected, there were many more questions than time would permit detailed answers to. The general filled these gaps by reading from the most poignant and penetrating passages of his book.
Nonetheless, the evening did not end without an act of generosity for the students in the audience. It came from Professor Ikechukwu, who beyond the substance of his intervention in the panel, took things a step further.
He paid for 20 copies of the book for distribution to students in the audience who sat all through and listened.
This gesture was quite thoughtful because given the book price of N20,000 for the paper back and N25,000 for the hard copy, most of the students who attended would not have been able to get copies.
And since it is the future of the country that was being discussed, it was quite instructive that someone was considerate to include the youth as readers and leaders.
