Wednesday, June 19, 2019

BURATAI: Debating the Disappearing Morale Within the Rank and File of our Armed Forces at the Combat Zones.

“It is unfortunate, but the truth is that almost every setback the Nigeria army has had in our operations in recent times can be traced to insufficient willingness to perform assigned tasks.” The alleged laziness of soldiers could also be traced to “simply insufficient commitment to a common national/military course by those at the frontlines,” That was Mr. Buratai, courtesy of the Premium Times of June 19, 2019, quoting the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Another Self-indictment and he is still on the job. That Mr. Buratai no longer enjoys the respect and confidence of the members of the Nigerian Armed Forces is an understatement. His latest outing is a vote of no confidence on himself and on the Service Chiefs.
If our soldiers at the front-line of attacks are failing in their mission and unwilling to perform assigned tasks, it manifests some disturbing facts: the inadequacies and insufficient strategic combat wisdom of Mr. Buratai and a total rejection of the entire leadership of the Nigerian Armed Forces by the rank and file of our Armed Forces.
As the situation deteriorates beyond Buratai's capacity, President Buhari, if he is alive to his responsibilities as the Command in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is now left with two options: sack the entire Nigerian Armed Forces or sack the whole leadership of his Armed Forces and Security apparatus.
I have stated copiously in my past essays that it's not enough to populate the leadership cadre of the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Security Networks with officers from the President's tribe (qualified or not) and expect total commitment from those contending dangerously with real conflicts at the combat zones. Why would they fight your war if they are not good enough to participate in making decisions about funding and the overall welfare of our men and women in uniforms?
Mr. President, you killed the morale of our soldiers. You destroyed the esprit de Corp within the Nigerian Armed Forces with your racial prejudice. Your ethnic and religious biases gave life to the "insufficient commitment to a common national/military course by those at the frontlines."
Your unwillingness to rise above religion; your reluctance to rise above tribal considerations in your appointment of Service Chiefs and promotions within the ranks in the Armed Forces have contributed immensely to the fatigue, real or imagined, confronting our soldiers at the frontlines today.
In the past few years, you have systematically and indiscriminately embarked on massive retirement campaign of some of the finest and brightest stars we have in the Armed Forces before they even attain their retirement age or years. And these victims are mostly Southerners.
The reasons for your discriminatory sacking and promotions are not far-fetched. One, you and your trusted tribal folks want to preempt the chances of Southerners rising through the ranks to the top positions in the Armed Forces. And two, you are apprehensive of the eventuality of another rebellious Major Gideon Orkar springing from the ranks to engineering a Military coup.
That premature retirement comes with a vacuum. We sacrifice experience and create disillusionment within the military. Because those at the front-lines who are not from the privileged tribe or region are watching. Knowing full well the extent of their limitations in the military career ranks, you don't expect them to show total commitment in fighting and dying over a war that is of huge commercial success for your folks. Whatever you do, don't agitate for patriotism, when you have no regards for equal rights and justice.
Today, innocent Nigerians are wasting their lives, paying the price of the dysfunction that resulted from the haphazard promotions and racially induced retirements within the Armed Forces.
While you and your trusted Chiefs are enjoying the comfort of your Abuja mansions and the luxury of the frequent UK and Dubai getaways, our soldiers in the front-line cannot defend themselves. The infiltration of the rank and file of the Nigerian Armed Forces by the members of the Boko Haram sect who your administration recruited into the Army in the last few years is endemic and packed with devastating impacts. While you are willing to appease the sect with unmerited enlistment opportunities and unearned compensations, our soldiers at the front-lines are contending with hunger and unserviceable weapons.
Thanks to your appeasement of the captured sect, our soldiers at the war front can no longer plan or devise any strategic maneuvering. They have no secret, no code, and no one to trust. Every now and then, they are ambushed and slaughtered like chicken because their movements, strategies and tactics are leaked to the Boko Haram leadership.
And you are here complaining about lack of morale, insufficient commitments and unwillingness to perform assigned tasks. Give me a break! I did warn a few months ago that it is not a Hausa/Fulani Armed Forces after all, but the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Where are we today?
Mr. Buratai should do the right thing: resign. By his actions and pronouncements in the past few years, he has demonstrated beyond every reasonable doubt that he is not fit to lead the Nigerian Armed Forces. He has no understanding of his assigned task, and he lacked the strategic wherewithal to execute the little that he knows. 
Above all, the trust factor is gone, and our men and women in uniforms have no regards for him, his leadership, and authority anymore. If he is having difficulties digesting the import of his recent outing, I will assist him. It is called indictment and a guilty verdict. He should resign. Period.

PREMIUMTIMESNG.COM
Tukur Buratai has again lampooned Nigerian soldiers for allegedly failing to curb Boko Haram and other security challenges that have dogged the country.

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