“The Ex-Defence Chief, Alex Badeh, in an interview granted
to Channels TV after his exit from office claimed that he was aware that there
were fifth columnists within the Nigerian Armed forces who sought to destroy
from within by working and collaborating with Boko Haram”.
Officers and men who refused to fight without adequate arms
or were just plain fed up by the apathy of the authorities to appropriately arm
them before sending them into harm’s way were summarily hauled up before court
martials and sentenced.
“Little did we know that the most debilitating and foul
fifth columnists were actually the principal persecutors. Little did we know
that the men who were called to serve their fatherland and lead valiant troops
where themselves the saboteurs”.
There is no greater sabotage, no perpetuation of sub-rosa ;“fifth
columnist activities”, that can trump the deliberate, heartless and insensitive
actions of Sambo Dasuki, Alex Badeh and their ilk. By fraudulently usurping and
“chopping” monies meant to outfit troops theirs was a crime with rippling and
devastating repercussions.
Excerpts from the audit report of the committee set up the
the President to probe military procurement activities of the military are
revealing.
The audit report states: “in spite of this huge financial
intervention, there has not been significant improvement in the capacity and
capability of the Armed Forces.”
“Additionally, some of the award letters contained
misleading delivery dates that indicated fraudulent intention in the award
process. The observed discrepancies are in clear contravention of extant
procurement regulations”.
” In particular, the committee “particularly noted the issue
of procurement of two Mi-24 helicopters through SEI Nigeria Ltd that were
deployed to the North East Operations in unserviceable condition which resulted
in the unfortunate death of the late Group Captain U.N. Akpan and Master Warrant
Officer Zabesan H”.
“The audit uncovered a series of suspicious transfers of
funds through the CBN. The committee stated that, between September 17, 2012
and March 9, 2015, former National Security Adviser, retired Colonel Sambo
Dasuki, and ONSA’s former Director of Finance and Administration, Mr. S.A.
Salisu, ordered the CBN to transfer various sums of money totaling more than
€9.9 million. The funds were transferred to “various accounts in Nigeria, Niger
Republic and UK for unascertained purposes.”
Various war correspondents in the North-east theatre have
reported soldiers with malfunctioning jamming guns, deployment of unserviceable
and unusable weaponry amongst other ills.”These are direct “domino” effects of
the actions of a few ogas”.
Any “Warrior”, from the beginning of time knows that the
efficacy of his sword, his gun – can be the difference between life and death. How
many of our soldiers you wonder, have died directly from malfunctioning, unserviceable
guns and equipment? Like the late Group Captain U.N. Akpan and Master Warrant
Officer Zabesan H; how many of our “warriors”, have we lost needlessly because
of the corruption of a few individuals.
In a nation where its ranking civil and public servants are
regarded as failures if they are not at the least multi-millionaires in dollars,
it has become the norm to see these category of persons, military men inclusive
living in such high estate that fabled book story Sheiks with lavish harems
will marvel at.
Alas, the choices of the nation allowing corruption to
fester within its military sphere are stark. It is a choice between improvement
in the capacity and capability of the Armed Forces or the decline of military effectiveness and
its attendant waste of the lives of troops.
A strong message must be sent. All military officers found
culpable of thieving should be put before a
court martial of their own. Those who are retired should be recalled and
also court martialed, afterall the malaise caused by their thieving conduct is
directly manifested in the death and negative performance of troops and hence
can be categorized as war crimes.
I say, let them face the judgement of those “few”, “those brothers in arms”, “the band of
brothers” that they have betrayed.
Written by Victor Ikhatalor
Founder of "The MyTribeNigeria Initiative"
Follow me on Twitter/MyTribeNigeria
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