New Service Chiefs: Will Tinubu Surpass Buhari’s Eight Years Fight Against Insecurity?

On May 29, 2023, a new era began in Nigeria. Former President, Muhammadu Buhari, handed over power to the February 25th presidential election winner, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Naija News reports that Buhari enjoyed eight years in office and vacated Aso Rock with some of his campaign promises, including dealing with insecurity.

Tinubu With The Magic Wand

However, just like other presidential candidates in the 2023 election, Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, boasted about dealing with the insecurity fought halfway by the Buhari administration if elected into office.

Like his predecessor, Tinubu has assured Nigerians of maximum protection of their lives and properties. He promised to use ‘his magic wands’ to put behind the insurgency in the country while still addressing other challenges bedevilling the country before and when he assumed power.

Tinubu also assured Nigerians of renewed hope. And with his few days in office, many citizens have been singing praises of the Nigerian leader.

Where Did Buhari Get It Wrong?

“I will start by stating that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari did its best in curtailing insecurity across the country. At the time the government came into power, the major area of concern was the Northeast.

“Though there were activities around the Northwest and North Central, but they were small. So, the government came into power with the mind to stern the insurgency in the Northeast, but the government wasn’t prepared for banditry within the country,”  Nigerian Security and Intelligent Expert of repute, Dr Oluwaseyi Adetayo, said during an interview with Naija News.

Dr Adetayo, sharing further his depth of knowledge on the nation’s security situation under Buhari, said: “I will say that while the government had in mind what the problem was at the time it was coming into power, it was less prepared to curtail the problem when it came into power. It was more of the government believing that within three months or six months, with a stern directive and supervision, the problem could be solved.

“Unfortunately, the reality done on the government and the gravity of the reality was that of a problem that if you are not properly prepared, you cannot curtail.

“So, we saw the first four years of that administration trying to put the necessary foundation in place as against solving the problem. Like i  said earlier, if the administration had a serious plan as at the time they were taking over power, they would have started on a strong note.”

Buhari’s Administration Robbed By Lack Of Preparation

He added: “So lack of preparation, despite the fact they knew what the problem was, robbed the administration of some years. But fortunately, they were able to rise up to the occasion, and I can say that the degradation that the military made on the insurgency in the northeast was the best the country had ever experienced so far.

“We should not forget the fact that it was under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari that Boko Haram leader, Ibrahim Shekarau, was eventually neutralized. And lots of communities that have been sacked, through collaborative efforts of the Governor of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States, many of those communities were resettled.

“People were able to return back to their communities and were able to return back to their farms. Not all anyways, and not that the problem was entirely solved, but what that speaks is the fact that they were able to get the real approach. However, that robbed us of the initial four years for them to be able to contain those issues.

“And part of the things they did was deliberate procurement of arms for the Nigerian military. They did not only buy; they bought the best. They approached the best of the best in terms of countries manufacturing those things, and they were able to compare to millions of Nairas that were lost during the administration before the last.

“In this particular administration, we saw lots of high-tech equipment, including the Tucano jets and several other fast and efficient air fighters that the government was able to buy.

“The Navy was not also left; several warships were procured, including the one that were able to get for free base on the relationship between Nigeria and our foreign friends.”

Buhari Scores 7/10 On Fight Against Boko Haram, ISWAP

Rating the previous administration in the fight against insecurity, Adetayo said: “So if I am to rate the government of Buhari in terms of insurgency, the war against Boko Haram and ISWAP, I will give the last administration 7/10.

“But now, this is the downside of it. While the government performed very well in neutralizing Boko Haram and ISWAP, the government failed woefully in the area of banditry in Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna, Katsina and some other parts of the northwest and north-central.

“And this is because they did not know about the growth, not because the information was not there, but more of been fixated with the ISWAP-Boko Haram issue.

“It was more of the government not really considering what was happening in the Northwest as at the time. Even at the beginning of the administration, when people began to talk about it, it was seen more from the ethnic perspective rather than the problem that it was.

“Remember that the then Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, at the beginning of the last administration spoke about Fulani from outside Nigeria and that they had to settle them so that they could stop killing and that the Fulani does not forgive. That if you do anything to them, is like borrowed money that, no matter how long, it would be repaid.

“And that risk of skilled interpretation, or skilled assessment of the reality of the issue, the issue was seen more from the Fulani herders’ farmers conflict than bandits and terrorists that have built strong military assets and arsenal and large foot soldiers that will wreak havoc that will eventually take the larger chunk of the budgetary allocation of the states that were involved.

“Those perceptions then gave into how the matter was being handled then. Because the issue was not given the right kind of attention, it began to grow, and over the years, wrong interpretation was being given to it, from both ends, from Fulani domination to land-grabbing, to Islamization, to waging war against Christianity. So different stakeholders and interested parties were attaching different meanings to the issue, and that robbed us of the opportunity to collectively look at the issue from an objective scan and also to prefer a solution that is safe for progress.

“So over the years, while we bicker about religion and ethnicity, these people were growing, and other political issues around, the concentration of security agency’s leadership in a particular region of the country was also there. So every action that are being taken where laced with so much suspicion as at that time. And that led to the growth and devastation caused by these groups.

“I can say that the activities of these different camps of bandits robbed the last administration of the opportunity of getting excellent security in Nigeria. That is not to say that there are no major issues from the West and Southeastern part of Nigeria, there were but the numbers of deaths, families that were killed and also their homes destroyed were so much compared to the northern part of Nigeria.

“The issue in the north was more of a national calamity kind of situation, and the government approach, even to the last days of the previous administration, was not robust enough.

“Not that money was not spent, but it was not judiciously used. So much ground was lost, and so many people died. The last minutes efforts paid off, but so much damage had been done before then, and much more was still left for this administration to tackle.

“So, on banditry, I will give this administration a 3/10.”

We Might Face Same Situation With New Service Chiefs If…

“The service chiefs might be brilliant if the enabling environment provides the will to do it and the philosophy that defines its direction. If they are not revived and made to fix the issues, we might still face the same situation under Tinubu”, Adetayo said while still commending the current administration.

According to him, the President has demonstrated leadership, presence, and purpose and has also shown readiness to get things done.

“As a leader, you cannot get things done alone. You need people to get it to work, so the first thing is to get the right people that understand what you want to be there. The second is to create now the leadership that will enable them to get things done,” he added.

Tinubu Came Prepared

“One thing that I can say it’s gonna work for the new service chiefs is the new president, unlike the immediate past administration, came prepared,” the security expert said on Tinubu’s few weeks in office.

Naija News recalls that Tinubu while speaking at an interview during the 2023 general elections campaigns, said he would hit the ground running when he wins the poll and is sworn in as Nigeria’s president.

The New Service Chiefs

Speaking on the sacking of former service chiefs and appointment of new ones, Dr Adetayo said: “All the policy frameworks, strategic plans and programmes he will deploy are already on the ground. So the appointment is to put people that will implement them. So I believe that if it is going the way it is going now, we might not be far away from seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

“The command-in-chief preparedness will go a long way in helping them to succeed. And his willingness to take action, decisions is a plus for them, and his will to take strong and difficult decisions is another plus for the new service chiefs.

“So I cannot but wish them success as they rally together to solve this our security problems.”

Acting Inspector General To Retire In 2024

Speaking on the reports that the Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, will retire by 2024, the security expert said: “The problem that Nigerians have is we get carried away by news in the window stories. If not because of our recent experience, it is an anomaly to bring a junior to come and superintend over a senior. There is a hierarchy. Even if it is five days to your retirement, you must; the next most senior should be given.

“If you have rised to that level, it means that you have acquired enough experience. If you are not good enough to be a DIG, then you cannot be good enough to be an IG; if you are good enough to be appointed a DIG, it means that you are good enough to become an IG.”

Naija News reports that Tinubu appointed Egbetokun as a replacement for former IGP Usman Alkali Baba, who was previously appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2021.

“So we must not be carried away by all this news. Secondly, when people are appointed to positions like that, it is at the pleasure of the commander-in-chief. The holder of the office is to work for him. So the president appointing is because he has trust in him, so it is not left for the person to demonstrate that confidence, that belief that the chief has in him.

“So it is now for him to show and prove to the world what the chief sees in him to have appointed him. So it is now also for us as a people too to wait and see how he is going to demonstrate that trust by performing.

“That is when we would even know whether we would even love him to stay one month in office. So, 2024 is a year from now, and he may perform so well, and then we would be happy that the President would allow him to complete his tenure.

“And the performance might be decimal in nature that we would be begging the president saying ‘Oga abeg we no want this man stay six months’.

“So to me, I feel that it is too early in the life of this administration for us to begin to look at situations like that. Let’s give the man the benefit of the doubt. Let’s give the man who appointed him the benefit of the doubt and his trust…and for the commander-in-chief to demonstrate that authority,” Adetayo added.