Five days ago, specifically on November 24th instant, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai, Chief of Army Staff of the Nigerian Federation turned 59.
When he was born in the sleepy town of Buratai in Borno State, little did anyone, probably even his parents, know that he was going to grow up and play a very decisive role in keeping Nigeria as one corporate entity.
With a budget that is a mere fraction of the annual budget of the New York Fire Service, General Tukur Buratai has been leading the Nigerian Army with credibility and distinction.
With very obsolete equipment that he inherited from his predecessor four years ago, Buratai has led the Nigerian troops to recapture the many local government areas that Boko Haram had seized and were administrating with unprecedented wickedness.
Of course the Nigerian Army, or the military in general, has benefitted hugely since the advent of the Buhari Administration In May 2015, but the government itself is seriously co tending with dearth of resources, making it unable to do the best it plans for the military.
While the Nigerian Army has since been overstretches, keeping the peace or warding off insurgency in at least 32 states of the Nigerian federation, and doing everything to as much as ensure we continue to cohabit in peace, some politicians have unfortunately been sponsoring campaigns of calumny against it, particularly the Army leadership, such that many politicians that get defeated in free and fair elections find in the Nigerian Army a whipping boy who they unfairly blame for their failures in the polls.
There are also other politicians who are unpatriotically doing all they could to divide the army along religious or tribal lines, without according a thought to the inherent dangers in so doing.
Yet, General Buratai has taken all the attacks and insults in his stride, refusing to allow subversive elements to distract him from the credible governance he is giving in the largest branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
With hugely inadequate budget and a section of soldiers that tend to get demoralized by the ceaseless attacks and incitement from a section of the media, it has been Buratai’s task to literally squeeze water out of stone and get the best out of the troops. Such is the testament of his exceptional leadership qualities that the Army Chief has been doing exactly that, and giving Nigeria a lot more, especially in terms of leading by example.
It is common knowledge that since his appointment, Buratai has refused to be an arm-Chair General. To inspire his troops, he visits them regularly in the trenches, where he dines with them and also partake in the battle aimed at entrenching the peaceful Nigeria of our collective dreams.
Last week, I was on a visit to a Brigadier General friend in the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, one of the many brainchildren of General Buratai, and the man told me that in his over thirty years in military service, Nigerian Army has never had it so good.
Under the leadership of this rare Nigerian, monetary allowances that are due for soldiers get paid promptly, and will only be delayed if funds are not released to the Army.
General Buratai, perhaps because he Heigl’s from Borno, the state where insurgency has been mostly pronounced, knows that only ignorance and illiteracy will drive someone to commit suicide bombings or even be a member of Boko Haram. He therefore decided to confront the problem headlong by first, ensuring a massive improvement in the standard of teaching and learning in all command secondary schools, and cap it all by establishing the Army University in the city of Biu. By these measures, more and more young men and women will get the benefit of quality education, and will never allow themselves to serve as tools in the wicked hands of terrorists.
Yet, very strangely, there are many Nigerians that have been finding fault in the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to retain the service chiefs. In the case of Buratai, the President who knows more than everyone else about the challenges faced by our armed forces, is seriously impressed by what has been achieved in the light of very limited resources.
Though neither Buratai nor any of the service Chiefs is indispensable, Mr. President is aware of the serious danger of changing them at this time when a lot of success is being achieved, with hundreds of insurgents surrendering everyday to the Army, and the recalcitrant ones either getting arrested or killed. As the popular saying goes, you don’t change a winning number,
What therefore, the Army needs is the collective support of all Nigerians. As General Buratai once told the management of Sun newspaper when they paid him a courtesy call in the Army Headquarters recently, the war against insurgency will be easily won with the active support of the media and Nigerians in general.
