He is not flippant. Neither has he a sugar-coated tongue that would stimulate or stir an unguarded or uninformed audience. He is not tailor-made for a gold plaited fiction. He hardly speaks and when he does, the ground shakes or do I say, ‘di body go shake’?
Decades back, I travelled in the same military vehicle with him to Kachia in the then North-Central state. He was the leader of the military team heading to Kachia for the yearly military shooting range or exercise and I was the reporter with the Daily Times assigned to cover the assignment. For the journey of hours between Kaduna, our take-off point, and Kachia, our destination, there was a dead silence in the vehicle, until we the journalists in the vehicle decided to take him on and break the ice to the consternation of other military personnel in the entourage, who had earlier sounded or warned us of their introvert boss.
The commander was a man of few words and answered our questions in brevity and with smile which hardly provoke laughter or rapid response as the look on his face is not at all that inviting, as it is tainted with seriousness. With the brief rapport or interview with the ‘press boys’ over, he reverted back to his earlier posture on his seat and for the rest of the journey, there was silence in the vehicle until we got to Kachia where we were handed over to the army public relations officer in continuation of our assignment. Then the Oga waved to us with that usual uninspiring smile as he was driven away in a dark-green coloured military vehicle.
Speaking generally on violence that has gripped Taraba, his home state, and Nigeria in general, the veteran pointed out that it has become imperative for now, for everyone to rise up and defend themselves
The next day, being the day of Kachia assignment, he was in combatant dress, with some officers moving towards the shooting range. None of them dare move a step ahead of him. The journalists were shown the red lines never to cross throughout the period of the exercise. Thereafter were ‘Gbum, Gbum’; the fire work has begun. From my first encounter and subsequent interaction and the readings of him, I concluded without equivocation that the man in discourse is a soldier gentleman, a fearless officer that is revered and dreaded, especially by the military, as well as the public. Though now a veteran, he still wields enormous influence within the military and beyond.
When recently, General Theophilous Danjuma, (retd.), a former Minister of Defence and one-time Chief of Army Staff indicted his constituency, the Nigerian Armed Forces of aiding attacks by the armed bandits on communities across the country and warned that should this persist, the consequences would make the sad episode that happened in Somalia a child’s play, there was vibration all over.
This accusation, coming from the personality of General T.Y. Danjuma, should not be taken for granted or treated with levity. This allegation of the veteran assumed more serious dimension and became thought-provoking when he stated that the security of the people by the military could no longer be relied upon, and advised Nigerians to rise up to defend themselves or risk massacre.
General Danjuma indicted the military of connivance with the armed bandits to wreak havoc on the nation during his speech at the maiden convocation of the Taraba State University, where he was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Science degree.
Speaking generally on violence that has gripped Taraba, his home state, and Nigeria in general, the veteran pointed out that it has become imperative for now, for everyone to rise up and defend themselves.
His words: “The armed forces are not neutral. They collude with the armed bandits that kill people, kill Nigerians. They facilitate their movement. They cover them. If you are depending on the armed forces to stop the killings, you will die one by one.”
Danjuma warned that violence would erupt should the killings in Taraba and other communities in Nigeria continue. According to him, the ethnic cleansing must stop in Taraba state. It must stop in all states in Nigeria; otherwise Somalia will be a child’s play. I ask every one of you to be alert and defend your country, defend your territory, defend your state. You have nowhere to go.
General Danjuma, a successful businessman, an oil magnate and Chairman of the Victims Support Fund, regretted that Taraba State that has been a miniature Nigeria with diverse ethnic and cultural heritage, was being subjected to utter ruins by the armed bandits, calling on the people to rise up and face the onslaught of the intruders. He donated the sum of N100 million to the University.
While the state governor, Dariius Ishaku, stated the innumerable and immeasurable blessings of the University to the people, he expressed gratitude to its founders. The vice-chancellor, Professor Vincent Tenebe announced that the institution graduated 5, 908 students with various degrees.
It would be recalled of recent, that the herdsmen or armed bandits had been invading farmlands, destroying and carting away the produce of the farmers and in some cases, killing the people and stealing their livestock in various parts of the country, leaving in their trail, deaths, blood and sorrow in an unprecedented manner.
This is in addition to the prowl of the terrorists in abduction, suicide bombing and various attacks on communities, especially those in the northeast.
While the Buhari administration, from all indications, appears to be doing all possible to tame the terrorists,, there are allegations of saboteurs, or those called the fifth columnists within and outside the government, trying to frustrate all efforts of the administration for self ends.
The recent revelation by the Director General of the Department of the State Service, Mallam Lawal Daura, of attempts by some officials in Buhari’s administration to frustrate efforts of the government in the rescue of the abducted Dapchi school girls is instructive. There is absolute necessity to look inwards, look into the administration with a view to curbing the cobwebs that are certainly around in abundance. Not to take serious view of this and act is to postpone the evil’s day for the nation and by implication, strengthen the grip of the hawks on Nigeria.
General Danjuma’s revelation, like similar ones before it, must be investigated and decisive steps taken to halt the nefarious activities of those who appear to have vowed that this administration must fail to achieve its desired goal.
General Danjuma had the boldness to indict his military constituency of conspiracy and collusion with armed bandits to ruin the nation. President Buhari, himself a general from the same constituency and leading the indicted accused military of his administration, must have the gut and responsibility to unravel such allegation and act. A task that must not only be done but seen to be done.
*Izekor, a journalist and public affairs analyst, is a member of the Board of Advisers of The Point.
