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TY Danjuma

Reading TY Danjuma’s lips By Bola Bolawole

 

TY Danjuma

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Ordinarily, Lt. General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd.) is not my man, as they say, and I am, therefore, not his fan at all. Since I learnt the Takum, Taraba State-born ex- Army Chief of Staff and Minister of Defence may know the identity of the infamous “Butcher of Ibadan” or the July 1966 counter-coup leader who master-minded and or arrested and despatched to the world beyond the then Head of State, Gen. GTU Aguiyi-Ironsi, and his host, Lt. Col. Francis Adekunle Fajuyi (military governor of the then Western State), I have kept a respectable distance from the taciturn, yet benign, officer. I may be wrong but he has always appeared to me Janus-faced – debonair with a respectable and harmless look which belies his reputation as steely, iron-willed, cold, and calculating. His damning statement, last week, of the Muhammadu Buhari administration and especially of the Army and the entire security forces that he was privileged to have headed is, however, too serious to be ignored. For one, military officers, especially those who have risen to the very top of the organisation(s) in question, usually protect them and do not break ranks. Esprit de corps, as they call it, is usually stronger than blood. Even where they have reservations, such are hardly expressed in the open and where in uncommon instances they cannot hold themselves; they still exercise restraint, not as brazenly as Danjuma did last week, throwing all caution to the wind. For another, the times that we are in are not ordinary as the Buhari administration fiddles while the country burns. The country sits at the edge of the tinder box; various centrifugal forces pull it apart while the government lives in self denial, issuing threats and behaving like Lord of the Manor in a democracy that has been purchased with a great price.

Danjuma became the third very influential retired army officer to have made very disturbing prognosis of Buhari in recent time. Leading the way was former military Head of State and two-term ex-civilian president Olusegun Obasanjo, whose damning letter to Buhari is still making waves. Not only did Obasanjo take Buhari to the cleaners, he also told him to forget about venturing out for a second term as well as proposed a “third force” to wrestle power from the ruling APC and the opposition PDP in the 2019 presidential election. Since then, OBJ, as he is fondly called, has been up and doing, garnering support for his third force option all over the country. He sure means serious business as he announced last week that over three million Nigerians have signed up as members. Another ex-military Head of State and self-acclaimed “evil genius”, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, followed OBJ with his own damning letter, also taking Buhari and his administration apart. As with many things IBB, his own letter generated controversy about whether or not he authorised its release but there was no denying the fact that the damage had been done, especially since the IBB spokesperson who released the letter on behalf of his principal stood his ground that he was authorised to write as well as release the letter. Now Danjuma!

There is only one explanation for the spate of letters and condemnations of Buhari and his administration: The “kingmakers” are not only voting with their feet, they are also rallying the population to take Buhari out, come 2019. The forces who massed on the side of Buhari in 2015 to make it possible for him to uproot incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP are now getting ready to do battle with the president, intent on forcing down his throat the same bitter pill they had jointly applied to Jonathan in 2015. In Marxian lexicon, these ex-Generals are committing something akin to “class suicide” and there is no way Nigerians and the international community will not take notice for many reasons. One: For the calibre of the personalities involved. These are people with wide and extensive contacts and connections nationally and internationally. Two: These were friends now turned implacable foes. Three is the nature of the irreconcilable differences that have emerged to drive a wedge between them. In this respect, Danjuma’s accusations are the most damning in that they speak directly to the raging and vexed issues of Boko Haram insurgency and rampaging Fulani herdsmen all over the country. Danjuma’s Taraba State is in the epicentre of the crisis which has witnessed horrendous bestiality by the herdsmen, claiming thousands of lives and rendering millions refugees in their own country. Four: Danjuma engaged the government in a no-hold-barred fashion, accusing it and the security forces of not only duplicity but also of complicity in the impunity and wanton destruction left in their wake by Boko Haram and the herdsmen. Such allegations and suspicions are not new, though, but the personality of Danjuma gives them added weight and potency.

What, perhaps, is most alarming about Danjuma’s acerbic statement is that he appears to have lost all hope in the ability or willingness of the Buhari administration to salvage the situation since he then called on not just the victims but also those who will not want to be victims to arm themselves for self-defence. Again, in Marxian lexicon we call this taking one’s destiny into one’s own hands. Self-defence is recognised and protected by law but it is doubtful if government will not see Danjuma’s call as an invitation to self-help, anarchy or open rebellion. If not for the calibre of the person involved, it is possible to see some people thinking of pressing treason charges here and we may begin to see a replay of the Zangon-Kataf/Gen. Zamani Lekwot saga. How true that those who fail to learn from history are often condemned to repeating its mistakes! And whether we believe it or not, the Law of Karma is alive and well. When the going was good, no one could claim to be more Northerner than Danjuma. These were the officers used by the North to counter the Kaduna Nzeogwu coup of January 1966; they were the ones who introduced politics into the Army when they rejected the most senior officer, a Yoruba, to take over after Ironsi’s murder but brought a junior officer, Yakubu Gowon, as Head of State. That way, they sowed the seed of the death of professionalism in the military. The Danjumas of this world were the foot soldiers of the North, holding the country down for it to rule and milk; giving it all the privileges it holds on to till date while spurning all demands for restructuring; they ensured the North ruled to the near-total exclusion of the South; awarded the North bogus population figures; gave it more states and local councils; moved the federal capital there; gave it near monopoly of oil blocs and favourable federal allocation formula; ensured it took control of the armed forces and all military installations of note; ad nauseam.

Today, however, the chickens have come home to roost! The heart-wrenching atrocities of the Frankenstein monster Danjuma helped to create and sustain are writ large over his beloved Middle Belt. Pity, there are still many who will rather get to Danjuma’s sorry pass before they learn the lesson of their life!

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