The Facts That Crossed Lt.Gen Dambazau’s NSA Ambition: By Nnamdi Anekwe-Chive

Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau

Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau , enlisted into the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1974 as a member of the 21st Regular Course. He was commissioned into the Nigerian Army Infantry Corp in June, 1977, and proceeded to hold several staff and command appointments, including the GOC 2ND Div ,Ibadan. He was also a former principal general staff officer to the former minister of defence, Rabiu Kwakwanso, before being appointed as the chief of army staff in August, 2008.

He holds a B.sc in Criminal Justice and Masters of Art in International Relations from Kent State University, and also Masters in Education, crowning it with a Phd in Criminology from Keele University, United Kingdom, and has authored quite a number of books. Highly decorated with military honors and awards, and arguably one of the most well-read Nigerian military officers of the 21st century.


One of the strategic appointments made yesterday by president Muhammad Buhari was that of Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd), as the national security adviser, beating Lt. General Dambazau (rtd) as widely believed, to the job.

How did it happen?

The job of the NSA is essentially the coordinator of all arms of the Nigeria’s security services by virtue of National Securities Act of 1986. It is a cabinet level appointment and the job is to safe guard the national interest, including providing strategic advice to the president and his cabinet.

The office is like a presidency within a presidency, and as such whoever occupies such position must be seen to be above aboard, and ensures that the nation’s national security is not compromised on account of religion, ethnicity, region or tribe. It was already a concluded deal that the former security director at the APC presidential campaign was going to be appointed the NSA, until a deluge of petitions and classified reports on the former visiting Professor started streaming into the office of the president and commander-in-chief, detailing why the military intellectual is not the best man for the office at this period, especially with the country emerging from one of the most divisive elections, a resurgent Boko Haram, alleged Fulani herdsmen attack in the North Central, the energy insecurity in the Niger Delta, and other economic crimes that undermines Nigeria’s national security.

JOS CRISIS 2010

One of the numerous reports indicted Lt General Dambazau for not acting to avert and stop the Plateau crisis while he held sway as the chief of army staff, and exposed him as a sectionalist rather than a nationalist upon which the army is built on.

During that period, the former chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff in the regime of Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, General Domkat Bali, accused the leadership of the army under Lt.Gen Dambazau of taking sides with the Hausa/Fulani, and concluded that he and the GOC of the 3rd Armoured Division, Major General Maina, were showing bias for Islam. Governor Jang also accused them of shielding the Hausa/Fulani indigenes who massacred Christians in the state. But the chief of army staff shot back at his accusers, countering there was no way he and the GOC, his kinsman from Kano, could have deployed troops selectively , hinging their defence on the fact that the garrison commander and other line commanders were all Christians. This episode left a stain on the general within the Christian communities in the north who viewed him as someone who poses a threat to their right of religion and freedom of worship, and they still hold him in that regard till this day.

UNDERMINING CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY

Following the incapacity of president Umaru Musa Yaradau, and the quest to transfer power to then vice president Goodluck Jonathan, the chief of army staff as reports would have it, became one of the axis of power and authority who ensured the vice president was frustrated in his stride to become the acting president. Even the US Ambassador, Robin Sanders, sought to confirm directly from him, his ambitions and permutations, but he opined that his role is to ensure the country does not descend into political instability, and acknowledged his loyalty to acting president Goodluck Jonathan.

But that loyalty became doubtful on the night of 22nd February, 2010, when the body of the sick president Yaradua was flown into the country at night, with active deployment of troops at the airport, without the knowledge of the Commander-In-Chief at the time, Gooduck Jonathan. He was kept in the dark by his army chief. Some retired senior military officers have posited the action of active troop deployment without the C-In-C’s authorization amounted to treason. They were also of the view that the one person who was presiding over the affairs of the presidency and the nation at the time should have given the orders, and went further to opine that the general hides under the blanket of intellectualism to mask his shenanigans, and added president Jonathan was so afraid of his capabilities that he was reportedly sent on an errand to the United Nations, and was sacked in absentia.

By that singular act of bypassing constitutional authority, the army under his leadership undermined Nigeria’s national security and proved at that time, that loyalty to individual over the constitution of the land is more sacrosanct.

ETHNIC BIAS/NEPOTISM/CORRUPTION

The former visiting Fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, had all the academic requirements and military experience to perform very excellently on the job as NSA, but was he going to run a homogeneous national security policy, analyze intelligence fairly, and propose actions that would insure all interests and stakeholders regardless of religion, ethnicity and region?

During his reign as the chief of army staff, many at the army headquarters complained of lopsidedness in the appointments and other administrative functions within the army. One retired senior officer complained of the COAS’s favoritism towards officers and men from the Kano/Katsina axis, and how the situation polarized the army along sectional and tribal lines, to the extent that it became entrenched, causing his successors from the South to follow in his footsteps, and further exacerbated the problem of nepotism in the army until this day. Recently, reports have it that the criminologist carefully selected a Kano born Lt.Col to become the ADC to president Buhari, with observers noting that he played the ethnic card, since no president since 1999 has ever appointed ADC from same ethnic group or region.

There are also documented allegations of corruption and kickbacks in the management of army finances and businesses while he held sway, and with president Buhari running on his biggest strength as anti-corruption czar, there was no way the former military lawyer could have secured the job.

CONCLUSION

During a breakfast session on the book “In the Shadow of the Oval Office’: Profiles of the NSAs, Ivo Daalder and Mac Destler talked about how being a reliable broker, honest broker and a trusted ally helped shaped the tenure of Brent Scowcroft, NSA, under President H.W Bush.

Though the job of National Security Adviser in the US, is totally different in style, structure and execution from Nigeria’s, but one key issue that deprived the former Weatherhead Centre for International Affairs scholar of the most prestigious job in the land is that of trust and on the job performance, because the job of the Office of the National Security Adviser, is not to pander to sectional interests or approach the duty from the prism of sectionalism but rather collectivism, consensus building and nurturing trust across the nation.

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