When the PUNCH Newspaper chose to address the current President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, as a Major General, the newspaper’s decision generated a variety of mixed comments and reactions across the country and abroad particularly on the social media with a significant majority backing the newspaper while a minority criticised it.
To those who saw it as a figure of speech, depicting the president’s acts as one not in tandem with democratic norms, it is a subtle way of telling the president that he runs a government which does not observe the rule of law.
Definitely, that may not have been intended as a compliment no matter the spin, but without any untoward suggestion, the decision to prefix Buhari’s name with Major General, the writer suspects, could as well have been adopted to awaken the president’s consciousness to the fact that the nation whose leadership he presides at the moment, acknowledges and recognises him in that regard.
It also expects him to live out such position in the nation’s fight against insurgency. Afterall, the Armed Forces Act and other military conventions state that “once a General is always a General even when no longer in active service.” This goes to explain that Generals are, by experience and training, men of courage. They are hardy perennials; men who have distinguished themselves over the years in the field of battle.
They are military tacticians who devise the ways and means for defeating the enemy. Great Generals fear no foe, even those battle-ready and well-equipped. Suffice it to say that Nigeria is blessed to have a retird ‘General’ presiding over its affairs at such a time as this. The country is thus inexcuseable should it fail to profer solution to this lingering menace of insurgency.
Femi Aribisala of Premìum Times, writing on “ The National And The Government Interest” , September 11, 2018, said “ It is always necessary to remember that, before Buhari became president, he was a general. “As a matter of fact, our dear president has been, for the major part of his life, more general than president.
Therefore, if the popular Nigerian axiom would say that : “once a senator, always a senator;” it becomes even more appropriate to say: “once a General, always a General. President Buhari was, is, and always shall be, a General”, he concluded.
Let us not forget that the ex-army general was propelled to Nigeria’s top job five years ago with promises of fixing pervasive insecurity, his confidence was basically premised on his military background especially having attained the highest echelon of his career as a General.
When he ran for president the fourth time in 2015, he was sold as the experienced war commander who had the magic wand to make Boko Haram terrorists disappear. The All Progressives Congress (APC) and their supporters confidently said that he would end the terrorist attacks in the North -East in three months.
Given his military track record, only very few people could doubt his ability. On this premise, hundreds of thousands of Nigerians thronged the streets of Nigeria to celebrate Muhammadu Buhari’s historic win in the presidential election of 2015, hoping the country’s problems would end soon.
His words few days in office, “Boko Haram will soon know the strength of our collective will, we shall spare no effort until we defeat terrorism,” were signets of war lords, like his title indicated, who had gone, seen and conquered. His initial exhibitions on assumption of office, such as the relocation of the country’s military command from Abuja to Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram, highlighted him as a General with a sense of direction.
With some gains recorded by the military within a short period, such as the recovery of lost territories, there were high hopes of a timely end to the menace of insurgency. Unfortunately, the honeymoon seemed shortlived, as Boko Haram regrouped, carried out vicious attacks, over ran military bases and killing security operatives.
All these are in addition to herders-farmers clashes erupting across states, leading to the killing of hundreds and displacement of thousands. Till date, a replay of the words of a renowned writer, Nosa Igiebor, reveals that the statistics of innocent Nigerians who suffer violent death, horrible injuries, and mass dislocation and displacement daily are quite numbing.
Yet, the government’s impotence, incoherence and self-inflicted confusion in dealing with the scourge appear damning. This is in spite of an earlier move by the federal government to rev up the fight against Boko Haram terrorists in the North East, in which it procured 30 aircraft and six helicopters for the Nigeria Air Force (NAF).
We were also informed that the federal government has deployed drones to the nation’s borders in the north-east to combat the Boko Haram insurgency. Unfortunately, the Air Force says it could not open fire during the Boko Haram attack in Garkida, a town in Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State, for fear of killing innocent people.
The lawmaker representing Gombi constituency in Adamawa State House Of Assembly, Japhet Kefas, has said, “It is true people are fleeing Garkida because they are afraid government is weak and has failed to protect the lives and property of the people. Only five soldiers were stationed in the area used by the insurgents and they killed three of the soldiers.
Like the proverbial unprofitable barber, is it that the scissors is not sharp or the barber not proficient in his job? If with all the weapons of war at our disposal, we still lack the courage to advance in a battle led by a ‘General’, is it under the control of an idle civilian that we can strike?

Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi