Holiday for soldiers

Nigeria will never have a dull moment with the Buhari Presidency. Just when you think you have had your last laugh, the Daura-born General comes up with another comic jab. Cast your mind to a king whose community is under imminent attack. Then he decides to send his hunters, who are the warriors of the community, on a hunting expedition. Or a woman on the last day of her Expected Day of Delivery, EDD, who decides to loan out her genitalia. This is what President Buhari has done with us. Our president declared yesterday, Monday, May 24, as “a public holiday” for the entire Armed Forces of Nigeria. He took the decision to honour the memories of his Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru. Attahiru died in a plane crash alongside 10 other officers and men, drawn from the Army and the Nigeria Air Force. Among the dead were three Brigadier Generals, two majors, two Flight Lieutenant, one Sergeant and one Air Craft Man. They all died on Friday, May 22. Buhari is their Commander-in-Chief. The officers and men were buried on Saturday, May 23. Buhari did not attend their funeral. He could not be bothered. But 72 hours later, we were told he put a call across to the wife of his dead COAS. Again, 96 hours later, that is four days later, the C-in-C ordered a national mourning for the fallen heroes. This is what the Yoruba call “iwoyi laaro ti arugbo nsukun omo”- a post-menopausal cry for a child!

That Buhari asked all the Armed Forces to go on holiday, exhibits further, the lack of coordination at the top echelon of governance. Boko Haram, bandits, killer herdsmen and rapacious kidnappers  advance and close in on us daily. Fate plays cruel jokes on us in Nigeria, daily. The other day we were grappling with the inverted logic of cows and spare parts of the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Abubakar Malami, SAN. Then, the tragic news of death of the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lt. General Ibrahim Attahiru and 10 other officers of the Nigerian Armed Forces, came in. Attahiru and his other fallen heroes were killed when the Beechcraft King Air 350i, aircraft they were travelling in crashed at the Kaduna Airport on Friday May 22. The news, no doubt, shattered the entire nation, with the exception of the leadership of the country, of course, who paid little or no attention to the calamity as they continued with their normal activities as if nothing happened. And in the real sense of it, given the way those who ruled over us carry on in spite of our daily agonies and cries, the death of  the 11 officers and gentlemen couldn’t have meant much to the rulers of our common fate. That itself is understandable. Our leaders are used to the daily sanguinary occasioned by the activities of bloodsucking herders, psychopathic bandits, demonic kidnappers and impulsive murderers. They  cannot lose sleep because 11 officers of the military perished in one fell swoop. It doesn’t even matter if the dead were led to the eternal journey by the number one soldier man, the Chief of Army Staff, himself. Officers and men of the military and other armed agencies, become dispensable elements, the very day they signed the dotted lines of the Commission papers. The day they took the oath to serve in the Armed Forces is the very day they are commissioned to death. That is one of the sad realities of a military man or woman. They literally, while protecting the territorial integrity of the nation, swallow fire on our behalf so that we, “bloody civilians” that we are, can drink water. This is why, even when rockets are being fired at them, soldiers keep advancing in the war fronts, moving towards the strongholds of their enemies. We have lost countless of them in recent times. Nigeria may not be fighting the conventional war in the real sense of it. What the nation is witnessing and what our gallant officers and men are experiencing in the hands of the insurgent groups that have invaded our nation in the last 10 years, is worse than a conventional war. The last six years have been traumatic for those men in khaki uniforms and their families, immediate and extended alike. This is why, as a nation, whenever any of them falls on the battlefield, we owe him honour and respect. But when we have a leadership that is almost nonexistent, asking for last respect for our fallen heroes becomes a tall order.

But the fallen heroes of last Friday, 11 of them, did not die as a result of the bullets fired at them by any external enemy. General Attahiru, who led the pack of the officers commissioned to death in that ill-fated military aircraft, died, alongside those other gallant men, because Nigeria is a pathologically careless country. Our leaders are innately careless; just as the followers are lethargic laggards. What do I  mean? Attahiru and 10 others died in a Beechcraft King Air 350i aircraft owned by the Nigeria Air Force (NAF). According to information available, NAF, as at February 20, 2021, had four of such aircraft manufactured for it by Textron Aviation, USA. Of the  four twin-propeller aircraft, one crashed on Feb 21, 2021 outside Abuja Airport, on its way to Minna, Niger State. The pilot had reported an engine failure and was attempting an Air Return to the Abuja take off point when the plane crashed. All the seven passengers on board died. NAF spokesman, Ibikunle Daramole, while announcing the crash said, “The Chief of the Air Force has ordered an investigation into the accident”. That was in April. 91 days later, another one from the fleet of  Beechcraft King Air 350i crashed again. Sadly too, all the 11 passengers died. The questions you should ask: what has been the outcome of the  probe called by the head of the Air Force?  What has been done to check if the remaining three aircraft are airworthy? Has there been a comprehensive check of the fleet in recent times? Who is responsible for the maintenance of the fleet? Why I am not saying categorically that the last Friday crash occurred because of  lack of maintenance, it is commonsensical that if one aircraft fell, out of four, the authorities concerned  should be bothered about the state of health of the remaining fleet. And if the NAF can beat its chest and declare that the fleet of its Beechcraft aircraft are healthy enough, then, one may be forced to ask: why are the NAF aircraft falling like rotten pawpaws? This question becomes very germane when one considers the fact that on March, 31, 2021, an Air Force Alpha Jet fighter aircraft, NAF 475, was declared  missing, neither the carcass, nor the corpses of the two passengers on board the jet have been found!  Like a careless nation that we are, nobody is talking about the missing fighter jet. The nation and her insensitive leaders have since moved on to other enterprises. The loss of lives of the two officers who piloted the alpha jet means nothing to them. That is how wicked and insensitive the Nigerian leadership has become in recent times.

But nothing showcases this insensitive attitude more than the way General Buhari and his Presidency treated the death of Lt. General Attahiru and 10 others. Within hours, the military authorities had announced the funeral rites for the men at the National Military Cemetery, Abuja. The ceremony was slated for Saturday, May, 22. To the embarrassment of all President Buhari, the President and Commander -in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, did not attend. His deputy, the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, was nowhere near the cemetery. As asked by one lost soul on the social media: “will Buhari’s presence bring them back to life”? I answer by saying “No”! However, the president’s presence at such a ceremony would have been reassuring for the remaining serving officers who are not dead yet. His presence would have confirmed that his presidency is not all totally lost to any human feeling. If General Buhari had attended the burial of his gallant officers, he would have reaffirmed the spirits and the letters of  The Nigerian Pledge. Such an act would have made an average Nigerian “to be faithful, loyal and honest”. His attendance would have made us have faith and recite with  confidence that we will “serve Nigeria with all my (our) strength”. Such would have propelled us to vow to “defend her (Nigeria’) unity”. We would have been well encouraged  to “uphold her (Nigeria’s) honour and glory”. His absence has robbed us of the reassurances. Telling us that he was shocked and pained by the sudden deaths of the officers, but failing to attend their funeral has made  nonsense of the efforts of Professor Felicia Adebola Adedoyin, who authored Nigeria’s National Pledge. Thank God that the beautiful soul of the professor of education transited to eternal glory on May 1, 2021, without her seeing May 22, 2021. That was the day the leadership of the country killed the spirits of the National Pledge.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents

In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state.

Selfies, video calls and Chinese documentaries: The things you’ll meet onboard Lagos-Ibadan train

The Lagos-Ibadan railway was inaugurated recently for a full paid operation by the Nigerian Railway Corporation after about a year of free test-run. Our reporter joined the train to and fro Lagos from Ibadan and tells his experience in this report…