Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (retired), The former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, spoke with Northern Bureau Chief, MUHAMMAD SABIU on the security challenges facing the country and why the country’s leadership must hasten to restructure. Excerpts
You spoke vividly on the security challenges of Nigeria and the need for integration. Can you elaborate?
For the purpose of this discussion and for clarity I will divide the security challenges into two. There is the domestic insecurity issue and also the international side of it which is promoting our problems. First, insurgency. I’m starting with insurgency because I became dumbfounded that in a gathering where those who are supposed to be managers of the security [architecture] could not answer the questions I raised that: when did Boko Haram start? How old is Boko Haram in Nigeria? Who started it? Where are they getting their reinforcements and supplies from? Whose interest is it to attack the North-East and from there inching into the hinterland proper? Whose idea is it? Does it cost more to manage a conventional military or does it cost much to manage insurgency? These questions should be on the fingertips of citizenry talk less of those who are entrusted with the nation’s security. You will be shocked to hear the managers of our securities saying ‘Boko Haram was seven years old’, ‘Boko Haram was 11 years old’ and all kinds of variations. This is extremely disturbing. A body set up to attack and they are killing souls in hundreds and thousands by the day, by the week and [has become routine occurrences] to an extent that we have lost data on when they came and where they are heading to. To me, this is disturbing and any person or persons, no matter how influential, no matter who they are, once you identify negligence in the art of managing your security, then you should understand that they are either accomplices or you should get rid of them no matter who they are. If you are no longer valuable in promoting peace, security and unity in the land, you cannot be entrusted with responsibility. On insurgency, there are so much questions that must be asked. If you check further, insurgency is a connivance of some external enemies and domestic enemies of Nigeria. Boko-Haram from my in-depth research is exactly 20 years and three days in Nigeria, from conception to their launching and to the interest of their roles in this country. Equally, there is nobody among those managing the security [architecture] that can give you the exact figures of casualties, that is victims of insurgency in Nigeria. No agency will give you the exact figure. This is very disturbing. It means killing a human being in the country is as easier as it gets.
Why do you think insurgency is taking so long to surpress?
There is corruption in every affair that has to do wth the governance of Nigeria. There are also failed institutions. The institutions that are supposed to be keeping Nigeria together have been attacked for a long time and they are virtually not there. Another area where corruption is being perpetrated is the annual budget. It is an area used to perpetuate the insurgency. It is done in such a way the common people don’t know. Those in leadership will make the budget look like real. You will be denied information on some of the things in it. If you insist to know, you will become an enemy and should be ready for an attack.
Most citizens don’t know that it is their right to demand for answers on how budgets are executed. As for those in leadership, it does not matter to them how and what the common man feel.
But one important information that all Nigerians, those involved in governance, and the led, is that any country that is known to be rich in natural and human resources, that country should sit back and assess itself. It should ask questions like who would be after the resources the almighty has given it and then begin to prepare a strong defence, a shield to protect itself because that country would be attacked. It is natural. This is one of the reasons why the insurgency has persisted in the North-East. It is because of the solid minerals in the North-East. All African countries that God has endowed with mineral resources should be prepared because they will be denied the use of what God has given them. What you have will be taken away from you by any means to supply other parts of the world.
Who are the enemies of Nigeria and how do they operate?
They are enemies from within and enemies from outside the country. The enemies inside are those in high places who use the [country’s annual] budgets, make nonsense of it and, enrich themselves. And as the year passes, the citizenry will look in retrospect and realize that there is hardly nothing they can point at about yesteryear’s budgets. But as I said most citizens do not know that it is their right to ask questions about the budget. .
Leaders should always have these two fears in them: first is that of the citizens asking questions and second, the fear of the citizens acting illegally.
Having said all this, let us look at the enemies from outside Nigeria. Enemies who are interested in taking the resources of Nigeria, what do they do and what are the methods they use in attacking Nigeria? In most cases, they employ different covers. First, they use espionage. Once they get to know your secrets, they make use of them. They would send your citizens to go and acquire your secrets and pass it on to them. Today, things have even been simplified with electronics/ technology covering or enveloping the greater part of the world.
Second is sabotage. They sabotage whatever you plan for your people and at the end of the day, after the sabotage, they will also engineer your own people to abuse your leadership. There is also the use of subversion. They will employ all kinds of means available, such as propaganda and names calling. Today, electronic media is helping quite a lot of enemies of Nigeria in calling patriots of the country names. Patriots who truly love this country and are ready to give their very best are attacked. So, they withdraw to their shells, particularly in a country like ours, where crises persist, we withdraw and then everybody is left to himself. That has allowed subversion to continue in Nigeria.
They also promote arms smuggling. They initiate it and send it to your country and they give it to those who are to use them. They don’t send arms only, they sell drugs alongside and they advertise it through channels that would shock you. With all sense of humility to our clergymen here, within churches and mosques, there are agents used in movement of arms and drugs. It is left for us to open our eyes and identify those who come under the cover of religion and get their businesses going on in the retarding Nigeria.
You have been quoted to have said oil too is part of our security challenge. How is this?
There is what is called international dirty oil politics. You have oil; you classify yourself as one of the richest, but on the other hand, the irony is that you are one of the poorest. Yes you have the oil, but in which sense are you using it? And the little I can say here is that neither the Ministry of Petroleum nor the executive arm put together can give you the accurate activities of the Nigeria’s oil industry. Nobody knows how much they take in the morning, afternoon and night.
Nobody can give you the full information on the bunkering activities on a daily basis. Nobody can give you the accurate figures of the international market. Meaning, yes Nigeria has the oil but whose interest is it serving? The citizens should ask questions. Stolen money finding its way to foreign banks and leaving us dry, with people getting poorer every day. Our solid minerals resources is one of reasons we have Boko Haram in Nigeria. Time has come to continue to look at issues and face them heads on.
How do our enemies use our people to destroy the country?
How do foreign enemies recruit people to destroy Nigeria? What are the qualities they look for? It is for their own interest and not that of Nigeria. How I wish the academia, the young ones, all activists across Nigeria, women, men and freethinkers all across the country will begin to reflect on what I’m am going to say. Anyone that is taking anti-people policies or reacting against the wishes of the people you better evaluate them [such people could be working for some external interest]. How do these outsiders recruit people? First, these outsiders look for cowards, people who will take instructions, such that when they are given money, and are asked to go forth and look for power, they will go. And if things turn around, they, the cowards, won’t have the guts to reveal the secrets of those who recruited them.
Secondly, these outsiders look for liars: people who will tell lies against their countrymen and women. Thirdly, they look for thieves: people with the tendencies and capacity to attack treasuries immediately they are in power.
Fourthly, they search for people with attitude of tyranny, who can destroy, attack and who care less about welfare of their citizenry and who don’t have the vision to see ahead and plan and do good for their people.
The final quality they look for is ‘fools’, people who neither know themselves and their environments and why they are asked to go into politics and seek power. When you have all these qualities or some of them, then they will find you fit to be recruited. and as you go forward, they give you all you required to get you into elective positions to help them destroy your country.
They tell you what to do and when it should be done. Your resources are ferreted out of the country and your people will have nothing to fall back on. Excuses will be given; budgets have nothing to show and people’s hope and trust in leadership become hopeless. I hope this will serve as guide for us to know there are lots of threats in our environment and they are real. These foreign threats affect our military and polices in many ways. I will give one or two examples. For any country that decides to discuss modalities of oppression before unprotected ones and does not know the modalities of keeping its people together, there are fundamental questions we have to ask to know if certain things are truly wrong for us. You as citizens too should ask question and demand for answer.
First of all, any country that allows the military into internal security problems much longer than necessary and you mix-up the police and military to contain your internal security problems, you are ruining your country. This means, during the time of peace enforcement, your police will begin to behave like military; your military will begin to behave like police.
So, you have succeed in demilitarizing the military and succeeded in militarizing your police. The last EndSARS riot is exactly a reaction to what I have just said. And today, yes we have police, but by re-examining their primary responsibilities and secondary responsibilities, as they relate to today’s challenges and threats, definitely you will know that everything requires a lot of adjustment. There is a lot of restructuring to do. Many things are truly wrong.
Let me give a tiny little example. What is a roadblock? When do you have roadblocks or when are roadblocks allowed? Who determines where roadblocks should be mounted? What is the use of roadblocks? Today, roadblocks are part and parcel of our lives and it’s most unfortunate, degrading and disturbing. With all the intellects we have and who should know the profession better, they should have known that roadblocks are injurious to any country that wishes to aspire. At what time should we put up roadblocks and what are the ingredients of citing roadblocks? As I talk, so many people right now will feel threatened.
Roadblock history is from early 70s to date at any time when there was coup, and served as early warning system. When there is any of this, roadblocks will give you early warning whenever they want to catch members of government from running away. You will require roadblocks to give notice and when there are people countering measures or whatever you have done, roadblocks are visibly the first pointer and the first warning system. But after normalcy returns, roadblocks seize to be. Today, a police inspector can determine where roadblocks will be and at the end of the day, that roadblock has a different meaning entirely.
Corruption has permeated the country. Then you wonder why no person or institution can tell you the number of ammunitions in wrong hands or why the insurgents move freely and even kidnappers and bandits determine when to move or why and how this same imaginary roadblocks did not prevent the bandits and kidnappers from carrying out their dastardly acts? Professionally, something is defective if a roadblock cannot give early warning system about banditry activities in a particular area. Many weapons have been seized for many years, where are they? Who is using them? Where have they been taken to? Is it wise to just keep them and continue to watch them? I don’t know the answers to these questions, but as a Nigerian, these are the questions you should be asking.
You have also talked a lot about power supply; Can you shed more light on it?
Nigeria has all it takes to generate stable power supply and supply many African countries. Out of patriotism, studies were undertaken by some of us which include trekking into many parts of this country to see what we have like coal, gas, hydro and a lot of streams and rivers. These are four ingredients that are required to generate power and they are in abundance in Nigeria. But with all these, why are we not having stable power and who does it benefit that we don’t have a stable power? Should Nigeria have a stable electricity, it will become one of the strongest industrial bases for the world. Therefore, a stable power in Nigeria is a threat to these enemies.
It doesn’t matter who I hurt when I say the DisCos and GenCos, that are owned by some certain people, how much power do they generate today? How much do they distribute? You are left with whatever they tell you. But take it from me, God Almighty will work it out.
You also said we should not allow politicians to be at the forefront of restructuring…
Restructuring this country is a major challenge and we are playing with it. People in the North and people in the South are playing with restructuring. If we have to talk about issues that have to do with future of this country, we should be talking with knowledge. There are many people who will talk about restructuring but in the real sense, they mean a different thing. Restructuring is one of the most fundamental giant strides we should gear up for. Yes, on restructuring, I stand by it, but the question is how; when; by whom and for whom?
The Europeans and Americans with different ethnic groups and beliefs kept aside their differences to restructure. They had a vision to pursue. They laid a foundation and restructure their country. But in our own case we are joking with restructuring.
These countries that succeeded in restructuring looked at one another with mutual respect, patriotism, love for the country, love for humans , love for citizenry, care and protection of their country. One may ask, all those calling for restructuring, what type of restructuring do they want in Nigeria? Ask them, what type of Nigeria do they want to see?
Let them tell us first. Then we look for the brightest and set modalities for restructuring the country by ensuring everyone is carried along. Meaning that it must be all-inclusive and not the type of restructuring where there is no mutual respect or love or patriotism but agitations for separation, name-calling and so such dirty things.
After all, all the countries that succeeded in restructuring as I mentioned earlier said and I quote: “leaving responsibilities or restructuring your country in the hands of political elite alone is the most dangerous thing you can do to the country because their differences will break your country.”
Propaganda is an ingredient used to force you into restructuring without the necessary things that required us to do it and be successful for the common good. So, I subscribed to the view that politicians should not be the ones spearheading our restructuring.
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