By Ikeddy ISIGUZO
FROM a distance I admired Minister of Defence, General Christopher Gwabin Musa. He had the frame of one big enough to offer Nigerians protection from the attack of terrorists, even bandits.
He had a mien as if he was interested in defending us, warding off attacks and initiating some attacks on our enemies, whether they came in the form or image of terrorists, bandits or kidnappers.
Some hailed the choice of Gen Musa as the Minister of Defence on 4 December 2025 until that day he appeared in public wearing the notorious Bola Ahmed Tinubu cap.
Nobody has worn that cap and amounted to much. An illustrious example is Senate President Obong Godswill Obot Akpabio who wears the cap and can break into a laughter when the most serious issues are before the Senate.
Gen Musa would not be an exception. He is often taciturn. The times he speaks, his positions are airy enough that most of his supporters wished he had been quiet.
He looks stale, invents unhelpful ideas. He now appears more inclined to speak as if his role as Minister of Defence is to defend Tinubu and make excuses for the administration’s unwillingness to confront terrorists and bandits who keep killing Nigerians.
National Security Adviser Mallam Nuhu Ribadu once addressed terrorists and bandits as “our brothers”. Gen Musa could have his name for them too.
The Minister of Defence’s national television appearance to say the Federal Government had defeated terrorism sounds like a surrender to terrorism. Musa should be ashamed of this utterance.
“Frankly speaking we have (defeated terrorists) because now, like I said, the attacks are not as rampant and it is now kidnapping. Like I said, kidnapping is a social ill where you now see wives kidnapping husbands and husbands kidnapping children,” Musa said.
Is it kidnappers who attack military bases, ambush our troops, kill our soldiers in unprovoked battles?
Those who burn places of worship, abduct hundreds of our school pupils are kidnappers? Were parents found to be among those who abducted school children?
Are the killers in Plateau and Benue States who raze houses and farms, kidnappers? How many have they kidnappers?
Does Gen Musa’s role forbid him from defending us from kidnappers if they are the new terrorists?
“I can tell you there is improved security. Maybe if you noticed, you don’t hear so much of Boko Haram attacks, ISWAP attacks and all these things here and there, maybe one off.
“Now I say, the trajectory is this, from criminality to kidnapping to terrorism, insurgency; once you are able to hit them it goes back downwards and so we are now back into the stage of abductions and kidnappings because that is the easiest way for them,” Musa said.
Nigerians are not interested in whether we are fighting terrorists, bandits, armed robbers or bandits. Nigerians want their country to be safe. It is not propaganda and it is by a professional of Gen Musa’s stature on television to abolish insecurity when almost nothing is being done about it.
Musa’s excuse about the size of the Sambisa Forest as the reason for not extinguishing the terrorists living there was badgered by Nigerians on social media. They say projects could be sited there like a ranch.
In the typical Tinubu strategy of sharing blames, Musa blames State Governors for giving motorcycles as palliatives. Those powerful motorcycles empower terrorists, he said.
Terrorism has not been defeated. If there is any defeat, it is of Gen Musa who now speaks as if we are discussing terrorism in two different countries, all to tell us that Tinubu is doing well.
When Gen Musa speaks in the manner, he did, we should stop wondering why news of his resignation is often in the media – he is not useful to Nigerians – and may be helping Tinubu to treat terrorists as our brothers.
Finally…
.APC Yobe State Chairman Muhammed Gadaka apologised moments after he told APC women supporters to divorce their husbands if they refused to support APC in 2027. He told the rally at Nangere local government area of the State, “Tell your sister that if her husband does not agree and divorces her, I will pay her bride price and marry her”. Gadaka in a video recording apologised for the remark. He is the fourth APC chieftain in weeks to have threatened voters to support APC. In Abuja, an area council chairman told residents of the council, which he tagged APC territory, to relocate if they would not vote for APC.
Sainna Buba, Borno State Commissioner for Youth Development, at a City Boys event, promised to cut off fingers of those who do not vote for APC.
And in Osun, APC’s serving Senator Francis Fadahunsi was on video telling his supporters to kill members of the Accord Party. His excuse was that his speech in Yoruba was misinterpreted.
But why is APC so desperate? Why would APC be threatening voters? Is it not an admission that it has no achievements to speak for it.
.LOQUACIOUS Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike has admitted he was scared of the prospects of Tinubu losing the election, saying that the new president would come for him first. What has Wike done that frightens him? While Wike is panicky, he should de-flood the FCT. The situation is getting out of hand.
.PRIMATE Babatunde Elijah Ayodele has been advising, warning and agonising over the consequences of Tinubu allowing the FBI to make the details of the white heroin investigation that resulted in Tinubu forfeiting $460,000 to the US government, public. Tinubu’s legal team is pressing for protecting his interests, citing “privacy”. Exactly what did the prophet see?
.MINISTER of Education Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa has a habit of showcasing his helpless over issues under his watch. He has been lamenting NECO examination leakage including details of cost of leaked question papers which turned out to be genuine. In his lengthy story, Alausa never mentioned an arrest or an investigation over the incidents he recounted elaborately as if they could count among Tinubu’s education agenda.
.PETER Obi’s advice to the youth to take their lives more serious than football leagues should not be treated lightly. For many, among them, the not so young, football runs deep plus the betting that goes with it. Before them is a future that is present. The losses in matches and betting money are more bearable than politicians’ unfulfilled promises that have ruined Nigeria. A new Nigeria is needed.
.TINUBU has made his rejection at the polls easy for everyone. The president had said during the presidential campaign in December 2022, “If I do not provide steady electricity in my first four years, do not vote for me in the second term…”
We should thank the President for this clarity. Do you have 24-hour supply in your hood?
.IT is of little interest to me whether Mrs. Ekaette Unoma Akpabio visited the National Assembly with marabouts on a Saturday as alleged. More spurious is the explanation by Dr. Jibril Lawal Tafida, Special Adviser to the President of the Senate on Diaspora and Non-governmental Organisations, that Mrs Akpabio visited the National Assembly Complex to personally observe and assess malfunctioning equipment and facilities within the chamber.
Is she the contractor or the consultant to those who installed the equipment? The people with her, Tafida explained, were engineers and technicians – electrical, ICT, audio-visual and building maintenance experts brought in to assess the faults.
Would the visit explain why Obong Akpabio complains about faulty equipment in the chambers plus the House of Representatives, and cannot do anything about it? Is Mrs Akpabio the facility maintenence officer for the National Assembly Complex? Dr. Tafida should say something about that.
.OUR President is in week two of his vacation in Europe. No country mentioned. Just imagine he can be in any of the 44 countries in Europe or by some wave of the Jagaban magic, in all of them, possibly at the same time.
ISIGUZO is a major commentator on minor issues
