Armed Forces Commission: What does Abaribe want again ? By Idoko Ainoko

By Idoko Ainoko

Every system and in all political dispensations, there are enough spoilers and destroyers.  The professional sabs stop at nothing to rock the boat even where the circumstances resist. There are people who hate progress and invent all antics to ensure progress is interrupted.  Their only joy is when they cause confusion.

Nigeria has a fair share of such people. And unfortunately, they are also found in the corridors of power and they use such positions to pursue personalized agenda at the detriment of the nation. Nigeria’s most urgent challenge now is the insecurity.

But it is glaring that there is no meaning approach or suggestions to assist the President and Heads of Security agencies overcome the challenge of insecurity.  Most Nigerians are out to weaken the attempts by the President to surmount our security challenges.

And the National Assembly has many of such Nigerians who are opposed to President Buhari’s stringent actions on security. I can argue conveniently and boldly with Nigeria’s best of political Socrates that since 1999 the National Assembly (NASS) has been Nigeria’s greatest incumbrance on the country’s progressive match to peace and prosperity.

NASS has consistently affirmed itself as the static and haunting nightmare of the country’s match to a stable or vibrant democracy, good governance and progressive development. Every evil plan against Nigeria is hatched through NASS.  which they usually back with pristine laws.

The   negative shadows of NASS are too overflowing and have overshadowed any modicum of respect or honour it has ever earned on credibility as an important institution of government in a democracy. I am not hesitant to say, NASS has marketed itself as an institution which also deserves an independent body to monitor it’s sinister and destructive activities in the nation.

The National Assembly is currently deliberating on a law Christened “Nigerian Armed Forces Commission Bill 2019.” The Bill is sponsored by Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe from Abia state. The law seeks to dissolve all the powers constitutionally vested in the President in hiring and firing his Service Chiefs. The powers which presently resides with the President is transferred to the Commission whose composition comprise politicians and National Assembly members.

It is difficult to understand the direction or intention of the proposed Bill. It is hogwash in every sense.  It is the most senseless Bill ever contemplated in Nigeria or known to any country in the world. Outside its obvious aberration, I see it as a duplication hence existing laws already empowers the Senate to confirm Service Chiefs nominated by the President. So, what does the Senators want to do to Nigeria with that Bill?

What the Sen. Ahmed Lawan-led Senate is attempting to do by the Armed Forces Commission is to politicize  and weaken the management of national security. It is a masked attempt to polarized the Nigerian military and make it susceptible to the mercy of politicians to recklessly manipulate. This is how we consciously embark on actions that are capable of destroying our country.  The Senators themselves know that such a Bill is irrational and destructive to the security architecture of the nation.

But a lot of Nigerians are comfortably silent, because the darts are directed at  a President they hate. But they have forgotten that President Muhammadu Buhari will not remain Nigeria’s President forever. Every Nigerian knows the Armed Forces Commission Bill will spell doom for the country if allowed to scale through the legislature.

The contents of the Bill overtly endanger the future of Nigeria because it is a sure way of polarizing the Nigerian Armed forces which will begin to function by the dictates of political parties and politicians. This is not permissible anywhere. We cannot leave sensitive decisions on national security in the hands of multitudes as the Senate is contemplating.

I am convinced that this is not justifiable. It surprises me that members of the Senate are hypnotized and hoodwinked by Sen. Abaribe into believing such a destructive and worthless Bill is worth their attention and energy to the point of debating. It is not possible for one nation to have two Commanders-In-Chief. The Bill seeks to create two Commanders-In-Chief for Nigeria.  Where else is this aberration obtained?

Abaribe is a diehard apostate and  an unrepentant agent of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra  (IPOB). He is the Senator who took the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu on bail when every one else declined.  He failed to produce Kanu in court on the appointed day, which betrays his total allegiance to IPOB. It is clear to me that Sen. Abaribe is the veiled official force of IPOB in government and the Senate. And therefore, he is using his privileged position to nourish IPOB’s agenda as evidenced by his contemplation of this absolutely useless Bill.

And we all know that the main agenda and determination of IPOB is to lead a war against the country. It has not given up on this ambition.  And its agents like Sen. Abaribe are working in diverse ways to create fertile and unchallengeable grounds for the IPOB war on Nigeria.  No one is in doubt as to where they are deriving their inspiration.

And the nonsensical Armed Forces Bill sponsored by Abaribe is cleverly crafted to weaken the power of the Nigerian Military in the event IPOB declares war on the country. It is honed to sow the seed of disloyalty to Mr. President among the Armed Forces when IPOB steps out again against Nigeria.

So, we  are not going to allow Sen. Lawan  and his cahoots to rubbish the Nigerian Armed Forces.  If Sen. Lawan is blind to Abaribe’s prosecution of IPOB’s agenda, Nigerians are not blind to it. The Bill is a façade by Sen. Abaribe to feather the nest of IPOB.  It is Sen. Abaribe’s  drive for IPOB’s agenda to destabilize Nigeria. But we don’t think, it is correct for him to use the Senate as platform in promoting and emboldening the ferocious and criminal activities of IPOB.


Ainoko  is a public affairs commentator based in Kaduna.