Adelani Adepegba, Abuja
A Washington-based group,
International Strategic Studies Association, has stated that the death
of a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, and that
of a former Chief of Administration of the Nigerian Army, Maj.-Gen.
Idris Alkali, was not a mere coincidence.
Alkali was allegedly
killed by a gang of protesting youths along Jos-Bauchi Road on September
3, while Badeh was gunned down along the Abuja-Keffi Road by suspected
assassins on December 18.
ISSA, a non-governmental organisation
with a worldwide membership of professionals involved in national and
international security and strategic policy, stated in a special report
on Friday that the two men were killed to hide what it described as the
pattern of corruption in the current military leadership in the country.
Specifically,
the report obtained by our correspondent on Sunday, alleged that Badeh
was murdered to prevent him from divulging in court details of
corruption which it said had grown even more rampant in the current
defence leadership.
The report noted that the President was
unwilling to publicise the findings of the arms panel which was
presented to him over a year ago.
It added, “The commission
investigating defence procurement from 2007 onwards made significant
strides which were initially accepted by the Buhari government, until
the scope of the inquiry went beyond the period relating to the former
government of President Goodluck Jonathan and began to show corruption
patterns extending into officers still serving under President Buhari.”
It
said the pending 2019 elections of a new government may prove the
undoing of a significant number of generals, admirals, and air marshals
“who lost the war because they concentrated solely on using the conflict
as a way to boost defence budgets, which they then, to an overwhelming
extent, stole.”
The report stated, “The level of panic among the
senior leadership has now reached the point where senior government,
military, and national security staff have been attempting to suppress —
through assassination and intimidation — the members of the official
commission of enquiry established by President Buhari when he first
took office, to investigate defence procurement corruption.
“Given
the upsurge in momentum by ‘the highest levels of government’ to stop
the findings becoming public from the Corruption Commission on Defence
Procurement, it is plausible that the attribution of a criminal
‘kidnapping-attempt-gone-wrong’ against the Air Chief Marshal was a
convenient excuse to ensure that the victim — Badeh — could not divulge
in court the pattern and details of corruption which has grown even more
rampant in the current generation of defence leadership.”
It
blamed the massive corruption among top military chiefs appointed by
President Muhammadu Buhari as the reason Nigeria was losing the war
against Boko Haram.
The group submitted that the Federal
Government had completely and comprehensively lost control of the
engagement with Boko Haram and could show no instance when the
government had tactical, theatre, strategic, or information dominance of
any aspect of the conflict.
According to the report, the
insurgent groups were growing stronger and the government forces growing
weaker and more beset by morale collapse.
It said, “It is fair
to say that the Nigerian intelligence community itself is no longer sure
what groups even comprise ‘Boko Haram’, nor has it addressed the
international logistical, ideological, and support aspects contributing
to the ongoing viability of the groups.”
The report further
stated that the leadership of the military, rather than concentrating on
how to defeat the insurgents, were preoccupied with how to stop the
leakage of information about the massive corruption that had taken place
on the pretext of fighting Boko Haram.
It added, “The conflict
will almost certainly prove the undoing of the present government of
President Muhammadu Buhari at the February 16, 2019, presidential
election.
“Despite this, the only significant engagement which
the Nigerian military leadership – up to and including the National
Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen.(retd.) Mohammed Babagana Monguno – seems to
prioritise is the fight to stop the leakage of information about massive
corruption, running into the equivalent of several billions of dollars,
in the purchase by senior military officers of major military capital
goods and military consumables, including the troops’ own food.”
“The
conduct of the war in the North is tied to the corruption in the
military, and Buhari — ring-fenced by his own team — is unable to tackle
the issue.
“His poor health does not help, but he had always, even as a military president, been indecisive and vindictive.”
Source:- Punchng
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