By Richard Maduku
Majority of soldiers who retired from the Nigerian Army over thirty years ago are very unhappy these days. Their unhappiness has nothing to do with their modest monthly pension which, though regular nowadays, can no longer pay half their bills due to hyper inflation. It also has nothing to do with their numerous aging and health challenges.
In fact, what is making them so sad to the extent that some do shed tears occasionally, has nothing to do with the plethora of problems besetting them as individuals. Rather, it is all due to what has been happening to the Nigerian Army for more than one and half decades now. To them, their beloved Army has suffered one humiliation too many at the hands of sundry criminal elements for too long now.
For instance, these retired elderly soldiers are always unhappy whenever they see automatic rifle-carrying Fulani herdsmen leading their cattle on our highways or streets unchallenged.
By law, automatic rifles are to be carried by soldiers and personnel of recognised uniformed bodies only. The law banning civilians from carrying automatic rifles was never broken with such impunity as Fulani terrorists masquerading as herdsmen have been doing these days. It means the Police and the Army have failed woefully in enforcing the law and it makes many retired old soldiers weep in their hearts.
Ironically, this disregard for laws by the Fulani terrorists became rampant and more pronounced when Muhammadu Buhari (now late) an Army Major General and a Fulani himself became a democratically elected president in 2015.
There is hardly any old soldier who did not shed tears frequently during his infamous eight years in power. This is because, as commander-in-chief, he made their colleagues in service to look the other way while Fulani terrorists took over one farmers’ settlement after the other in the Middle Belt and some other places.
This was usually after murdering the men, raping the women and torching their thatched houses during raids that were often carried out in the wee hours of the night with, according to reports, soldiers’ outposts and in some cases, even barracks a stone throw away!
It was also during president Buhari’s watch that these Fulani terrorists took over almost every forest in the country. From their forest hideouts, they have been going out almost every day to rob travellers on the highways or to kidnap them for ransom till today.
It got so bad that a retired General, T.Y Danjuma who has once been the chief of staff of the Nigerian Army was forced to cry out at a public function that the Army was colluding with the terrorists!
General Olusegu Obasanjo who needs no introduction here also cried out at an occasion during this same Buhari’s presidency that Nigeria was now not only being fulaniized (ie colonised by Fulani) but also about to be made the homeland of Fulani from all over the world!
Some Fulani eggheads even bragged openly at that time that Nigeria is their God-given land which the British interrupted them from fully conquering and that they were now going to complete the conquest! Believe it or not, it is this primitive agenda that Buhari strove to actualise with the aid of his supine and unpatriotic Army chiefs during his tenure!
The excesses of the Fulani terrorists did not stop when Bola Tinubu succeeded Buhari as president in 2023. Tinubu actually openly told Buhari that he was going to continue with his programmes i.e. the implementation of the Fulani agenda by all means.
And true to his promises to Buhari, the Fulani menace has not reduced for the past two and half years Tinubu has been president. Like Buhari whom Boko Haram once nominated to be their spokesman when president Goodluck Jonathan tried to dialogue with them, Tinubu also courts powerful gang leaders for reasons best known to him.
For instance, a few days after being sworn in as president, a militant leader who threatened that blood will flow if candidate Tinubu did not win the court case that another presidential candidate instituted against his victory, the same militant leader did something that made many old soldiers sob. As if President Tinubu has no security details and no ADC from the Army, the militant leader in question, visited Aso Rock openly carrying his automatic rifle!
What is making the majority of old retirees to sometimes shed litres of tears is the humiliations the Nigerian Army has suffered at the hands of the Boko Haram insurgents and other criminal groups in the North. They believe that if it was during their days, the Boko Haram insurgency would have been crushed within a few weeks. They also believe it has to do with politics.
These old soldiers who have participated in different operations including the civil war, can hardly believe that the formidable Army they left behind has degenerated so much to the extent that soldiers’ outposts and even their standard barracks (not requisitioned premises!) in Borno state are randomly overrun with ease by the Boko Haram fanatics.
In the 1970s – 80s when they were still in service, Army barracks were safe havens where the civil populace always flocked into. This was when bloody mob riots that were then common occurrences in most parts of the North erupted. To these old retirees from the Nigerian Army, the sacking of Army barracks by a bunch of ragtag jihadists is like lions fleeing their lair due to an attack by a pack of jackals!
Also, in their days, the loss of one soldier or any security personnel at the hands of criminals was not taken lightly. Like the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) always do, excessive force was also usually deployed by the Nigerian Army to avenge such death. Such a force was actually deployed twice in the early days of this Fourth Republic in Odi and Zaki Biam in Bayelsa and Benue states respectively.
Though a lot of criticism often trail the use of unproportional force especially from human rights groups, on the long run, it is usually the best deterrent to murderous elements like the Fulani terrorists, the Islamic State in West African Province (ISWAP) the Lukarawa and a host of local criminal groups that have mushroomed in the North due to the unserious manner the fight against the Boko Haram terrorists has been conducted from the outset.
It is this unseriousness that the Americans noticed that made Nigeria to be designated a Country of Particular Concern and for President Trump to threaten invasion if the Nigerian leadership did nothing to end the killings quickly.
The Presiency and some Muslim leaders grumbled loudly about the designation of the killings as genocide against Christians but little changed on the ground. The monkeying with insecurity continued. Then on Christians day (25/12/2025) the Americans struck targets in Sokoto state!
This development exposed our claim to sovereignty as mere posturing. Also, it made our pretension to be a regional power laughable. It is the height of the humiliation of the Nigerian Army especially the commanders in chief and their service chiefs since 2015 who made the Army to become so toothless. They are to be blamed for our humiliation by the Americans.
Our retired old soldiers are in tears of joy because they hope the intervention by the US will jolt the leadership of the Nigerian Army to return to professionalism. For that’s the only way to restore the Army’s glory and the nation’s pride!
Richard Maduku, a retired Nigerian Army (Infantry) Captain and novelist lives in Effurun-Otor , Delta State.
