Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) also accused the President of using undue force on the Jamā'a Ahl al-sunnah li-da'wa wa al-jihād or Boko Haram saying “In Bama and Baga towns, military personnel were reported to have been engaged in extortion and sometimes raping of women. And because a soldier was killed in Baga the whole town was sacked by military. This is not the best way military should have acted when they were sent to restore law and order in a town. How can a responsible government allow its people to be killed in this way”.
Let me say that I appreciate Buhari's concern for the victims of the Boko Haram attacks on Bama and Baga. However, Buhari should be reminded that the President ordered an investigation into the incidence at Bama. The investigations are being carried out by qualified persons and Buhari ought to wait for the results of those investigations before apportioning blame. Members of the Nigerian armed forces are sacrificially laying their lives down to protect Nigerians and they deserve more loyalty from us all, particularly from one who was once their Commander-in-Chief.
But going back to history, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) is reminded that this is not the first time that terrorists have unleashed mayhem on Nigerians.
Buhari is reminded that in February and March of 1984, the Maitatsine sect unleashed violence in Yola under the leadership of Musa Makaniki. A conservative estimate is that 1000 people died duringthose riots and half of the residence of Yola in present day Adamawa state were rendered homeless. The military was unleashed on the sect by the military administration of Major General Muhammadu Buhari. Similar charges as the ones made today by Buhari were made against the soldiers sent by his government to quell the Maitatsine riots of 1984. They were accused of undueforce, destruction of property, raping women and killing civilians. Many human rights groups and activists including J. Peter Pham, the Director of the Michael Ansari Center at the prestigious Atlantic Council whom I have personally met and who is alivetoday have documented what took place during thoseriots. In putting down the Maitatsine insurgency, the military incurred collateral damages. Yet Nigerians understood with Buhari. Did anyone call for his resignation as military Head of State because of the incidence?
Also, it is a historical fact that Maitatsine riots again flared up more than a year after this in April of 1985,while Buhari was still Head of State, this time in Gombe in present day Gombe state. Hundreds of people were killed and the military again was called in. There were collateral damage and Musa Makaniki,the arrowhead of Maitatsine escaped to the Cameroon and was not caught until 2004 when Obasanjo had ascended to power. To the best of my knowledge, nobody called on Buhari to resign even though he could not apprehend the leader of the sect.
Is it too much to ask that Buhari show the same levelof understanding that Nigerians showed to him in 1984-1985 to the President?
Some issues should be beyond politics. Anytime an elder statesman calls into question the abilities of ourarmed forces it goes a long way to weakening their morale and resolve which is precisely what should not be weakened when we face an insurgency such as the present one.
Finally, I would like to advise Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) not to see security as just ajob for the government. It is a job for everybody. In other nations when terrorists strike politicians close ranks and unite against the terrorists. Our case in Nigeria should not be different. And indeed, I have cause to thank Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members of the House of Representatives from Major General Muhammadu Buhari's (rtd) party the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) who saw wisdom in the President's Declaration of a State of Emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states and voted in support of the declaration yesterday. This is precisely the type of multi partisan collaboration that will see Nigeria achieve her developmental goals.
Regards,
Reno,[quote][/quote]