The Helicopters That Evacuated CDS Badeh’s Family From Mubi: A Lesson For All Nigerians

Mubi, the biggest commercial town in Adamawa state, was thrown into chaos the day Boko Haram descended on it and the people found themselves running for their lives. The terrorists shot sporadically, killing a lot of people while those who could escape jumped into any available car to run to safety. Christians, Muslims, Igbos, Yorubas, Tivs, Hausas and any tribe or religion, jumped onto any vehicle that was headed outside the town. Soldiers scampered onto trucks with civilians, begging to be saved, hundreds of people who could not get a vehicle ran into the hills. In their frantic effort to stay alive, no one paid attention to anybody’s religion or ethnicity before asking them for help or helping them to stay alive. It was a community of people, united by their desire to escape the common enemy that hunted them all without discrimination. Ethnicity and religion vanished, all they were left with was their humanity. Those climbing the hills stayed together, helping one another stay on their feet as they all tried to survive.

The most interesting part of the narrative is that the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Badeh is from the same town of Mubi. It has been reported that few hours before the attack, helicopters flew in and evacuated his family members from the town. The chief of Defence staff by the way, is the most senior military officer in Nigeria and he controls the army, navy and air force. Before that sad day, someone from Mubi would have boasted that the Chief of Defence Staff is from their home town. But on the day that it mattered the most, he evacuated only his family members and abandoned everyone else to their fate. It means he had information of the impending attack and as the most senior military commander, he did not fly into the town to lead his men in battle to defend the community. He quietly saved only his family and left even the soldiers without an inspiring commander to motivate them to engage the terrorists and defend the town.

One lesson all Nigerians must learn from this story is that as a people, all we have is our neighbours. When you need some help at home, you knock on the door of your neighbour. The president, governor, senator or minister is not there to help you. Why then should you continue to fight your neighbour because of a man or woman who cares only about his own family? Our elites may deceive us about sharing the same religion or ethnicity with us, but time and again, they have proven that they do not care. We have been fools, killing one another on the basis of religion and ethnicity while they stay united across all the divides and plunder our wealth. The time has come for us to rise, educate one another and unite to fight our common enemy. The politicians are our enemies and not the poor struggling men and women in our neighbourhoods.

What now will the people of Mubi boast about as the gain of having their son as the chief of Defence Staff? If you go to Otueke where Jonathan comes from, there are many people who live in excruciating poverty! There is still a lot of poverty and suffering in the home towns of all our governors, ministers, parliamentarians and former presidents, while they and their families live in scandalous affluence. The minister of petroleum spent over 10 billion Naira on a private jet. That money can end the poverty of several communities in her state. Stella Oduah bought two cars with 225million Naira while there are people in her home town who can’t afford 500 Naira to feed their family in a day.

The time to throw away the sentiments is now! Support only a man or woman who has a just heart and will serve everyone and every community regardless of if they come from there or not. The moment anyone begins to talk to you about religion or ethnicity, reject him summarily! We need leaders who will unite us because our shared humanity is greater than any differences between us. And if someone does something wrong or fails in governance, do not support them simply because they’re your own. Share the message, teach those around you and brace up for a citizens action to root out bad governance, defeat terrorism and build a better society for everyone of us. We have hope and we must not lose that hope. We can turn around our country, all we need to do is unite our voices and raise them against the evil system that has enslaved us for so long. Our adversity, especially the insurgency, has taught us who our real enemies are. Get ready to answer when you hear the call.

GOD BLESS YOU AND GOD BLESS NIGERIA.

Elvis Iyorngurum

The Post of the Month Award belongs to this OP...

Elvis Iyorngurum is a shameless man who was paid to write against Alex Badeh. This man is up to nothing but mischief, its rather unfortunate that some Nigerians believe such story which is only meant to play with the minds of innocent citizens. Its high time we all start to verify some claims or reports we read because desperate people like Elvis will do anything to make money even if it takes cooking up false stories. The report by Elvis is untrue and should be thrown into the bin.

If this doesn't open our eyes,I don't know what else will.

alas!!!a very nice piece
worthy of copying

Nigerian military needs to be disbanded. It is fit for purpose. Even organised man-o-war or boys scouts will tackle those primitive bandits better than they are doing.

nuudawn:
Elvis Iyorngurum is a shameless man who was paid to write against Alex Badeh. This man is up to nothing but mischief, its rather unfortunate that some Nigerians believe such story which is only meant to play with the minds of innocent citizens. Its high time we all start to verify some claims or reports we read because desperate people like Elvis will do anything to make money even if it takes cooking up false stories. The report by Elvis is untrue and should be thrown into the bin.

you must have a very small brain and pen!!s too! i hope your wife beats you when you get back from work today.

Who will bring them to justice for injustice they have committed and still commiting against the humanity? Nobody but the God the only Just Judge of the universe. I felt warm tears misting my eyes as I was reading through this write up. God is alive, His judgement may seem slow but it will definitely lands upon the Nigerian rulers and they are going to be served in full.

nuudawn:
Elvis Iyorngurum is a shameless man who was paid to write against Alex Badeh. This man is up to nothing but mischief, its rather unfortunate that some Nigerians believe such story which is only meant to play with the minds of innocent citizens. Its high time we all start to verify some claims or reports we read because desperate people like Elvis will do anything to make money even if it takes cooking up false stories. The report by Elvis is untrue and should be thrown into the bin.

You are the one that should hang his head down in shame.

If the story was false then why not provide your own verifiable evidence to counter it or at least posit some questions that may discredit such claims; but alas all you did was pour some vitriol on the author and make pronouncement against the story while expecting us to accept your version of the truth as if you are some sort of valid authority we should trust.

As far as the story is concerned, we all know the following happened:
Mubi was attacked and captured by Boko Haram
The house of the COAS was attacked and burnt to the ground which he himself also affirmed.
No report suggested any member of his family or even his household was captured/killed or injured in the attack.
From the above, its easy to put two and two together and conclude that the occupants of the house escaped the raid and were most likely rescued whether by helicopter or otherwise.

The message here is that it was a big shame for the head of the combine forces own hometown to fall into the hands of such a rag tag bunch as BH against one of the largest military in the whole of Africa; let alone his own house to fall as well.
What was even more shameful was what appeared to be the selfish manner in the alleged rescue of the COAS's family members at the expense of others, not even his own soldiers who also adopted the "who wan die first" attitude and ran away, leaving behind a hopeless hapless defenceless civilian population - pls tell me, what does that say to the rest of us?

A very nice post and i wish people would understand this view, but we know that it is just a wish, sentiments would always be attached to politics in Nigeria.