₦airaland Forum

If we talk pure military competence as proven in substantive operations, and we exclude coup plotters, some of the most capable officers in the army's history (in no particular order) include:

Gen Martin Luther Agwai
Lt-Gen Chikadibia Obiakor
Lt-Gen Victor Malu
Lt-Gen Salihu Ibrahim
Lt-Gen Domkat Bali
Maj-Gen Aguiyi-Ironsi
Maj-Gen Mohammed Shuwa
Brig Ogundipe
Brig Ademulegun
Brig Maimalari
Lt-Col Alex Madiebo
Major John Obienu

Try these links:

http://nigeriandefenceacademy.edu.ng/

http://nigeriandefencehq.org/history%20continue.htm

If secession had succeeded, it would have benefited the Eastern Region alone and impoverished the Northern Region as they would not have had access to oil revenue.

Okunoba, I agree with you. We should look at Nigeria without ethnic sentiment. I was simply parroting the views of Nigerians, not my own personal views.

FYI, during the June 12 crisis, there WERE calls by Yoruba leaders for secession. Even Nadeco members were calling for secession if Abiola was not made President. It is standard fare in Nigeria, every region THREATENS secession, but none actually has the guts to try it after the painful memory of the civil war. BOTH the east and north tried secession in 1966, the west flirted with the idea of an Oduduwa republic in the aftermatch of June 12 1993, all the way up till 1998, and the Niger Deltans express similar sentiments for their own region.

The only "good" that came from the civil war is that it taught the combatants an unforgettable lesson in the evils of ethnic rivalry. This is why Nigeria stumbles from one crisis to another and remains intact, and survives crises that takes other countries to war (June 12, Sharia, Niger Delta etc).

okunoba:
@maxsiollun
Biafra war was a bitter experience for all Nigerians not just Ibo`s and Yoruba`s. June 12 was about an individual that won an election to rule but was denied the chance. Thanks to the wisdom of Yoruba leaders  that saw it as that and did not go to war or decide to break away from Nigeria because of it. Most Yoruba`s do not care who rules Nigeria as long as the person does a good job of it. Hence the reason alot of Yoruba`s didn`t support Obasanjo even though he his Yoruba. I just wish our people will just grow out of looking at the problem of Nigeria based on ethnic alliance. The problem of Nigeria is felt by most Nigerians regardless of ethnicity, not just Ibo`s, Yoruba`s or the Niger deltians. The Northerners go through the same pain of no water, electricity, water, roads, jobs, food and so on. The only people enjoying are the few top guns from all the ethnic groups. Your governors, Ministers, commissioners and so on. Can we see our problem not as an ethnic man but as a black African? I believe "yes we can"

The civil war is a source of great bitterness between Igbos and Yorubas. Some Igbos have never forgotten Yorubas for fighting against them during the war. It came back to haunt Yorubas during the June 12 crisis when Igbos simply kept out of it as in their view, the same northern leviathan which Yorubas supported during the civil war, now turned to bite the Yorubas.

Noble idea but a constitutional amendment in Nigeria is EXTREMELY difficult. You need a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate, another a two-thirds majority vote in the House of Reps, then a majority vote in the state legislatures! When was the last time Nigerians ever agreed across the federation to that extent?

Since independence in 1960, only the military has managed to make substantive constitutional amendments because they don't need votes.

The middle belt areas of the north like Plateau, Tiv, Igala, Idoma and Zaria axis produce the bulk of the army's infantry. The current Chief of Army Staff Lt-Gen Dambazau and former Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Staff Gen Martin Luther Agwai is also part of the Zaria-Kaduna axis.

To understand just how much these areas dominate the military. Look at the following list of officers from that area:

Domkat Bali, Jerry Useni, Joshua Dogonyaro, Joe Garba, John Shagaya, Yakubu Rimdan, Bernard Banfa are all from Langtang (just ONE town!).

Then you add Danjuma, Malu, Akahan, David Mark, Gowon, Martin Adamu, Bisalla, who are all from the middle belt too.

, and therein lies the problems that OBJ's ex-appointees like Ribadu, Fani-Kayode, El-Rufai et al are currently having. The lurid personal tales about OBJ leaking out (allegedly sleeping with his daughter in-law, book by his ex-wife claiming he is a woman beater), coupled with the disgraceful treatment of Ribadu, and victimisation of ex-OBJ ministers is all part of a concerted plot to teach OBJ a lesson for not doing the bidding of his sponsors.

People like Danjuma, IBB and others massively financed his presidential campaigns, and obviously thought they would call the shots from behind the scenes. However instead of acting like a grateful recipient, OBJ turned round and bet the hands that fed him - acting like some young Turk by giving the EFCC teeth, started probing, strong arming and dismissing corrupt ministers, and even permitted the EFCC to arrest powerful oligarchs like Adenuga and IBB's own son. It was too much for the old powerful Mafia and they are now fighting back. Remember the Sudanese proverb: "Power is like a stick. Put it down and someone else will pick it up and hit you over the head with it"

Unlike other seemingly intractable political conflicts like Northern Ireland and South Africa, the Israelis and Palestinians actually KNOW what they have to do for peace, but unfortunately neither side's political leadership is willing to tell its people the truth.

Both sides' leaders know that eventually:

-There will be a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
-The Palestinian state will be demilitarised with no heavy weapons, air force, navy, artillery or armour, other than weapons needed for internal security.
-The Palestinian state's borders will NOT be a complete return to the 1967 borders, the separation wall/fence will likely be the new border.
-Israel will annex major settlement blocs like Maale Adumim that are close to the Green Line. Outlying settlements deep in Palestinian territory will be evacuated.
-The refugees will not return to Israel, and will instead be compensated and/or given a right of residence in the new Palestinian state and/or their host Arab countries.
-Arab neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem will form the Palestinian capital.
-West Jerusalem will be the Israeli capital.

*Major sticking points: settlements in Ariel and Hebron (the latter has some hardline extremists who won't go peacefully).

Please let us desist from ethnic chauvinism such as this. Our primary concern should be whether Yar'Adua makes Nigerians' lives better - regardless of what ethnic or religious group he belongs to. I will judge him objectively and don't care whether he is Hausa, Tiv, Kanuri, Igbo, Edo or Chinese.

For the record, Yar'Adua is actually Fulani.

Everyone is missing the point here. The corrupt politicians whom Ribadu prosecuted (especially James Ibori) engineered this whole charade to get Ribadu dismissed in order to halt their corruption trials. Yet people are happy that the politicians who steal from them have been victorious and have fired the man who is trying to stop them.

Ibori is a convicted felon who was convicted of theft in London before he became Delta State Governor. He had Ribadu fired in order to cover up his misdeeds.

http://maxsiollun./2008, t-james-ibori/

Umaru Dikko was NEVER jailed by the Buhari/Idiagbon regime. He was not jailed for corruption at all. For details of what happened with Dikko:

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/max-siollun/the-kidnap-of-umaru-dikko-conclusion.html
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/max-siollun/the-kidnap-of-umaru-dikko-the-full-story-pa-3.html
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/max-siollun/the-mossad-affair-the-kidnap-of-umaru-dikko-pa-3.html

proudly9ja:
People say Buhari/ Idiagbon fought corruption and people still prase them till today. Please check up on your facts. Was it not the same people who took to the streets and jubilated when IBB came to power?

And for those who don't know, ATIKU is the King of thieves. He would have been worse than Yaradua (not that Yaradua is any good). The people surrounding Yaradua today are all friends of Atiku. It just goes to show the kind of politicians we have. We need to start working towards 2011 because Atiku, IBB, Yaradua and their cohorts MUST NEVER rule us again!

1) Since when did "improper dressing in front of the President" and instituting legal proceedings against the Inspector-General of Police, AG and the Police Service Commission, become crimes worthy of summary dismissal? , and yet there are thousands of police officers who steal, rob, extort and beat civilians daily still being kept on the force's payroll.

2) Amazingly a section of the Nigerian public criticise Ribadu for prosecuting those who steal from them. Alams, Dariye et al were hailed as heroes by their communities on their return (i.e. the very people they steal from)! It is time we accepted that the Nigerian public are PART OF THE PROBLEM, and corruption in Nigeria is not just a problem of leadership. It has also eaten away at the souls of the populace to the extent where some of them can no longer tell right and wrong, and hail thieves who steal from them, and stigmatise the man who tries to catch those thieves on their behalf. These corrupt leaders are emblematic of Nigerian society and they represent the decadence of the society they emerged from. There are many "common men" in Nigeria, who if given the chance would loot as much as, or even more than the current leadership. Nigerian leaders reflect the nature of Nigerian people, not vice versa.

3) While everyone is screaming blue murder at Ribadu's "selective nature", no one seems to remember that the people he prosecuted are the same people who looted the treasury.

4) Niger Delta militants are blowing up pipelines, fighting against the federal government and kidnapping civilians, when their former Governor James Ibori controlled a budget larger than the entire GDP of some entire African countries, and was busy stashing their money in the UK. Ibori has finally got his victory. He can now go and enjoy more of NIgeria's money abroad in UK, US and Swiss bank vaults.

Revisionist history. If OBJ knew about the coup, then why did key figures in the regime such as Danjuma, Yar'Adua (Sr) and Buhari permit him to become Head of State? after all, other senior officers like Bisalla were tried and executed,

It is absolutely incredible that in an era where Nigeria needs urgent reform, the President is appointing old men that served in the same post 22 years ago under the military regime of General Babangida. What would we think of Obama if he brought back Henry Kissinger and David Baker to serve in his government?

Love him or hate him, OBJ actually did more to reintegrate Igbos, than any other Nigerian leader.

This is "due process"? All of a sudden Ribadu's "selective" prosecutions don't look too bad do they?

I cannot understand what Aondoakaa is still doing in the FEC. He has been a huge impediment to the war on corruption and is shielding corrupt Governors from prosecution.

Nothing will happen to Waziri because she is not prosecuting anyone of note.

Unfortunately Ribadu now has so many enemies in the police and among powerful politicians that the forces against him are too much to bring him back to EFCC. His police colleagues are jealous of him and politicians fear that he will expose them if he goes back. A more credible choice would be Lamorde.

, still no one has explained why RIbadu "deserves" his current suffering. Please someone tell me what CRIME he committed to warrant all the abuse he has received?

Also, can someone please give me the name of one innocent person that Ribadu's EFCC prosecuted?

Thank you Oyibo for your perspective. There seems to be a lot of venom directed at Ribadu for his supposed "selective" prosecution. My point always has been even if that is true, has he actually prosecuted any innocent people? The answer is no.

1) How can the EFCC fight corruption against an opponent that does not fight "fair"? Fighting "fair" against the big time government gangsterism that Nigerians term "corruption" is akin to getting into a street fight against someone armed with an AK47 by trying to stick to the Queensberry rules.

2) The methods employed by Ribadu (impeachment, guilty pleas for lighter sentences) are believe or not, perfectly normal and frequently employed methods of law enforcement around the world. The mechanisms are alternate versions of PLEA BARGAINING. That is where defendants are given lighter sentences in exchange for full confessions, and for testifying against or implicating their accomplices. The tactic has been very successful against the Mafia. Most Mafia dons are never convicted of murder and usually get sentenced for lesser offences such as racketeering or get implicated in money laundering by their subordinates' testimony. The Mafia analogy is the nearest analogy for the lawlessness and corrupt incompetence in Nigerian government circles.

3) Such methods of "squeezing" suspects are not perfect, but in a society as rotten as Nigeria, the law enforcer has no other way of securing convictions against men who use their stolen wealth to fight against those that seek to stop their looting. As for the "selectivity" of the EFCC - of course the EFCC has not got all corrupt politicians. That is obvious. But if Nigeria has 100 corrupt politicians and the EFCC imprisons 50 of them, one has to consider whether the cup is half full or half empty? My perspective is that taking 50 of them out of circulation is better than leaving all 100 free and waiting for such time as all of them can be removed. That is not a practical way to fight crime. Law enforcement is inherently selective. Even western law enforcement agencies often apply selectivity in their prosecutorial targets and often deliberately target a minority of criminals in an effort to create show trials that act as examples and deterrents to other offenders.

4) There is a famous English legal case where a lady protesting amongst hundreds of other protesters was randomly selected by the police, arrested and convicted of a public order offence. The court ignored her defence that the police "picked on her" and ignored the other offenders. The court's reasoning was that she was guilty of the offence for which she was charged and it did not matter how many others committed the same offence.

5) If the sort of reasoning being bandied on this thread is applied to its logical conclusion, no one would ever be convicted of a crime ever again, because every murderer, rapist and armed robber could always say "you can't arrest me - what about all the other criminals on the loose - you haven't arrested them, so why pick on me?"

Awo is one of the most controversial characters in Nigerian history. Doubtless he was a man of great intellect and tenacity.

However the political intrigues involving him (clash with Akintola, treason trial, battle with the federal government, state of emergency in Western Region) indirectly served as the catalyst for Nigeria's first military coup in 1966. Recall that the radical young Majors stated that they struck in order to release Awolowo from prison and install him as leader to replace the Balewa led federal government.

OBJ gets a lot of undeserved criticism. Nigerians are not being fair to him.

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php/content/view/7131/55

OBJ gets a lot of undeserved criticism. Nigerians are not being fair to him.

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php/content/view/7131/55

It seems this debate has been raging on this and other forums: http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php/content/view/10838/55

That was absolutely shameful. grown men armed with AK47s beating up a small woman. THey should be arrested and prosecuted. Utterly beastly behaviour.

He was very gracious in defeat. Our politicians could learn from him. When they lose our politicians usually try to cajole the army to overthrow the winner of the election, or to have the winner killed.

The Namibian is correct. There is nothing wrong with most parts of the constitution. The problem lies with its implementation. Many of you mght be surprised to learn that even South Africa's constitution is modelled on Nigeria's own constitution.

Ife, there was no intention on my part to demonize Murtala. The article was an honest and objective account of his life and tenure in government. I presented the good with the bad, and did not pain him either as a perfect hero, or as a one dimensional villain,

ife-eco-06:
Not a too bad attempt. It once again refreshed my memory of what I had read in the past about Nigeria's military 1960-80's, even though most of the contents were not new to me. The writer's warped demonization of MM is my only problem with the article.

Just let's wait for him to release his book, and see the array of critiques that will follow, even from the people he mentioned in the write-up that are still alive. The release of the book will doubt open a new debate.

Let's wait and see!!!

For reference Fajuyi's son Adedayo was given the traditional title "ezigbo enyi Ndigbo" by the Igbo National Council.

Yes, Nigerians did not give Ribadu the credit he deserved. For the first time in Nigerian history we had an anti-corruption figure that fought corruption with unprecedented tenacity. In the 40+ year history of Nigeria, it was under Ribadu that Nigerian politicians were convicted of corruption and jailed for the first time.  He even had the courage to bring down and jail his own boss - the Inspector-General of Police Tafa Balogun.

Read this for a view of the shameless shenanigans to remove Ribadu and replace him with someone who would shield Ibori from justice:

http://maxsiollun./2008/08/10/ribadu%E2%80%99s-demotion-corruption-rules/