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It was a tactful foresight, the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari in appointing people from Borno State into strategic positions in government, especially in sensitive areas that could address the challenges of terrorism in the country.

Nigerians expected that the Boko Haram insurgency would be history within fours years, with the appointments of the late Abba Kyari as the Chief of Staff to the President; Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd.) as the National Security Adviser and Lt. General Tukur Buratai as the Chief of Army Staff, because they are all from Borno State, the epicentre of Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria.

Yet, the seeming rivalry between these top officers from the same state is an open secret. It would be recalled that before his death from COVID-19, Abba-Kyari was at the centre of a leaked memo from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), as well as the alleged redeployment of military personnel attached to Monguno’s office, on the order of Buratai.

Following the death of Abba-Kyari, one would have expected a smoother relationship between the brethren from Borno who are at the top of the Nigerian security architecture, especially in tackling the menace of terrorism and armed banditry, which not only impacts gravely on the situation in their home state but also that of the North and larger Nigeria.

The ONSA is statutorily empowered by the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011, to co-ordinate and support “all security, intelligence, law-enforcement agencies and military services to prevent and combat acts of terrorism in Nigeria.” On the other hand, the Nigerian Army by convention is the lead agency on counter-insurgency operations and other joint military operations involving the deployment of ground troops. Therefore, Monguno and Buratai have unique roles to play in ensuring safety, security and stability in Nigeria through a collaborative battle against criminal elements and other nefarious malefactors.

It was therefore not surprising that after spending two months with the troops in the North-East, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukuru Buratai held a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari and his Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari at the Presidential Villa on June 8.

Immediately after the meeting, Buratai told journalists that there have been “tremendous” achievements in the fight against the insurgents, and he expressed the hope that the security situation in the country would soon improve.

He said, “the troops are putting in their best and that has resulted in the tremendous successes we are recording. The fight is still ongoing and over 1,429 of this Boko Haram terrorists have been neutralised and we have arrested over 166 Boko Haram terrorist informants, their spies, couriers on logistics and their coordinators in the villages, the towns, and even the forest.”

Surprisingly, a few days later, over 80 people were killed, including soldiers and citizens, while hundreds got injured when the seemingly degraded Boko Haram terrorists invaded Gubio Village and Monguno, the hometown of the NSA in Borno.

Concerned about the unfortunate development, President Muhammadu Buhari had to quickly summon the Nigerian security chiefs to an emergency meeting on June 18.

Speaking on behalf of the President after the meeting, General Monguno castigated the service chiefs over their weak strategy and coordination in tackling insecurity. He also expressed displeasure at the lack of synergy amongst the security forces and charged them to work together in solving the security challenges.

Monguno stated that: “Mr President expressed great concern over the declining security situation in the country. He is extremely unhappy about what is happening and he feels that, even though the security agencies are doing their best, their best is not good enough for him and (he) wants an immediate reversal of the current trend and immediate reversal of our misfortunes in all their dimensions.”

In a similar interview in Hausa, Monguno specifically made a reference to one of the service chiefs as being ‘egocentric.’

Surprisingly, a few days later, a newly formed group, the Military Writers Society of Nigeria (MWSN), lashed out at Monguno over his attack on the service chiefs, especially the Army Chief, Lt. Gen. Buratai.

The group, led by one Dr. Abubakar Mohammed Sani from Borno State said that despite receiving billions of naira from the national treasury, many Nigerians still do not know what the NSA and his office have been doing to engage insurgents and terrorists, particularly through the identified carrot approach to bringing the present security challenges in the country to an end. It therefore asked Munguno to account for how security funds have been utilised under his stewardship, as this is barely impacting on resolving the security situation in Nigeria.

While one may question the rationale behind the NSA’s indictment of the service chiefs publicly, over a mission he is expected to coordinate, yet the seemingly sponsored attacks on him by those who appear to be supporters of the Army Chief are an addendum to the unnecessary distractions to the ongoing war on terrorism.

It is quite painful that while the blame-game went on unabated, Boko Haram fighters allegedly abducted some women and girls in a village in Biu Local Government Area, which is a mere stone’s throw from Buratai’s natal town. A day later the terrorists killed 9 soldiers in another attack on a military convoy on Damboa-Maiduguri highway

Despite the foregoing, the war on terror requires the sort of inter-agency collaboration that would ensure the effective formulation and implementation of comprehensive security and counter-terrorism strategies to address the protracted crisis.

Just as I clamoured in one of my recent articles, and for the sake of emphasis, towards addressing the seemingly intractable rivalry, the NSA and Service Chiefs need to devise a strategy that would involve the burying of their various differences and evolving a new collaborative security effort in the national interest, going forward. This is a period in which we need all hands on deck and to guard against unnecessary bickering within the security enforcement community.

In strategic communication, golden silence is apt, when actions become louder than words. Equally, credible bodies are better third-party endorsers, other than the recourse to charlatans parading as media consultants who merely aggravate a crisis.

Yushau A. Shuaib
Publisher PRNigeria and Author of Crisis Communication Strategies
yashuaib@yahoo.com

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babagana-munguno-nsa

General Monguno: Tackling the Inter-Agency Rivalry
By Yushau A. Shuaib

On July 13, 2015, General Babagana Monguno (rtd) was announced as the new National Security Adviser (NSA) by the current administration. He replaced Sambo Dasuki who had acted in that position in the new regime, for over a month after serving as substantial NSA to the regime of President Goodluck Jonathan for about three years.

General Monguno was widely known as a fine, unassuming army officer during his active service years. During occasional visits to my kind in-law, General Garba Wahab and military press officer, Mohammed Yerima at the Army Headquarters about a decade ago, soldiers and officers did refer to Monguno as a Perfect Gentleman in the military uniform. In fact, it was around that period that I learnt he married his anticipated perfect woman, Nafisah Munir while he was an Army General.

Monguno attended King’s College, Lagos and enrolled in the Nigerian Defence Academy 21st Regular Course. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Masters in International Relations.

Some of the positions he held in the military included the Chief of Logistics at the Defence headquarters, Commandant of the Nigerian Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC); Commander, Guards Brigade; Deputy Commandant, National Defence College, and Chief of Defence Intelligence. He voluntarily retired from the Nigerian Army in September 2013 at the age of 56. He left some legacies behind especially on infrastructural development.

On assumption of office as the National Security Adviser, I had the privilege of meeting him and during our encounters, he was very attentive and receptive to good ideas. He is a man that believes in positive and rapid changes on various national and security issues.

Nevertheless, it is obvious that Monguno is neither a typical Nigerian politician nor act like one, especially on issues that require diplomatic manoeuvrings and assertiveness. Probably, as a retired army officer and an architect, he may be looking at things from the precision of architectural designs and military mentality.

The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), is statutorily empowered by Terrorism Prevention Act 2011 to coordinate and support “all security, intelligence, law enforcement agencies and military services to prevent and combat acts of terrorism in Nigeria.” Therefore, the office is the most powerful after the Presidency in ensuring effective formulation and implementation of comprehensive security and counter-terrorism strategies through synergy.

There is therefore, a greater expectation that ONSA, must be at the forefront in ensuring an inter-agency collaboration. There is no reason to pretend about the prevailing inter-agency rivalries among security organs, even while they record successes on some fronts, notably the war on Boko Haram insurgency.

Some recent developments are quite worrisome: the heated arguments between the NIA and the EFCC over Ikoyi money; the arraignment in court of Air-Force Chiefs of corruption while shielding past chiefs of other security sectors; the laughable tit-for-tat public parades of members of the Police and NSCDC on flimsy excuses by the same sister agencies; the damning DSS reports on Magu among others are clear signs of intense rivalry amongst the security agencies.

Deeply concerned over the development, the Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC) recently called on security agencies in the country to avoid inter-agency rivalry which could damage their individual reputation and the government as a whole.

The Executive Secretary of CCC, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas (rtd), made the call at a special meeting of the Forum of Spokespersons of Security and Response Agencies (FOSSRA) in Abuja sponsored by Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP).

Anas said: “We have observed some disturbing trends, blame games and breaches in information disclosures among agencies of government in the media. We have also noticed conflicting information, disinformation and rivalries among respective organizations through the media. These developments can damage the reputation of the agencies involved and give Nigeria a bad image.”

Also, the new Chairman of FOSSRA, who doubles as the Director Defence Information, Major General John Enenche urged members of FOSSRA as the spokespersons of their respective organisations to work in harmony and handle information activities professionally and responsibly.

One fact that is of utmost importance is that spokespersons of security agencies have consistently used their meeting platforms to synergise and collaborate in harmonising security information. Through their interactions, they share professional ideas towards eliminating incidences of conflicting sensitive information released to the public by their organizations. However, and unfortunately too, at their level, there is a little they could do to eradicate the conflict.

It is an open secret that, the surest way of getting damaging and destructive information in the guise of classified information, is to look beyond the officially designated spokespersons to the bosses of the organisations who are frequently cited in the media as ‘highly reliable sources.’

For the sake of emphasis and to address this intractable rivalry, General Monguno as the National Security Adviser should devise strategies and method in bringing the leadership of the agencies to a round table for mutual understanding. It doesn’t even need to be elaborate engagements, reaching out to each agency with sincerity of purpose, can play the magic. This is a period where we need to guard against all unnecessary bickering within the security milieu.

Yushau A. Shuaib
www.YAShuaib.com
yashuaib@yahoo.com

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Preparatory to the daring and merciless military operations against Boko Haram members, top officers of security and intelligence agencies were in Lagos and Abuja, towards the end of 2014 to interact with critical stakeholders that matter in shaping public perception and opinions. The then President of Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Mr. Femi Adesina was part of the audience.

The interactive sessions involved the display of video clips of horrific atrocities of Boko Haram terrorists against humanity. Gory scenes of brutal executions of captured intelligence officers who were accused of spying on the terrorists’ group were shown. The officers and their informants were cruelly dismembered, buried or burnt alive by the dare devil terrorists.

One of the heart-aching videos was that of a captured female intelligence operative who was “daggered” into pieces before she could plead for her life. Few months after some debriefing with the stakeholders, through miraculous strategies of operations against terrorists, positive images emerged on the gallantry of Nigerian troops. PRNigeria released some of the declassified videos on the storming of Sambisa Forest by the special forces and intelligence operatives from the air and on the ground. The original video showed hijab-dressed female intelligence operatives, guiding women and children from the air raid to safe military zone.

There were also reported cases of captured men dressed in women attire by Nigerian troops who were later discovered to be security operatives assigned to spy in terrorists’ enclaves. Strangely enough, between January to May 2015, when Sambo Dasuki was the then National Security Adviser over two dozen occupied towns were successfully recovered and liberated from Boko Haram. The towns were: Abadam, Askira, Baga, Bama, Bara, Buni Yadi, Damboa, Dikwa, Gamboru-Ngala, Goniri, Gujba, Gulag, Gulani, Gwoza, Hong, Kala Balge, Konduga, Kukawa, Marte, Madagali, Michika, Monguno, Mubi, Vimtim among other communities.

Meanwhile, while the military and security agencies took credit for all counter-terrorism campaigns, most of the high-profile terrorists arrested, especially at the borders and across the borders were facilitated by the intelligence service. The service also facilitated the participations of reluctant neighbours in Multi-National Joint Taskforce (MNJTF) and other special forces for the success of operations.

Recently too, when 21 Chibok girls were freed by Boko Haram in October 2016, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo publicly disclosed that there was no exchange of detained members of the Boko Haram sect for the girls. The Information Minister, Lai Mohammed also strongly denied the report that Nigerian government paid a robust ransom for their release. Since no one knows what influenced the ‘Father Christmas’ gesture of Boko Haram leaders in releasing the girls which even took a section of the military by surprise, it is purely exceptional intelligence operations.

This writer has deliberately avoided mentioning any of Nigeria’s secret organisations on the above operations. The recent exposure of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to disrepute after the discovery of cash haul in an Ikoyi Apartment is a sad commentary to the one of the most organised, fine and respected intelligence organisations in Africa. Not only has the scandal damaged the integrity of the agency, it further exposed the Nigeria’s intelligence community to global ridicule.

It is necessary to point out that in security circle, a black budget is allocated for classified and other covert operations of a nation which can be expended under different covers and through different channels including funding of NGOs, Cultural groups, religious organisations, corporations, private firms and on most occasions through cash that could not be traced. Consciously and unconsciously patriotic and innocent citizens have supported or carried out intelligence activities without being identified with the secret service.

The instrument relating to the establishment, structure and duties of the National Intelligence Agency, especially under the National Security Agencies Act 1986 (Cap 278LFN), clearly states that “The accounts of the National Intelligence Agency shall not be subject to external audit but the Director General shall by first week of March each year, render to the President… certificate showing the total expended during the preceding period and the under which the expenditure was made and copy the National Security Adviser.”

Similarly, there are repeated keywords on NIA’s mandates which include: National Security, National Interest, employing covert sources, using the cover of government or private concerns; conduct espionage, covert operations, and counter intelligence activities.

Even though there are declared staff who are authorised to disclose their identities, most intelligence operatives are undeclared and barred from disclosing their identities but only to close family members and associates. While some live in opulence for covert assignments, others act beggarly and pretend to be poor in sensitive terrains.

The intelligence agencies allow other sister agencies take the credit for successful operations. Most of the arrested terrorists’ commanders especially at the borders and across the borders were facilitated by the intelligence service.

The scandal over N15 billion recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at Osborne Street, Ikoyi, Lagos is quite embarrassing because the Director General of NIA, Ambassador Ayo Oke has claimed that the fund belonged to the agency.

The incident is coming at a period of an intense inter-agency rivalry where security agencies were allegedly reported to be behind the leakages of classified and confidential information to smear their perceived oppositions within the same government.

The above scenario is again playing out here. Now that NIA has laid claim to the amount found in Ikoyi apartment, does it mean the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) was misled? Is the mysterious whistle-blower a character in the inter-agency rivalry? Or is it another counter-intelligence by another foreign secret service against Nigeria?

In a December 2016’s article by this writer on Magu’s EFCC: Between Suspects and Victims
(https://yashuaib.com/blogs/magu-efcc-suspects-victims/) I warned that “President Buhari should ensure that the brewing inter-agency conflict among critical institutions should be urgently addressed. For instance, if the EFCC should attempt to retaliate against the report of DSS, the result will not only be dirty but likely to compromise national security.”

While the EFCC publicized the discovery, it has totally failed to disclose the owner. Even the vibrant spokesperson of EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren had to put off his mobile phone for almost 72 hours during the fracas.

With all fingers pointing to the fact that the money belongs to NIA, the burden of proof is who is the mysterious whistle-blower? Could the whistle-blower have acted on behalf of an agency engaged in the rivalry or was it as major counter-intelligence operation by foreign interests to expose and embarrass our intelligence network?

There are many ways of removing public officers but such attempts should not be done by rubbishing the integrity of public institutions they represent, especially in Nigeria’s security architecture.

I strongly believe at this critical period and with the unabated inter-agency rivalries and the incidence of leakages of classified information by some agencies of government, the current National Security Adviser, General Babagana Monguno should be wary of these developments. Though a gentleman, he needs to be more pragmatic, charismatic, assertive and decisive in dealing with erring agencies.

Yushau A. Shuaib
Publisher of PRNigeria, a global award winner in Crisis Communication
www.YAShuaib.com
yashuaib@yahoo.com

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Dasuki Osinbajo Monguno

By Yushau A. Shuaib

The Vice President of Federal Republic of Nigeria is not just an ordinary person. Professor Yemi Osinbajo is an accomplished scholar, award-winning legal practitioner, a respected Church Pastor and man of seeming impeccable character. He and his family have displayed enviable character of humility and simplicity.

As the second most powerful citizen in the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, Osinbajo serves as the Chief Coordinator on the Economy akin to Coordinating Minister on the Nigeria’s economy. He heads the economic team and to some extent, largely endorses and appoints members into the team.

With such fantastic attributes and excessive power, especially on the economy, one should have expected that he would not behave typical of Nigerian politicians, who, rather than facing and addressing the real economic realities would accuse oppositions or previous administrations for every fault.

While representing President Buhari at the launching of the revised National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST), Professor Osinbajo repeated the blame-games, the feature of the administration by claiming that the escalation of war on terror was the handiwork of corrupt military officers and political leaders in the previous administration. (www.goo.gl/V212XF)

The blame game as usual continued as he said little in his speech about NACTEST. While castigating previous governments of sabotage, the media is currently awash with a report that a Brigade Commander and some soldiers were selling arms and ammunition to Boko Haram terrorists in the current dispensation. Such reports do not mean that the ongoing military operations are failure. (www.goo.gl/XnPdzx)

It is nevertheless interesting to note that the current National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd) went straight to the point to disclose the benefit of the revised NACTEST strategy. He explained what organisations and individuals could do to help in its implementation in order to reduce the risks of terrorism and ensure that people go about their lives freely and with confidence. (www.goo.gl/rUyQz1)

According to Monguno, “NACTEST is organised around five streams aimed to forestall, secure, identify, prepare and implement with key objectives and indicators to effectively ensure monitoring and evaluating successes at each stage.”

Also speaking, the Coordinator, Counter Terrorism Centre (CTC), Commodore Yem Musa, said that ONSA in furtherance of the national counter terrorism efforts, developed the “National Terrorism Levels” document to guide MDAs on measures to be taken on receipt of information on a likely terrorists’ attack.

Musa said that the document, which outlines the alert levels and the actions to be carried out when a terrorism alert level is declared is in 5-levels including: Critical (Red) – Attack is imminent; Severe (Orange) – Attack is highly likely; Substantial (Yellow) – Attack is a strong possibility; Moderate (Blue) – Attack is possible but not likely; and Low (Green) – Attack is unlikely.

What was not disclosed at the launching is the fact that NACTEST was a programme conceived and introduced in 2014 by the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki to counter terrorism under soft-approach programme. While unveiling NACTEST in March 2014, the then NSA Sambo Dasuki said the strategy was developed by his office in collaboration with international partners, experienced academics and selected non-state actors. He said that the strategy was developed taking into account the root causes of terrorism, adding that the approach was to understand the problem in order to apply appropriate solutions.

Dasuki added that NACTEST focused on key points including increasing the capacity of government institutions and relevant agencies in handling extremists. The strategy was developed to offer a key blueprint for law enforcement agencies to combat terrorists.

During an interaction with the media, Dasuki had said that “What we have learnt is that there is not one particular path that leads to terrorism; rather, there are many often complicated paths that led to terrorism. The NACTEST seeks to prevent attacks before they happen by preventing our people from becoming terrorists in the first place.”

The soft approach to counter terrorism developed a Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programme that is vertical and involves the three tiers of government -federal, state and local. The programme is also horizontal, involving civil societies, academics, traditional, religious and community leaders.

The NACTEST programme utilises existing structures within and outside government to deliver targeted programmes and activities that further the overall objective of stemming the tide of radicalism. The soft approach programmes provide the country a framework that identifies roles and responsibilities of every segment of the society.

With the revised NACTEST document under current NSA Babagana Monguno, there should be a sustained monitoring and evaluation framework that would track the implementation of each stream of the CVE programme.

The revised document is a further consolidation of counter terrorism efforts. It should also ensure that the measures being adopted on counter-terrorism processes conform to dictates of the law and adhere strictly to the rules of engagement and human rights norms as was canvassed in the past.

The current Office of the National Security Adviser must be commended for not only initiating new direction in intelligence gathering and coordinating counter insurgency campaign but also for revising the content of NACTEST to ensure its effective deployment.

It is necessary to caution political office holders to be conscious of their utterances in their blame-games campaigns, especially on security issues. It is also a crime to criminalize innocent officials that are not convicted by a competent court of law. Majority of officers that served in the previous administration are also serving in the current administration diligently and responsibly unless they are recently retired. Terrorism issues should not be politicised, because history is the best judge even if some are forgetful.

Yushau A. Shuaib
yashuaib@yahoo.com
www.yashuaib.com
Abuja

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