In the years that former president Obasanjo presided in office; intelligence was never a meat pie for the public or the media to chew. It was secret, confidential and very effective. One remembers with pride the professionalism that was deployed to arrest the situation in Odi, Bayelsa state and the Jos North crisis as well as the Yelwa-Shendam riot. When the Mohammed Yusuf-led Boko Haram started in Borno state; the government put in silent measures to monitor the terrorist and it was mostly effective.
The mismanagement of this effective strategy that was put in place by the Aliyu Gusau-led ONSA would eventually lead Nigeria into a clueless, ineffective and totally sabotage-ridden onslaught against Boko Haram which would in turn put a huge economic cost on the country’s lean treasury for more than 10 years. In the end, the northeast was impoverished while the federal government became a cash cow for crooked intelligence chiefs who quickly turned insecurity into a money-minting industry.
Some of you would have noticed that after hurriedly neutralizing the Boko Haram founder; the tactics of counter-insurgency changed for the worse. For instance, the use of propaganda was intensified with many pied-pipers who paraded as security experts blowing the trumpet for these intensely ruthless and corrupt intelligence chiefs. There was also the strategy of always letting out sensitive security signals in the name of alerting the general public and, also the romance of the chiefs with the enemies of state.
This strategy has led to the (1) Ambush and the killing of young and vibrant soldiers deployed to neutralize the terrorists because the intelligence chiefs in their romance had set up these young boys for the enemies of state. (2) Massive corruption in the war against insurgency with many Generals and even Captains and Colonels retiring from the army as billionaires. And (3) Increasing budgetary allocation for defense that never translated to modern firearms for the boys in the theatre but more money for pied-pipers.
Recently, during the Buhari administration, I recalled with much offense how that a security signal of an impending Jailbreak at the Kuje Correctional facility was mismanaged (or leaked) by names like Mr. Yusuf Magaji Bichi of the DSS, Babagana Munguno of the ONSA and Ahmed Rufai Abubakar of the NIA and how that despite the so-called alarm they claimed to create and the monetary budget to foil the plot; the break still took place and; even with human casualties!
Not too long ago, it was the former governor of Zamfara state Mr. Ahmed Yerima who suggested the strategy of dialogue with the bandits when he claimed that hunger and unemployment was the cause of insecurity. One wondered why and how that he went ahead to amass for himself riches untold from the coffers of state where many of his citizens were unemployed and joining banditry every day! It is clear that these folks in Nigeria’s intelligence circle together with former and current governors are saboteurs.
How? Just this morning of Thursday August 17th, 2023 another memo has leaked from the DSS about a purported plan to attack the Abuja-Kaduna train (for the second time now) and, guess who is the DSS boss? Mr. Yusuf Magaji Bichi. My question is: If the DSS leaks a memo she should’ve treated secretly; who is she hoping to now jump in to foil the plot? Is the DSS no longer the agency saddled with national vigilance? What is the public or the media supposed to do with this kind of information when a DSS agency exists?
Therefore, sabotage is clearly the motive behind this kind of intelligence strategy that is very obviously counter-productive! They fake the alarm to deceive the government into releasing monies like Mr. Gwarzo and Mr. Al-Mustapha did in the days of General Sani Abacha, they deceive the public from going about their lawful businesses and would never provide any palliative to for these hardworking citizens and; they ultimately expose government’s counteractive measures to their ‘fabled’ bandits.
With all due respect, I believe it is the height of incompetence and sabotage for a country at war with insurgents to employ the strategy of leaking its intelligence signals to the public for whatever reasons except if – for instance – an auditorium or a train is already fully occupied with passengers and then such signal becomes locally useful in helping to safely foil the plot of terrorists and to remove the citizens to safety. This is how the big democracies go about security management. And we all know that this is true!
Having said this, do I think that a man like Mr. Yusuf Magaji Bichi of the DSS is qualified to manage internal security given what his style intelligence management has caused the Nigeria stock market? My answer is: He is not qualified and, in fact should be relieved of his duties. Looking at his style of managing our internal security – with Nnamdi Kanu in detention and bandits walking the streets free; with not arrest warrant on Asari Dokubo for disrupting the NLC protest but with NLC officials being intimidated – it is no surprise why former president Buhari failed woefully security-wise.
The mentality of alerting the media for security threats is loudly incompetent! It is not a helpful tactics and, has done us more harm than good in the years since 2015. If this government will get it right; it must sack men like Bichi from office and overhaul strategy. Let intelligence signals be managed secretly; only then will more bandits and terrorists be nabbed and put where they belonged in the death chamber!
Amb. Ifeanyichukwu George; an emotional intelligence advocate writes from Abuja. WhatsApp response only: +2348062577718.
