General T.Y. Danjuma's epiphany?

Initially upon reading the latest news report about General T.Y. Danjuma, I wondered if the General (a prominent member of the Nigerian Establishment, having served as a powerful one-time Chief of Army Staff and Defense Minister, and a major player in the military counter-coup of 1966 that triggered a chain of events that culminated in the nature and geo-political structure of contemporary Nigeria), was being mis-quoted. Then, I sought and found, to my astonishment, a video recording of him accusing Nigeria’s Security apparatus of aiding and abetting “ethnic cleansing:”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDZOKvFtIRk.

I am not in a position, neither do I possess information to be able to attest to the veracity, or lack thereof, of his charges. But I was stunned by those audio-videoed statements (they are unambiguous and fearless), so much so that I replayed them several times to ensure that my ears and eyes were not fooling me.

Yes, General Danjuma did level those terrible accusations against Nigeria’s security apparatus. They are really ominous. Speaking during a university graduation ceremony in Taraba state of Nigeria, Danjuma cried out that "there is an attempt at ethnic cleansing in this state and of course in all the riverine states of Nigeria. We must resist it; we must stop it. Everyone must rise up."

The usually reticent retired army general then pointed a shocking accusing finger: "The armed forces are not neutral. They collude; they collude; they collude with the armed bandits; they kill people, kill Nigerians. They facilitate their movements; they cover them."

General Danjuma then warned Nigerians that "if you are depending on the armed forces to stop the killings, you will die one by one." Appealing that "the ethnic cleansing must stop in all the states of Nigeria," he worried that "otherwise Somalia will be a child's play."

The one-time army chief of staff called upon everyone to be on the alert. "Defend your country; defend your territory; defend yourself. You have nowhere else to go; you have nowhere else to go. God bless our country."

Coming, as they did from General Danjuma, a stoic personality, I found these public and stern expressions of alarm about threats to life and property in certain parts of Nigeria disturbing, to say the least. Watching his delivery, I could discern that Danjuma spoke with a deep sense of concern; he spoke from the heart. He palpably came across as genuine and sincere.

But I was left asking the following rhetorical questions. Did General Danjuma experience an epiphany? Was he visited by the ghost of the late General J.T.U. Aguiyi Ironsi? Ah, wasn’t General Ironsi‘s over-arching goal to help bring about a New Nigeria where ethnic cleansing would be unimaginable?

Perhaps, if General Ironsi had not had his sojourn on earth terminated in an untimely manner, both he and Danjuma would perhaps have put hands together today to voice the same alarm and concerns that General Danjuma was compelled to utter by the circumstances and realities of Nigeria of 2018. Well, human history inevitably provokes all sorts of “would-have-beens” and “should-have-beens.” But, we cannot reverse time, though we can draw healing and corrective lessons from our mistakes of the past—that is, if and when we come to a realization that we did, indeed, act mistakenly in the past.

Be that as it may, I must further ask as follows. Was Danjuma just voicing mere anger and frustration at an understandably worrisome state of affairs in areas of Nigeria which have been ravaged by various types of armed confrontations or armed assaults? As a senior member of the Nigerian Establishment, one who played a decisive role in shaping the foundation of what became Nigeria of today, was General Danjuma divulging intelligence to which ordinary Nigerians are not privy? 

General Danjuma is not known for emotional outbursts, at least not in the public square. Despite the significant roles that he played in the mega events that ushered in contemporary Nigeria, Danjuma is generally known to be self-effacing. He is the type of fellow that’s best described as a man of action rather than a man of words. No doubt, he is not publicly as expressive as a contemporary of his like General Olusegun Obasanjo, now Dr. Obasanjo—a uniquely three-time ruler of Nigeria. This factor, among other considerations, such as those laid out in the preceding passage, is why General Danjuma’s recent castigation of Nigeria’s security apparatus struck me as a surprise. This is one additional reason his statements of alarm should not be dismissed with a wave of the hand. 

For General Danjuma to depart from his usual stoic and self-effacing self in order to speak out as publicly as he did on this occasion, there is a compelling reason for one to ask: what is going on in Nigeria?