I AM not too sure if the President is conversant with the modus operandi of a “Fifth Columnist” in any organisational structure, mostly in government. Because if he does, he would have been able to detect that a fifth columnist is at work in his government. Recent events are pointer to the full metaphor of this “killer squad” going by that name.

When newspapers suddenly become the enemy that must not be allowed into circulation, then we know that the fifth columnist is at work. When private jets belonging to some notable politicians are suddenly being grounded in Kano for whatever “security report” or any “order from above”, that becomes the function of the fifth columnist.

Even, when there was a near-mutiny amongst soldiers against their General Officer Commanding, GOC, like the recent cases in Borno State, then we should be able to decode that it is the work of the fifth columnist that provoked such action.

But suffice to say it here and now that my brother, Goodluck Jonathan, knows nothing about the functionality of this monster [or so l assumed] because if he knows he would have directed his arsenal to bringing it down with automatic alacrity, than waiting till he and his government become the fall guys. Yes, he may likely go down if he fails to deal with this fifth columnist now without further delay. But first, what is a “fifth columnist”?

Simply put, it is an enemy “within you, your organisation or formation” helping the “enemy outside you” to gain ascendancy over you and all your weapons of war. The fifth columnist is subtle. He appears always to be helping you. He proves to be the last person standing for you.

He is your adviser, helper, comforter, strategist and all other “golden-like things”. Yet, he is the deadliest enemy of your life. The most dangerous thing about this “fifth columnist” is that he never repents, nor has he the spirit to put an end to his nefarious activities until he submerges his principal.

It is only God Himself that can deliver you from his hands and that is when God gives you “unusual common sense” to know and identify whom he really is. The fifth columnist is usually not only one person acting alone [they are in a group usually] and there is no fact that only male operates the role. Female does too.

The fifth columnist was first identified in Spain by General Emilo Mola Vidal during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, as four of his army columns moved on Madrid. The General referred to his militant supporters within the capital as his “fifth column, intent on undermining the loyalist government from within”.

A cardinal technique of the fifth column is the infiltration of sympathisers into the entire fabric of the nation under attack and, particularly, into positions of policy decision and national defense. From such key posts, fifth-column activists exploit the fears of a people by spreading rumour and misinformation, as well as by employing the more standard techniques of espionage and sabotage. Sometimes, it is the Trojan horse gift type of a thing. This is the most difficult enemy in life. The Bible calls it a “household enemy”.

The greatest working tools of the fifth columnist are as following. One, members must be insiders [for Jonathan; they are members of his government].

Two, members concentrate within the policy making organism of the government. Three, they are to be found at the controlling position of defence and related organs. Four, they are in places of information control for the government [to say that the abducted Chibok girls “have been rescued” or that the federal troops “killed the Boko Haram leader, Ibrahim Shekau, during an encounter”, or even pronouncing with empty authority that “we know where the kidnapped girls are”].

Five, they have tough knacks for spreading “believable” rumours because of the height they attained in “meritorious” services to their “fatherland”. Did the President know all these?

Yet, it happens around the world all the times. Even in Nigeria, permit me to give just one example. General Muhammed Buhari was the Military Head of State when he encountered the activity of the fifth columnist.

It manifested in the commando-like search, by over-armed military personnel, carried out in the houses of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe [both late Nigerian leaders] respectively but within 48 hours interval. The unjustifiable, unwarranted and unprovoked search was conducted for over five hours, mostly in Obafemi Awolowo’s Apapa house while the sage and his wife were pushed to one corner, in a miserable state of minds.

These searches were carried out in the name of the Head of State, who knew nothing about them but it was enough to bring him [Buhari] to be classified as “enemy” by great population of admirer of the two elder statesmen. It became just a matter of time for the ripples of that action to consume the government of Buhari. That is a typical functions and consequences of a fifth columnist.

Mr President, these officers who are your own appointees, the fifth columnist, are creating non-existent enemies for you through what Alozie Ogugbuaja [that ‘loquacious’ Police officer] called “pepper soup and beer parlour security report”. Their activities can only present you and your government as hostile and being a monster. It is your downfall they are looking for, by enhancing the population of haters who otherwise would have been helping you to overcome this difficult time of your administration.

Or else, why must you fight the print media by seizing the newspapers and destroying their economic life? It is the handiwork of the fifth columnist. Destroy them before they do irreparable damage to you and your government.

GODWIN ETAKIBUEBU, a commentator on national affairs, wrote from Lagos.