JANUARY 15 every year is set aside as the day when activities to remember and honour members of the nation’s armed forces come to an end. This year was not different. What was different was that it was a day the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, finally came out of his shell. Let me not say he came out of hiding.

You will recall that after the bomb blasts near Eagle Square on October 1, 2010, which were later blamed on the outlawed Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Boko Haram activities picked up the following year around Abuja, and the president resorted to inspecting the ceremonial change of guards on independence days in the courtyards of Aso Villa. When the armed forces flushed the terrorists from Maiduguri and other towns in the North east into Sambisa and other “forests”, Boko Haram defied series of emergency rules and started attacking villages, hamlets, schools and markets in the three states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

Last year alone, Boko Haram not only killed boys in a Yobe boarding school but also abducted 276 girls from the Day Secondary School in Chibok, thus sparking worldwide outrage. The Islamist militants became emboldened and abandoned asymmetrical warfare. They acquired conventional weapons and started acquiring territories, overrunning towns such as Bama, Baga, Gwoza, Madagalli, Michika, Mubi and others, bringing at least sixteen local government councils under its control. The Nigerian Armed Forces suffered humiliating media image, as mutinies and sabotages became the order of the day. This forced the army to conduct series of Court Martials.

Many Nigerians were frustrated that their president did not see it fit to visit the North east and show he cared. On January 14th this year, we saw a different President Jonathan. Wearing a simple grey with a black “boat hat” to match (without bullet-proof vest) GEJ went to the Abuja military cemetery to participate in the solemn ceremonies of paying tributes to fallen members of the armed forces. The papers reported a rumpus during the parades, in which one of the soldiers firing the gun salute got his rifle hooked to the belt of his tunic. The president’s dare-devil guards immediately shielded him with their own bodies because it seemed the soldier intended some foul play. When it was later established that it was an innocuous mix-up, the ceremonies went on. Through it all, GEJ, as The PUNCH put it, “remained unruffled”.

VISIT—President Goodluck Jonathan, being received by Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State (3L)while others watch at the Maiduguri International Airport, yesterday, when the President visited Borno over the ongoing activities of Boko Haram. Inset: President Jonathan with some of the wounded soldiers during the visit. Photos: Ndahi Marama/State House.

A couple of hours later, news had it that the president had made a surprise landing in Maiduguri, the epicenter of the war against terror. Daily Trust, the northern newspaper known for its barefaced anti-Jonathan slants, came out with a headline: “Jonathan Sneaks Into Maiduguri”. I wondered if other presidents usually send town-criers to announce their impending visits to theatres of military operation. Well, even if the president “sneaked” into Maiduguri, he did not exactly sneak around while there. When he landed, he was met by a full company of officials of the Borno State Government, led by the Governor, Kashim Shettima. He toured Maimalari Barracks, headquarters of the 7th Division of the Army, visited injured soldiers receiving treatment in hospitals and best of all, went to the camp of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). He consoled, pep-talked and made heart-lifting promises to the people he leads. It was a very successful trip and also every well received.

The questions remained though. Was the president’s visit “too late” as some have said? Certainly, for me, the visit was late, but not too late. It would have been wonderful if the president had been to Chibok shortly after the abductions to meet the families of the girls rather than suffer the indignity of having Pakistani teenager, Malali Yousafzai, come to Aso Villa to advise him what to do. He should have visited the troops sooner to lift their spirits. The army’s spirits needed to be bolstered after that spate of internal sabotages and betrayals that led to avoidable losses of their members and seizures of their weapons by Boko Haram that was being aided from inside. They needed to be shielded from rabid opposition commentators, such as Nasir el Rufai, the Northern Elders Forum, Borno Elders Forum and other northern leaders who called them dirty names and accused them of crimes against humanity. The military needed to know that we as a nation, still appreciate their sacrifices and display of heroism, and we did not need to wait for the Remembrance Day to do so.

But we also have to bear it in mind that no president would go to a theatre of conflict on a surprise visit to troops until the situation reasonably guarantees his safety. Much as I would have liked him to have gone earlier, I also realise that I am not the one to dictate for him when to go. He can’t even go just because he wants to. The security professionals around him have the final say on that. People are free to speculate that the president went to Maiduguri at this juncture to make things easier for him and his party when they alight there this week for the presidential campaigns. It is a legitimate speculation. But it also stands to reason if one pins it on the fact that the army, having recently received a large consignment of arms and ammunition to conclude the military campaigns in the nearest future, decided it is time for the president to visit.

What would the president have said to the IDPs if he went after the abductions in April 2014, only for Boko Haram to sweep through southern Borno into Adamawa? At least, he was in a position to tell the displaced persons that the army was now ready to finish the job to enable them return to their communities as soon as possible. I join the people of Borno who were jubilating on seeing their president and governor come to interact with them. I pat Governor Shettima on the back for joining hands with the nation’s leader in that visit, abandoning the old tactics of badmouthing him on CNN and other western media forums.

The task of defeating Boko Haram is for all of us. We are going to do it, even if it means some people losing their instruments to blackmail the president.

Lagos Metroline: Fashola absolves Buhari!

ON Tuesday last week, the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos invited senior median practitioners to formally unveil Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, its gubernatorial flagbearer at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island. Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) led the team. It was question time, and I put the following question to him: “What does General Muhammadu Buhari tell you (leaders of APC in Lagos State) when you ask him why he cancelled the Lagos Metroline project?” It was not the last question of the night but Fashola chose to answer it last. And it was a terse answer. Hear him:

“I think it was a decision made by the governor here”. This was the first time I heard it was not Buhari who cancelled a project that would have eliminated Lagos number one monster – traffic snarl – which Fashola, almost 30 years later, is grappling with by building the Lagos – Okokomaiko integrated road and rail project. Which “governor here” made that controversial decision? Why did Fashola, a man with the knack for detailed explanations, choose to be terse and dismissive on this all-important issue? I found that answer deceptive, dismissive, diversionary and unsatisfactory.

The question remains, and it must be answered – one day.