Insecurity: We'll come out in full force on insurgents

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March 11, 2021

Insecurity: We’ll come out in full force on insurgents – Monguno

NEW SERVICE CHIEFS & NSA MONGUNO OUTLASTING ASO VILLA CABALS *BY OLALEKAN ADIGUN It's no longer news that one insider who fought the Aso Rock cabal to a standstill is Rtd General Baba Gana Monguno, the National SecurityAdviser to President Buhari. That is if you dont count the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo who was the cabal's main target. While the Vice President continues to win the praise of the President openly and publicly despite the cabal's many attempts to rupture their relationship, the NSA also has retained the confidence of the President who has refused many attempts by the cabal led by late ABBA Kyari to remove him outrightly. So when remnants of the late Kyari penned a missive in the media recently saying the NSA is an unhappy, the question cropped up: Is Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), the NSA truly an unhappy man? What will make anyone believe that a man admired by many majorly for his courage and determination, even in the face of adversity, be unhappy despite overcoming challenges and several attempts to undermine him? Monguno earned the respect of many when he stood up courageously against influential individuals -known as the Cabals-in the seat of power not minding how they might try to rid him of his position as NSA. It is however baffling to note that anyone will misconstrue such an expression of genuine concern and the love for country as sadness or disillusionment with the setup at the time. Calling him sad at a time such as this (when a new set of service chiefs are on board) is a deliberate attempt to sow a seed of discord between the new service chiefs and the NSA. MONGUNO’S CONCERNS Although a recent online report described Monguno, as "the unhappy national security adviser”, those close to him disagree, affirming instead that his competence earned him the respect of the President, particularly for speaking out against what was clearly becoming an aberration in the security architecture of the country. A close associate of the NSA who spoke on the condition of anonymity revealed that Monguno’s concern was never prompted by his desire to gain personal benefits or seek cheap popularity as President Buhari’s silently influential NSA. His dissatisfaction with the conduct of former service chiefs was purely based on professional grounds. It is this his dissatisfaction that is being used to portray Monguno as a sad aide to the President. “In fact, what is manifesting today can be traced to the power tussle between the late Chief of Staff to President Buhari, Mr Abba Kyari and the NSA, Babagana Monguno. The CoS had usurped Monguno’s role as a security adviser and dished out operational orders directly to the service chiefs without minding the implications of his action especially as the situation in parts of the country deteriorated,” Monguno’s associate added It was indeed an open secret that Kyari had made several attempts to challenge the authority of Monguno to effectively coordinate the activities of security and defence organisations in the country. A source in the presidency who was quite familiar with the frosty relationship between Monguno and Kyari, confirmed that late Abba Kyari had even devised several tactics to destabilize the NSA, including enlisting the services of a section of the press to anchor the media arm of his plot to undermine the powers of Monguno who had rejected several overtures to jeopardize national security and the sovereignty of the country. FEUD BETWEEN KYARI AND MONGUNO It was learnt that Kyari’s grudge against Monguno started during the probe of money found at an Ikoyi apartment allegedly owned by the NIA under the watch of its former DG, Ayo Oke. The NSA was one of the dissenting voices against the late CoS. He resisted all attempts by Kyari to divert the NIA funds and mislead the President on its handling. According to the presidency source, while Monguno had dismissed attempts by Kyari to take custody and control of the money, the NSA had insisted that the money be deposited at the CBN, hence the fight between the two trusted aides of the President started and persisted until the demise of the CoS in 2020. Frustrated by Monguno’s unwavering stand against plans by the CoS to shortchange the system, Kyari launched several attacks against the NSA, including sending several damaging reports against the NSA to the President requesting for his sack from office. Another anonymous source in the presidency disclosed that President Buhari who is very satisfied with Monguno as NSA had at several times rejected propositions by the CoS to fire him. Specifically, in Dec 2019, an incident was reported of how President Buhari angrily sent Kyari away when he approached him (the President) again with a memo proposing the replacement of Monguno with Lawan Daura former DSS boss as NSA. At about the same time, the late Kyari was also scheming to remove President's Media Adviser Femi Adesina and had already instructed another Villa official to be playing his role while reappointments for the second term where in progress. "Kyari then refused to process NSA and the Media Adviser's reappointments. It was an open secret then at the Villa," a source noted. MONGUNO’S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SERVICE CHIEFS Many are not aware that the President had in fact become tired of Mr Kyari’s antics and was determined not to renew his appointment but for the intervention of some influential traditional rulers whom the late Kyari had ran to for help to secure his job at the take-off of the second term. Evidently, Kyari’s meddlesomeness in the operations of the service chiefs became a regular feature and the results were obvious for all to see as security operations were poorly coordinated. The lackluster attitude of the military in the fight against insurgency and banditry in the country was attributed to the cold war orchestrated against the NSA. At some points, the service chiefs refused to honour meetings called at the instance of the NSA for fear of being punished by the late CoS. A source at the NSA’s office disclosed that a clear manifestation of the frosty relationship between the NSA and service chiefs was the redeployment of senior Army officers away from the NSA’s Office by the then Chief of Army Staff, without any justifiable reasons, amounting to gross insubordination in military and security parlance. Severing NSA's formal ties with the service chiefs was one of the ploys devised by Kyari to whittle down the power and influence of Monguno as NSA and then portray him as incompetent. Monguno’s cordial relationship with the present set of service chiefs is an indication that there was indeed no re-definition of the role of the NSA as wrongly insinuated in a recent online report. The new crop of service chiefs enjoy a cordial relationship with the NSA which is needed for the successful prosecution of the ongoing operation against insurgency and banditry across the country. Indeed the NSA said last week at a press briefing at the Aso Villa that since the appointment of the new service chiefs he has already met them severely, something that late Kyari effectively frustrated with the old service chiefs. The resurgent attacks on the person of Monguno is a strategy by remnants of the Cabal to renew the plot to axe him as Nigeria’s National Security Adviser. As has already been explained via a statement from his office, the NSA was misquoted in an interview with the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Monguno was quoted to have said that the government was not aware of how monies meant for the purchase of arms were spent under the immediate past Service Chiefs and could not also trace the arms they claimed to have bought. But the statement noted that the NSA did not categorically say that monies meant for arms procurement were missing under the former service chiefs. According to the clarification, NSA office noted that “we would like to state that the NSA was quoted out of context, as he did not categorically say that funds meant for arms procurement were missing under the former service chiefs, as reported or transcribed by some media outlets from the BBC interview. “During the interview, the NSA only reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to deal decisively with insecurity and stated President Muhammadu Buhari’s continued commitment to providing all necessary support to the armed forces, including the provision of arms and equipment.” Clearly, the ploy to remove Monguno from office has not been discarded by his detractors. They are relentless in seeking avenues to extend the unhealthy rivalry that existed between the NSA and the former service chiefs to the new helmsmen of the armed forces. Fortunately, Monguno, a seasoned professional, remains unperturbed. Having survived previous attempts to remove him from office, his disposition to doing the right thing cannot be changed by a mere propaganda to portray him as power drunk and seeking personal gains. Happy or unhappy, the NSA remains focused on the job. And if feelers from the Presidency is anything to do by, the retired General Monguno continues to enjoy the confidence of the President. Said a Villa source "the new Chief of Staff being a tested diplomat and international public servant is working in tandem with the NSA, and even Mr. President is relieved that his trusted aides are now on the same page." What cannot be denied today is that Monguno now has a good working relationship with the new military service chiefs and he has survived the antics of the Cabal so far. Let's hope all these will yield better security outcomes for the country unlike before. Olalekan Adigun is a Lagos based Public Affairs Analyst

Babagana Monguno,

…Rules out engagement of mercenaries

…Says negotiating with terrorists suggests weakness

…Reveals meeting with Shiek Gumi

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

THE Federal Government on Thursday said that the current Service Chiefs will deploy all necessary force to deal with terrorists and bandits terrorizing some parts of the country.

National Security Adviser, NSA, Major Gen. Babagana Monguno, (retd) stated this at the weekly presidential media briefing at the Council Chamber, State House, Abuja.

He also ruled out the possibility of government negotiating with the criminals, saying that doing that will suggest weakness and incapacity on the part of government.

He said the government would not succumb to blackmail and the use of criminals by proxies to harass innocent citizens.

He said: “While the government is not averse to talking, it must apply the necessary force because you can’t trust these people.

“Government wants to use military assets to eliminate them but if along the line, they come out, good. It paints the picture of weakness, incapacity.”

The NSA further declared that the federal government will not engage mercenaries in its fight against insurgents and other forms of insecurity in the country.

While responding to a question on renewed calls by North-east governors on the federal government to engage foreign mercenaries in routing Boko Haram terrorists in Sambisa forest and other insurgents’ enclaves, he said: “The President’s view and directive is that we will not engage mercenaries when we have our own people to deal with these problems. We have the personnel and resources, and the President has given a new lease of life to the Armed Forces.”

He said the government would not succumb to blackmail and the use of criminals by proxies to harass innocent citizens.

According to him, “While government is not averse to talking with these entities, it also has to fully apply its weight. You can’t (negotiate) with people who are unreliable and who will continue to hurt society. We will apply the full weight of the government to deal with these criminals.

“These are not people looking for anything that is genuine or legitimate, they’re just out to take calculated measures to inflict pain and violence on innocent people. We must deal with them the way they need to be dealt with. We will fully assert the government’s will.

“We are also focusing on the associated dimensions of the banditry and terrorism: Illegal Drugs, the flow of small arms & light weapons, and Illegal mining in places like Zamfara. These are some of the scenarios fueling the violence, and we are already tackling them decisively.”

The NSA also disclosed that between March and December 2020, the military successfully took out 2,403 insurgents in the North East.

On why the government was silent on Ahmad Gumi, an Islamic cleric, who has been calling on government to grant insurgents amnesty, Monguno, he has met and interacted with him briefly in Kaduna at the zonal town hall meeting with service chiefs but that he was still waiting for the cleric to come forth as he promised to help.

He also said the recent changes made by President Buhari to the security architecture “gives us a ray of hope that things will be adjusted, so that whatever we do as regards securing Nigeria will be in conformity with the aspirations of the people.

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On external support, the NSA said: “There’s a Regional Intelligence Fusion Unit, comprising US, UK, France working with us and our neighbors. They’ve been supporting us with intelligence. For us what’s most important is acting on the intelligence—that’s why we’re investing in equipment and assets.”

On the new Service Chiefs, Monguno said, “The new direction of government is to come out with full force. Government will not allow itself to be blackmailed by any group or any individual who thinks he can hide under the surface and use proxies to deal a fatal blow on innocent people.

” That I want to assure you categorically and unequivocally, government is going to apply full weight to deal with these criminals until such a time that they vacate the shores of this country.

” In dealing with this issue, government realizes the tangential, auxiliary organizations to key in both the issue of drugs coming in and smuggling of arms and light weapons.

” As a result of what I said about delivering maximum force, the weight of our security organizations, does that obviate the need for us to use soft approach.

“We are ready to dialogue with these people but for us, it’s not a priority.

“We can’t be singing the same song everyday and these people are unreliable. They are ignoble, they are ready to undermine whatever agreement we have had, so, because of that, if the opportunity avails itself, of course, we will talk with responsible people from the side of those people.

“I don’t even know how to categorize them because it’s not as if they are looking for something you can point a finger at, it’s not some kind of nationalistic situation, something you can actually identify and relate to.

“These are just a murderous group of individuals who are keyed up on drugs and I don’t know what anybody wants to negotiate with these people.

“And the people who have been negotiating with them in the first place, don’t you think they should actually, if there is that sincerity of purpose talk with the right people in government? So, for negotiations, it is there, we would see what happens if it happens.”

Vanguard News Nigeria

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