By Ochereome Nnanna
God, in His in finite mercies, has granted every individual special talent to live a life of success. I daresay if opportunities are expanded enough, everybody will be a celebrity. William Shakespeare (Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi and Wole Soyinka) wrote poems and thrilled people with stories.

Hap Palmer is the greatest baby song artiste I have known. Ali Baba (Without the Forty Thieves) pioneered spontaneous stand-up comedy in Nigeria and gave birth to a new industry now populated more by charlatans than real talents.

While some people’s talents can create laughter and gut-wrenching hilarity, others are specially gifted in the art of instilling terror in the hearts of fellow men and women (especially the latter). Some people are actually trained to kill fellow human beings and when they do it with unqualified finesse they earn great praise and esteem and are elevated to high positions in society! This is where the fighting forces of state come in.

I once attended an event at the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs, NIIA, in Victoria Island. It was the launching of a book on the late Air Marshal Ibrahim Alfa, a former Chief of Air Staff.

At that occasion, a speaker who was equally a former Chief of Air Staff, Nsikak Edwok, mounted the podium to say a few words on Alfa. Heaping eulogies on the celebrant, Edwok sent shivers down many civilian spines when he pridefully hailed Alfa as “a polished killer”!

Not a polished killer of chicken or that rodent delicacy we call “grass-cutters”, but of people. I calmed myself by reminding myself that Edwok only meant to say Alfa, during his active years in the air force, was a distinguished officer and yet a gentleman.

Military men are trained to be effective killers of the enemies of our state or country in order to protect us and our national assets. They are known as “patriots” because in killing our enemies they also put their lives on the line and are often killed while trying to protect us, our country and our national assets and interests.

The Boko Haram sect is the nation’s current foremost enemies, and they are made up of foreigners and our own disgruntled countrymen.

Before they laid down their arms to take up the hugely successful amnesty offer, the Niger Delta militants were identified as enemies of Nigeria since they targeted our economic lifeblood.

Also, the network of kidnappers in the South East and South-South are another set of enemies of the Nigerian State . In Abia State , they tried to evolve into some kind of political force and even started giving the state government “conditions” to be met before giving up their ignoble adventure.

In both instances, one man was called to duty to lead the Joint Military Task Force, JTF, in counter-insurgency expeditions. His name is Major General Sarkin Yakin Bello. He just recently got promoted Major General in recognition of his exploits crushing the kidnappers of the Aba axis while successfully persuading the Niger Delta militants to surrender and be rehabilitated.

Before his call-up over the weekend to replace Ambassador Zakari Ibrahim as the Special Adviser to the President on Counter-Terrorism, he was the General Officer Commanding the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, which has jurisdiction over army formations in the South East, South-South and parts of the North Central zones.

Bello is big but not big-for-nothing. I once watched him at very close quarters when he came on a visit in the company of the Chief of Army Staff, General Onyeabor Ihejirika, to a mutual friend’s country home in Igbere last December. Bello displayed great wit and bonhomie that are usually second nature to great military commanders.

Major General Yakin Bello’s appointment to help bring the terrorist adventures of Boko Haram and other saboteurs to heel is bound to be well received. At least, he has shown the track records of an achiever. On two occasions the President sent him on a national errand and he came out in flying colours. So, he deserves this third call-up. This is unlike the Hafiz Ringim episode.

Ringim, the Inspector General of Police was sent on similar assignments in the South East and South-South. During his period there, banditry, kidnapping and general criminality were out of control. It was because of Ringim’s failure that Bello was called in. President Jonathan sensationally kept a blind eye to Ringim’s lack of track record of excellent service and sacrificed many top police officers to promote Ringim to IG.

The ball is now in the court of Major General Yakin Bello to once again, prove his worth. If he does well, he may replace Ihejirika as Chief of Army Staff when the latter retires from service. If he should fail he would be leaving the service from the Presidency. The choice is all his. Let me show him the route to failure which he must avoid if indeed he is the patriot all of us think he is.

Many top officers who are followers of the Muslim faith, especially those from the North often fall into the trap of seeing themselves first as Muslims and Northerners before being Nigerians. Some of them also get caught up in the sentiment of seeing terrorists like Boko Haram as fighters for Islam.

If indeed Islam is a religion of peace, there is no way any genuine Muslim will see Boko Haram or Al Qaeda as soldiers of Islam. It is this mistaken apprehension that often leads to some Boko Haram suspects being released from detention as we have heard in the case of Mamman Nur, the alleged mastermind of the UN House bombing in Abuja .

It is also this mindset that enables foreigners with all sorts of evil intentions to be allowed into our country through porous borders, especially in the North. And yet, experience has shown that when these people start their murderous campaigns, it is innocent bystander Muslims and Northerners that have borne the heavier brunt of their dastardly war on Nigeria .

General Yakin Bello must continue to serve Nigeria meritoriously in confronting the terrorists just as he was able to deal with criminals and insurgents in the South East and South-South. This assignment is a real test of the patriot in him.