A top security brass in Abuja has confirmed to SaharaReporters that the Commandant of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, in Kaduna State, AVM Ahmed Tijjani Mua’azu, has run into hot water with top heads of Nigerian military intelligence for blaming poor intelligence for the incessant bombings across the country.
A top security brass in Abuja has confirmed to SaharaReporters that the Commandant of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, in Kaduna State, AVM Ahmed Tijjani Mua’azu, has run into hot water with top heads of Nigerian military intelligence for blaming poor intelligence for the incessant bombings across the country.
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The Commandant was said to have made the remark to members of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Defence who visited the college last week, probably unaware that some journalists and intelligence officers were in the group.
The source said, “Immediately [the story] was in the media, the other top military brass were embarrassed and became uneasy. He was summoned to Abuja and he came for clarification. But it is clear he said what was reported.”
Another source said that the military high command felt uncomfortable on how a senior military officer of such standing will make such a comment, with severe implications on national security.
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On May 3, Daily Trust reported the Commandant’s remarks as follows: “The military by its training cannot stop these bombs. It is the intelligence community that will take care of the situations because it takes at least one week to assemble a small bomb. The problems of internal security also stems from social issues that includes poverty and unemployment in the country.”
In a bid to save his neck, we have learnt that the Commandant hurriedly dispatched a rebuttal through one Lt. Col. Mohammed Dole, in which he said, “The commandant did not make such comments during or after the visit" by members of the House of Representatives Committee on Defence.
According to Dole, the commandant used the opportunity of the visit to brief the honourable members only on 2011 capital projects executed by the college. “The Commandant, by the level of his professional training and experience, is in the best position and very conversant with the networking of security agencies on intelligence gathering. He is equally abreast with recent successes of the intelligence community in pre-empting the activities of the terrorists in the country. Therefore such comments could not have been made by him (as reported). The college believes that the report is not only false, but is also aimed at causing disaffection, tarnishing the reputation of the college and bringing the person of the Commandant to disrepute. We wish to reiterate the total commitment of the College leadership in pursuing the professional training of the members of the Nigerian Armed Forces, other security agencies and sister African states to meet current security challenges."
It will be recalled that the National Security Adviser, General Owoye Azazi, was lambasted one week ago by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and President Goodluck Jonathan for making a similar remark. Azazi, who spoke in Asaba on April 27, expressed the view that the struggle for power within the PDP is responsible for the rise of terrorism in the country.
Advising Azazi to be careful with his use of words, Jonathan described the PDP as “one of the most democratic parties” and that he does not believe that it is undemocratic practice in the party that gave rise to Boko Haram or any other groups.
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