NIGERIA National Security Adviser (NSA) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu’s undiplomatic outburst against the Canadian embassy in Nigeria on its refusal to issue visas to Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa and his team to Canada is absolutely reckless and deprecating for a man who sits atop the exalted office of NSA.
Mallam Ribadu was reported as saying, ‘Thank you for the courage to say Canada denied you visas. They can go to hell.’
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu further cried wolf when he exclaimed, ‘Even though it’s painful, it’s disrespectful, but we are peaceful and strong and I agree with you that it is time to fix our country. Yet, this is another reason we work hard to make Nigeria work.’
Ribadu’s twitches were in response to the Chief of Defence Staff’s agony on how he was denied a visa, alongside his team, to honour fallen war veterans. ‘Every disappointment is a blessing. Yesterday, I was meant to be in Canada. There’s an event to honour our veterans, those that were injured during battles, and we were meant to be there.
‘We were invited with our team. Half has gone and half has been denied. It’s very disappointing.
‘The denial is a clear reminder that the country must “stand on its own, stand strong as a nation and should no longer be taken for granted.’
Mallam Ribadu’s arcane attack on the Canadian embassy and the government, if anything, bordered on his revisionist strategy in dealing with the issues ailing the country he previously repudiated when the shoe was on the other foot.
Ribadu, as the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), investigated several high-profile Nigerian politicians for corruption. Some of the notable ones include Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Ribadu investigated Tinubu, the current President of Nigeria during his tenure as Governor of Lagos State; Orji Uzor Kalu, a former Governor of Abia State and a serving Senator; George Akume, a former Governor of Benue State; and the current Secretary to the Government of the Federation for corruption and money laundering and a host of others.
It’s literally eviscerating that Ribadu is now in bed with these politicians he once criticised, denounced and ridiculed for allegedly dipping their hands in the public till and looting the commonwealth of the country shamelessly. Most disturbing is the fact that Ribadu has played more politics with his office than given tangible counsel towards revamping the comatose security architecture of the country. Who doesn’t know that war against terrorism in Nigeria is an economic warfare meant to keep the military boys busy while the top brass are smiling to the bank?
Ribadu’s recent secret meeting with the Ogoni people sparked intense debate on his abdication of his statutory duties while insurgency is spreading rapidly across the country, claiming top military officers and innocent citizens alike. The meeting of the Ogoni Youth Federation on the exclusion of some critical stakeholders aimed at the commencement of oil exploration in Ogoni land shouldn’t be Ribadu’s business. Perceptive members of the public suspect that the exclusion of the principal actors of Ogoni land from the meeting with the NSA might be deliberate. The system is afraid that critical stakeholders might mention names of bunkerers linked to some military officers.
The question has been asked severally whether or not Ribadu is truly deserving of that office due to his inability to use modern technology to analyse patterns and predict potential insurgent attacks. A powerful office such as that of the NSA with enormous resources ought to have employed natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision to analyse and process vast amounts of data from various sources, such as social media, surveillance footage, and human intelligence, to combat insurgency. Apart from a reward for an old favour for exoneration, there is no reason a Ribadu should be appointed to the office of the
NSA where eminent professors on counterterrorism abound within and outside of the military establishment.
If by now the office of the NSA and the military, headed by General Christopher Musa, is unable to deploy facial recognition systems to identify and track insurgent leaders and their operations in record time, then all the buzz about surveillance, reconnaissance, and combat operations is a waste of the nation’s resources. By the way, where is the nanotechnology, cybernetics, comprehensive and integrated approach and enhanced counter-insurgency promised by Tinubu’s presidency? Where are the drones and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) for surveillance, reconnaissance, and combat operations with huge budgetary provisions?
No self-respecting and self-trusting country, such as Canada, would willingly play host to a Nigerian military contingent, an institution severally accused of high-profile corruption, human rights abuses and enabling bunkering and oil theft in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The matter of denial of visas for the Chief of Defence Staff and his team by the Canadian Embassy in Nigeria ought to be a matter within the purview of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
We only hope and pray that such an episode truly marks a learning curve for Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
