Growing up in the ancient city of Kano, one of the lessons I have learnt in my formative years is the wisdom in the adage that if you cannot bear the heat, one should get out of the kitchen. It teaches us to quit when the ovation is still loud, and not end up getting out of situations ignominiously.
About thirty years down the line, it looks very much as if the adage was created to suit the hole Hajia Naja’atu Mohammed has dug for herself: that of relentlessly using the slightest pretext to drag the name – and administration – of President Muhammadu Buhari in the dirtiest of mud.
Let me state at this stage that I am not a politician. But as a Nigerian who shares the same state of birth as Hajia Naja’atu, one is amazed that the woman’s vocabulary of politics of confusion is fast expanding, rather than shrinking. It smacks of hypocrisy of the highest order when you claim to be a frontline supporter of a man, a widely respected leader, and at the same time relish in rushing to the marketplace to wash the man’s proverbial dirty linen in public, though, God so kind, he doesn’t even have any.
There’s nothing wrong in criticizing a man you support, after all, mistakes are made to be corrected. It is God’s way of showing how imperfect we all are. But if you mean well, the best way to go about it is to seek the person in private audience, rather than seeking to reduce him in esteem, as Naja’atu always does.
To those who may not know, Hajia Naja’atu is a leading woman politician in northern Nigeria, who many of us hold as a mother figure, but who also confuse some of us as to what the future holds for us when our leaders behave in such non salutary manner. She currently holds a big office in the Police Service Commission, given to her by President Buhari, the man she relentlessly takes pleasure in bashing. In societies where honour and integrity are the in-things, Naja’atu ought to have resigned her appointment immediately, since she clearly doesn’t have any confidence in the person that gave her the appointment, and who is also governing the entire federation called Nigeria to the satisfaction of majority of its citizens.
In a sponsored interview with Vision FM and Farin Wata television, last week, Naja’atu rolled out the drums and illegitimized the Buhari Administration by wildly claiming it has been taken over by vested interests; that Buhari is not the one governing Nigeria, and sensationally went on to list names of some people she claims are the real presidents of this country.
The litany of falsehood did not stop there. Naja’atu also condemned the selflessness of the Nigerian Army in the war it has been waging against terrorists and other criminal elements in virtually all the states of Nigeria. She singled out the Chief of Army Staff, General TY Buratai for mention, making all sorts of spurious claims that one can only make in a country like ours where the judicial system that ought to defend innocent citizens against reckless libel is slow, very expensive and somewhat unpredictable.
One of the cheap lies she peddles, in a manner that betrays her personal hatred for General Buratai, for example, is her wild claim that he did not hold any combat position before being appointed to head the Nigerian Army as its 20th helmsman. In many other societies, that falsehood alone can earn Naja’atu a sack or serious reprimand.
A simple check on her hand-held device will have revealed that President Buhari clearly selected the best, at the time he appointed Yusuf Buratai as the 20th Chief of Army Staff. The woman will have saved herself needless embarrassment if she cared to find out that the Army Chief served as the Commander of the 2 Brigade in Port Harcourt, which he combined with another very sensitive position of Commander of Sector 2 of the Joint Task Force’s Operation Pullo Shield. Buratai acquitted himself excellently well in this assignment.
And what of the man’s excellent command of the then newly-reconstituted Multinational Joint Taskforce, which is one of the major qualities that attracted Buratai to President Buhari and other discerning, well meaning Nigerians.
Chief of Army Staff is well suited for the job because of operational experience, knowledge and passion for the appointment as he has equally participated in various operations at home and abroad. Notable among the operations he has participated is United Nations Angolan Verification II (UNAVEM II). During this period, he was described as a rugged officer with good attributes. Through personal discipline, show of valour, courage, inspiration and motivation, he was said to have always rekindled the spirit of his troops.
During the recent Armed Forces Remembrance Day, another man who knows his onions, the Minister of Defence, General Mansur Dan-Ali, also saluted what he rightly calls “the courage and resilience of officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army in various operations across the country, despite attempts by some disgruntled elements to drag the Army leadership’s reputation into the mud.”
Now, if the President of Nigeria, as well as the Minister of Defence, both of who are well-acquitted nationalists and tested war heroes could bear testimony to the unprecedented strides of the Nigerian Army, that institution should never – not even for a moment – allow for itself, the liberty of getting distracted by a woman who feels it is right to eat one’s cake and still have it. Naja’atu should never allow herself to be seen as one who thrives in biting the finger that feeds her.
Adam writes from Maigatari, Jigawa state
