By Dr. Mike Uyi
“The military don’t start wars. Politicians start wars.” Going forward, when the army inevitably weighs in, perseverance through adversity is the key to succeeding in battle. It’s the ability to push forward that matters most”. US Chief of Army Staff, General William C. Westmoreland (1968 to 1972).
For Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt Gen Faruk Yahaya, General Westmoreland couldn’t have delivered better, timelier counsel, on the way to go. Beset by significant deficits in funding, equipment, logistics, updated combat doctrine in a new-to-the-nation conflict, Faruk has moved unrelentingly to change the narrative and reposition the Nigerian Army to better confront and defeat the foe, on multiple fronts.
Leadership is about using people and resources to achieve maximum results. A leader’s history of successes and failures makes a big difference in his credibility.
To build trust, a leader must exemplify these qualities: competence, connection and character. People will forgive occasional mistakes based on ability, especially if they can see that you’re still growing as a leader. But they won’t trust someone who has slips in character.
In that area, even occasional lapses are lethal. No leader can break trust with his people and expect to keep influencing them. Trust makes leadership possible. This is what the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya exemplifies.
Significantly, in the heat of conflict, as a professional soldier, Faruk has ensured that the Nigerian Army continues to remain apolitical, professional and commendably responsive in the discharge of its constitutional roles. To validate the essence of this analysis, it would be germane to look at the grounds covered by the Nigerian Army.
For emphasis, the nation was confronted by a mix of new-to-country insurgency which gradually became an enlarged asymmetric conflict with the African wing of ISIS (called ISWAP), which has access to sophisticated weapons and foreign funding.
Throw in flagrant banditry, kidnapping, cattle rustling and the foreign killer herdsmen activity, then a fair picture of the nature of the extant challenges can be appreciated. Give it to him – Lt-Gen Faruk Yahaya approached this ‘war’ with different tactics and weapons but more importantly with the common goal of success in the face of battle.
In the light of the fight against terrorists and other criminal elements, the most critical threat to Nigeria, in the North East zone, the Nigerian Army, in conjunction with other Services and security agencies have dominated the area and continue to carry out sustained operations against the insurgents.
In terms of protecting the nation’s territorial integrity, the nation’s land borders have not been breached as the army continually maintains a posture to defend Nigeria’s territorial rights and interests. Security relations with neighbors like Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republics has remained relatively calm.
Since Faruk’s appointment as COAS, the Nigerian Army has witnessed a lot of reorganization and redeployment in a bid to improve its overall operational responsiveness and professionalism.
The reorganisation in the Army is to align with some current realities and to meet with international standards. The COAS also ordered a change from a wholly defensive posture to one where the force defends in numbers and conducts offensive operations in smaller packets but simultaneously in different fronts.
In the critical arena of training, the army has expanded its in-theater training for troops in the frontlines to afford them the required capabilities to conduct effective operations. Special attention was also given to providing local and foreign training opportunities for all cadre of officers and soldiers.
Aside from a potent manifestation of professionalism amongst the rank and file and the officers Corp, there is a high degree of human rights observance in the army. Also, there is a monumental degree of infrastructural development across all the formations of the Nigerian Army. There is, indeed, a remarkable increase in the Army equipment holdings and improved maintenance culture.
I see in Lt Gen. Faruk the image of an uncommon soldier; rugged and combative on the battlefields and a torn in the flesh of insurgents, insurrectionists and other enemies of Nigeria.
He is a soldier tough at battlefront, but meek, kind and humble at home. His humility and compassion always leave whoever encounters him in awe. He is the face of a perfect humanity, who shares the pains and agonies of a suffering people and steps out to assist traumatized and helpless people. He counts his joy and happiness in the number of people he has freed from torments and the hangman’s noose and the lives he positively impacted.
Because of his immense love for humanity, Lt Gen. Faruk goes out of his way to assist individuals and communities. The prosperity and development he brought to many communities across Nigeria are uncountable.
Lt Gen. Faruk Yahaya has substantially dispensed himself as an Army Chief whose footprints are not only indelible, but have dwarfed the accomplishments of all his predecessors put together.
Uyi is the President General, Global Peace Movement International, UK.
