Politics Frustrating War Against Terrorism In Nigeria — CDS Musa

The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Christopher Musa, has responded to claims of illegal procurement in the military, accusing external countries of funding terrorism in Nigeria and hindering the sale of necessary equipment to help combat insecurity.

Musa, while responding to questions on Aljazeera’s interview programme Live on Saturday night, monitored by THE WHISTLER, blamed “political decision” for the lingering war against insecurity in the country.

His reactions followed a report by Transparency International alleging the misappropriation of public funds related to “corrupt defence procurement practices.”

“If procurement procedure is mar by corruptions then those selling it are corrupt,” he said.

The Transparency International had also faulted “opaque security funding system known as security votes” in the country.

Responding, the CDS said “We do not produce the equipment we need. It takes two to tangle. If they are saying there is corruption. It takes somebody to give and collect. Which means those having these weapons are equally guilty.

“We have a procurement procedure which is being followed and to also state that even with our money at times, we find it difficult getting equipment, and the question is why?

“One of the reasons this insurgency has been for this long is because we have been denied access to equipment, even when we have our money to get to, it’s difficult,” he noted.

When asked why the country is allegedly being denied access to purchase weapons, CDS Musa said “political decision…”

He added, “We’re just good guys just trying to make sure that our country is secured, and then some individuals seem not to be happy about it, trying everything possible to throw us under the bus for whatever reasons.

“What I realised over time — I’ve been in the service for almost 33 years — Anytime we seem to be succeeding, somebody throws something at us and the question is why?

“Is it because we’re succeeding, or you don’t want the country to move forward? What is the intent? That’s the question we’re asking.”

The interviewer further asked ‘You seem to be posing those questions not to me, not necessarily to our viewers, but to people in government. What do you want to say to them directly? You seem to suggest they’re holding it back.

But the military chief clarified that he was not referring to the Bola Tinubu-led administration.

“Not our own government, particularly. Our government is doing the best they can. But, you know, there’s an international system. Like I said, we don’t produce, we need to buy. So, going to buy sometimes is a bit difficult.”

The CDS was further asked if Nigeria was open to foreign partnerships, especially concerning speculations of a foreign military base on the nation’s soil.

General Musa said, “No, not at all. We do not encourage any foreign base. We have the capacity to secure our country, to secure the subdivision, and to assist Africa.

“All we need is to continue to do joint training which we do, and get equipment that we need to help us project this war.”

Musa explained that establishing a foreign base in Nigeria would “create more problems”. He cited an instance to emphasize Nigeria’s stance.

He said, “I mean, imagine you bring X into your country. The next thing is, most of the other terrorists will also want to come because they have those against them.

“We don’t want Nigeria or Africa or West Africa to be torn into a proxy war, because that’s what will be the next thing. Once you allow one to come in, the other one goes the other way and before you know it, there’s conflict.”

When asked if Nigeria was considering international forces outside West Africa, the CDS responded in the negative: “No, nobody. We’re good to go.

“All we’re doing is, as we speak, we still have our troops maintaining peace within Africa on a United Nations (UN) mission.”

He, however, called on the UN to intervene by tracing and tracking foreign financiers of insurgency in Nigeria.

“The problem is that we have talked international community — Let’s find out the funding — As we speak now, we have over 120,000 (terrorists) that have surrendered.

“Most of them when they surrendered were coming with hard currencies. How did they get them? How were they funded? How did they get the training, How did they get the equipment?

Asked who could be funding the terrorists, Musa said, “Well, maybe international conspiracy, who knows? How have they been able to sustain themselves for 15 years (Since the inception of the insurgency)?

“This is one question everyone should ask themselves. I will just leave it as at, I am sure they know that these are the challenges we are facing. So the United Nations need to come in; we need to trace the funding.”

The interview whose interest it was to see Nigeria destabilised. General Musa responded: “I do not know, you do not know, but your guess is as good as mine.”