President Jonathan Say it isn’t true! If Chief of Defense Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh’s house is in flames, there goes all!

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Mr. President, since the beginning of this year, is not Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh the highest-ranking military officer in Nigeria?

Is this not the same man who in May of this year told the nation and the world that he knows the whereabouts of several hundred kidnapped girls but cannot reveal their location and cannot use force to rescue them, but “We will get the girls back.”

In October of this year, is this not the same man whose military told the Nigerian people and the world that the Islamic extremists from Boko Haram have agreed to an instant cease-fire?

So, Mr. President, we know you are in talks with him. Is he still blaming “people from outside” and “some people from this country” over the state of Nigerian security forces helplessness against the insurgents?

Mr. Jonathan, didn't Badeh tell us some months ago that, “We want our girls back, I can tell you that our military can and will do it, but where they are held, we cannot go there with force.” Okay, this is understood. But as each of the hundreds of the kidnapped schoolgirls were taken out from their location to be married off, were their movements not being monitored through military surveillance?

Sir, is he still in distress over his recent statement, "Nobody should say Nigerian military does not know what it is doing,” and , were you perturbed when you heard him state that, "We are not happy at all, because we are killing our own kinsmen and we are killing mostly the youths. We cannot afford to eliminate our youths, who are we going to hand over Nigeria to, we can't kill them."

Mr. President, what is this man telling you now about the supposed cease-fire? And the very recent mayhem in his very own hometown where the insurgents reportedly killed the dear son of the Emir of Mubi . But most of all, what about the burning of the house of the Chief of Defence Staff, the highest-ranking military officer in Nigeria, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh?

Mr. President, tell us please. What is his new response about his house and the clinic he built on his late mother's behalf? The nation would like to know. Does he still think the military “knows what it is doing?” Or is he still blaming “people from outside” and “some people from this country.”

Now that Air Marshal Badeh, a man from Vimtim, is directly a victim of terror, and the rebels are in search of the “family of Badeh for slaughter,” how soon will you be sending him to protect what is left of the people?

Mr. President, the leader of the Islamic extremists, Abubakar Shekau, in a sneering manner, addressed the nation, "If you knew the state your daughters are in today, it might lead some of you ... to die from grief."

God forbid! Of course, we will not die of sorrow, but if truth be told, the parents of the girls are in traumatic grief, the surrounding people are traumatized from fear and you, Mr. President, may be in a state of traumatic confusion; as to Badeh, only he can tell us!

Badeh boasts that the “military in Nigeria is the strong arm of democracy,” and that it “holds the constitution very dear,” adding that the constitution is “represented by the president”.

Sir, is he actually saying this? I ask because the constitution is never represented by a president; instead, the constitution is the fundamental law which always represents the established and deliberate will of the people, which the actions of the insurgents are tantamount to being against, period.

If the Nigerian military is up to its task as part of our democracy, where were they at the checkpoints, as the Boko Haram forces travelled in a convoy of trucks with multiple armored personnel carriers as reported by the press?

If the Nigeria military is up to its task as part of our democracy, where were they when the great town of Mubi was captured and the residents had to run for their lives?

If the Nigeria military is up to its job as part of our democracy, why are the borders so loose that insurgents' trucks and armories can come in openly?

If the Nigeria military is up to its duty as part of our democracy, why are our soldiers always resorting to running when they see Boko Haram forces?

If the Nigeria military is up to its mission as part of our democracy, how come patriotism on the part of our soldiers seems weak, and what is the reason behind their running? Is it that they are unwilling to kill our “brothers” and “youths,” in the words of Badeh?

Now, we hear, as always, that the military leadership has arrested some senior officers for fleeing? What a joke! Is this the first time the soldiers will take to their heels?

Mr. President, enough is enough. On a psychological level, as the election draws nearer and nearer, you should be worried about the level of motivation of the military to meet their task of protecting all of us.

Mr. President, in a society that is heavily driven by ethnic, linguistic and corrupt mentalities, the unusually high level of ongoing crises as we go into the 2015 is worrisome. Here is the pain; who and what is fomenting and inflaming these national crises is the trillion naira question, and, sir, you will not find the answer here; sorry.

And, good luck, on your tendency to run soon; I don't mean run away; I mean run for the next presidency. Let's hope all stays well in our nation.

Dr. John Egbeazien Oshodi is a Forensic, Clinical and National Psychologist and a former Secretary-General of the Nigeria Psychological Association. [email protected]


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Articles by John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D.