●By Israel Eshanekpe aka Akpodoro
A member of the 39th regular course, he was commissioned as an officer in 1987, Major General Olufemi Olatubosun, 56, Oloyede, and was promoted a Major General in the Nigerian Army in September 2020. As an astute professional and a top-notch security expert, the newly appointed acting Chief of Army Staff is bringing a lot of hope and inspirations to younger officers that he has been appointed to lead by the Commander-In-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This analysis by Mayor Akpodoro seeks to redirect merchants of discord who had chosen to whittle down the excitement that greeted appointment of an Acting Chief of Army Staff to stand in the gap for the ailing substantive General Taoreed Lagbaja and celebrate the national solidarity that comes with this appointment deemed as one of the best by the current administration.
Although, divisive elements, conflict entrepreneurs, anarchists and cynicism had, shortly after the announcement of the appointment of General Oloyede fanning the embers of division and singing their usual ethnocentric sentiments to whip up anger among the citizens but alas, the harder they tried, the more they fail in their incitement.
Apparently, most of those pundits who fanned the embers of sectional interests forgot or deliberately and blindly went ahead with their shameful acts of misinformation, misdirection and lies to drive home their desire to stir crisis in the Nigerian Army, an institution that has no consideration for ethnicity, tribalism, creed or colour but absolutely and resolutely stand on the iron cast pillar of individible nation.
For the benefit of the scanty followers of cynicism and haters of the Nigerian state who do everything to sabotage the nation not for good of their fatherland but personal interest, the appointment of General Oluyede is the best and the way to go.
General Oluyede leads a constituency where he had held sway from his youth with his fellow compatriots, serving his fatherland conscientiously. Prior to his appointment, Oluyede was the 56th Commander of the elite Infantry Corps of the Nigerian Army, stationed in Jaji, Kaduna.
The 56-year-old Oluyede shares a long history with General Taoreed Lagbaja who is also a high flying officer thrusted to the position of authority by dint of hardwork, track record, excellent service to the nation as both are members of the 39th Regular Course, commissioned as officers in 1987.
As a commissioned officer Oluyede’s meritorious career began as a Platoon Commander and Adjutant at 65 Battalion, advancing to Company Commander at 177 Guards Battalion and later serving as a Staff Officer at the Guards Brigade and Commandant of the Amphibious Training School.
He has been part of several notable operations, including the ECOMOG Mission in Liberia, Operation HARMONY IV in Bakassi, and Operation HADIN KAI in the Northeast, where he commanded the 27 Task Force Brigade.
Over his career, Oluyede has received multiple honours which include the Corps Medal of Honour, the Grand Service Star, recognition for Passing the Staff Course, and membership in the National Institute, acknowledging his dedication and achievements in various fields of service.
Mischief makers who want to stoke ethnic divisions have gathered over the appointment of a soldiers’ soldier to, as usual, cast aspersions on the political system, vainfully attack the Nigerian Army to drive home senseless sentiments whereas, no national army is built anywhere in the world on the platter of ethnic consideration.
The Nigerian Army is an indivisible entity and no amount of villifications on the Commander-In-Chief can break its bond of unity.
Oluyede, as an Acting Chief of Army Staff, has an onerous task of leading an army that will administratively manage the institution, consolidate on the success already achieved by General Lagbaja and his team to mop up remnants of insurgents and bandits in the North East and North West, comb the North Central for the ragtag criminal elements and also dismantle and deradicalise the janjaweed ethnic militia in the South East and bring peace to bear in the country.
For the reason of selfish interest, political gladiators tend to bottle their failure to achieve their aims in the political arena in anger, spew hatred in the name of expressing their views and make it look like public opinion. The Nigerian Army should be respected, honoured and left to remain a national institution that it is.
Politicians and naive citizens now find it convenient to call on the army that they tend to ethnically balkanised to take over the reigns of government because they have lost out in the game of real politics. To such tribe of losers, Nigeria as a nation must cease to be because they are not getting what they want from the system, a notion that doesn’t promote national unity and cohesion. The Nigerian military must remain a stand-alone institution for a nation to maintain its sovereignty and national strength.
Antagonists of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress, APC administration have found occupation in attacking and demonising the President no matter how good his policies are owing to avoidable bellyaching.
The President, in the appointment of the acting Chief of Army Staff, Oluyede, sees merit and excellence but unpatriotic forces see tribalism. While they see lopsidedness, the President sees professional prowess and national unity.
This ethnic jingoism calls to question the mentality of the generation of 21st century politicians in Nigeria. They spew hate, they celebrate mediocrity on national television while half-baked and equally low-level journalists give them prominence in the media all in the name of attacking the commonsense of the Nigerian people.
Who is afraid of General Oluyede leading the Nigerian Army to build a stable nation? Who is intimidated by the excellent credentials of the man who is generally described as a nation builder and a military professional expert? Who is afraid of a workable, peaceful and united Nigeria where citizens see themselves as a people of one indivisible nation and not those who attack the forces that keep Nigeria one?
As a nation, Nigerians have come a long way to be able to build a formidable population of patriots but for tribalism and hatred championed by section of the Nigerian society. Such was the unfortunate parochial sentiments conveyed recently by a presidential candidate who, in his known deceptive manner, told his people that, he congratulated former head of State, General Yakubu Gowon on his birthday for the reason of forgiving him for leading the civil war against insurgents who sought to divide the nation after a bloody coup that claimed the lives of Nigeria’s founding fathers.
Suffice it to say that politicians who failed to achieve their goals are the bane of Nigeria politics. They take advantage of the ignorance of the nation’s population to plant anarchy in the minds of the innocent citizens. Until the government adopts punitive approach against forces of anarchy, division to whittle down effects through national orientation, education and enlightenment of the citizens chasing into oblivion bigots and conflict entrepreneurs, these people will contijue to propagate evil against the government.
They are pessimists, narcissists and demagogues who wish Nigeria failure and this they demonstrate in their demarketing of our nation.
Traditional institution in the South South region are currently being mobilised by the head of the Association of Urhobo Family Mayoral Crown, AUFMC, to give its unflinching loyalty and solidarity to the Acting Chief of Army Staff to wage unrelenting war against the criminal elements in the region and beyond.
This administration stands on the collective aspiration of all well-meaning Nigerians who want the norm of nepotism, racketeering, corruption, clueless leadership, wastefulness in governance to be eroded and replaced with good governance established on strong pillar of sustainable national economy that could stand the test of any global economic storm.
Redirecting the economy to be productive and self sustainance like the Renewed Hope Agenda is being established is the best way to go irrespective of the temporary hardship the citizens face.
“For those of us who are vast in constitutional security matters, we shall join hands with the General Oluyede’s Army to defeat every form of criminalities plaguing our nation. It is time the military institution draw out a plan to engage the youths in the war against crime. The national orientation agency should be stepped up for a new Nigeria to evolve just like the president is doing his best, every citizen must add their quota to the development and growth of our nation.”
It is time to name and shame the haters of our fatherland. It is an obvious fact that some unbridled elements on social media preponderate websites of organisations all over the world telling them not to have anything in the form of investment to do in Nigeria. They do so with mischievious intent of demarketing their own nation, yet, the same people crave a developed Nigeria state – very unfortunate.
Those afraid of the appointment of General Oluyede are the ones who unleash venom on the state, they are the promoters of violence and the protagonists of military rule which is an archaic and the worst form of government no nation in its right mind will pray to engage in not even the military institution who trained and nutured in the tradition of democratic tenets. There’s no gainsaying the fact that the military with the appointment of General Oluyede has one of its best in the saddle and Nigerians hope to work excellently with him irrespective of his tribe.
