By Daniel Ayuba
On March 12, National Security Adviser, Major-General Babagana Monguno (Rtd.) insinuated in a BBC radio interview that some unspecified amount of money earmarked for military equipment might have been misapplied. He spoke in Hausa, but the English language translation has largely been undisputed, with much of the controversy deriving from the part of the interview that said “…the President had done his best by approving huge amount of money for arms purchase, but the equipment was not forthcoming. Now that he (the President) has brought in new people (Service Chiefs), hopefully they will device some ways… I’m not saying the former Service Chiefs diverted the money, but presently we do not know where the money is.”
That was a bold statement, and it quickly triggered diverse reactions and interpretations; some sensible and informative, others quite simply ludicrous. Quickest off the block was the federal government itself which, through presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, sought to clarify that the arms had, indeed, been procured, but had yet to be delivered. The government has since confirmed that the highly anticipated Super Tucanos, the most expensive piece of equipment ordered since 2018 from the United States, would be delivered in July of this year, a mere four months down the road. Even before this new piece of vital information, Monguno himself had not only promptly walked back the most controversial parts of his statement, but insisted that he was quoted out of context.
Top public functionaries everywhere misspeak all the time, but only the humble and brave ever admit their errors. For most people, the natural reflex is to double down, dig in, and blame everyone else except themselves. If in doubt, go ask former US President, Donald Trump, and he would tell you only the weak ever admit to an error, including errors of miscommunication. Monguno said he misspoke, but this has not stopped some ridiculous attacks from a diverse cast of pretentious and largely ill-informed morality police.
For example, some critics have brashly declared that Monguno, being so fluent in Hausa, could not ever misspeak in Hausa, a suggestion that fluency in a language, any language at all, immunizes the speaker against miscommunication. The less charitable among his traducers have gone even further to question his choice of BBC Hausa Service for the interview because – wait for this – that is the medium of choice for terrorists and bandits, implying that the NSA was providing intelligence to the enemy. In all of this, the badge of honour for the most nonsensical must go to one Usman Yusuf, a professor of Haematology, who berated the NSA and insinuated that his sartorial elegance and “mastery of the English language” at press conferences render him unfit for office. Brushing aside clarifications by both the NSA and the presidency, this same professor believes that any suggestion of impropriety against officials of the government, no matter how obliquely and regardless of duly admitted communication errors, is a mortal crime for which the offender must be removed from office.
Please let this sink in: we are talking here about a highly educated Nigerian! Could someone please help this professor understand that a government reputed for its zero-tolerance for corruption does not go about sacking its senior officials merely because of errors of miscommunication, even if this could potentially create wrongful impressions about the integrity of its anti-corruption campaign? In this particular case, the federal government has done what responsible governments do, having promptly issued a rebuttal and provided evidence that equipment that had been duly purchased would be delivered within a specified time-line, a reassurance to citizens that monies had been properly spent.
It is, of course, to be expected that in a country like Nigeria where corruption runs deep, cynicism and distrust of leaders would also run deep. It is sad but true that in our country today, one thing that has become more constant than corruption is the expectation of corruption, the snowballing impression that everybody must be cheating. Everyone has become doubtful about the credibility of just about everybody and everything. It doesn’t have to be this way, but such a pathological breakdown of civic trust must explain what is appearing as a carefully choreographed campaign of calumny against General Monguno since his BBC interview.
From such sizzling headlines like “Court Order To Seize Properties Reportedly Linked to National Security Adviser, Monguno” (Sahara Reporters of March, 17) to “How Buhari Stopped Monguno’s $2.5bn Arms Deal with UAE Merchants” (The Cable of March, 18), all coming in a matter of days after Monguno’s controversial BBC interview, you get the impression corruption has started the usual fight back – apologies to our indefatigable Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, formerly Minister of Finance and now the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Behind the headlines, you find that in the report by Sahara Reporters, Monguno’s only offence is an alleged “closeness” to a Director of Finance and Administration at ONSA, who is under investigation by the EFCC, a case of vicarious culpability. The report by The Cable is more detailed and specific, an indication that this story was based on a confidential briefing by high level government source(s), or at least by someone with an axe to grind, or still by someone intend on muddying the waters.
In a classic case of indict first and invent the crime later, the two reports cleverly but cynically played up President Buhari’s alleged withdrawal of a prior approval for arms purchase to suggest malfeasance, as if such authority was not solely that of the president. Folks, that’s what presidents do: to vet and control big ticket expenditures, and when a president declines to approve a request, it is simply because he does not want to give that specific approval, not because he wants to bust a potential crime. Remember that all of this happened way back in 2017, and we are talking about it in 2021. These reports curiously omitted to say that General Monguno had been NSA since 2015, a mark of Mr. President’s high confidence in the leadership and integrity of his National Security Adviser. It is particularly troubling that these reports, brimming with high-level insider sources, were curiously one-sided. Not one of these reports as much as bothered to seek Monguno’s views, even as he is the central subject of these reports. What has happened to good old investigative, balanced, and ethical journalism?
I do not know General Monguno, but I believe he is a conscientious public servant who wants the best for his country. His career records prove this. I get it that some people are angry with the NSA for suggesting that the fight against terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping in our country has been hampered by inadequate lethal equipment for which so much money had been appropriated. He had said that was what he wanted to say in the BBC interview but misspoke. We should believe him, just as we should believe all those who are brave enough to admit to errors of miscommunication.
What I reject is any attempt by faceless traducers, in cohort with their feckless friends in the media, to impugn the character and integrity of an innocent and diligent public officer, just because of a mere error of miscommunication. All of us, including the media, must reject a toxic culture of smear – the so-called ‘pull-him-down syndrome’ – that, like a primitive religion, revels in the destruction of its gods.
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Ayuba writes from Kaduna.
