Generals also cry

The joy of Ismaila Abdullahi, a retired Brigadier General of the Nigerian Army, knew no bounds late last week. Understandably so. His bosom friend and colleague, another retired Brigadier General, Maharazu.

I. Tsiga, who was kidnapped and kept by terrorists for 56 days, was released from captivity.For General Abdullahi, there was ample reason to be in buoyant mood.



He did not only get his friend back, he successfully supervised the operation that saw to the release of General Tsiga. Interestingly, the operation headed by General Abdullahi, to free Tsiga, was not the type commonly identified with the military. It was not exactly kinetic, the phrase they commonly use.

This was an operation of a rather humbling type. Whatever it was, Abdullahi was elated and his joy poured into a public statement.On April 4,2025, the day General Tsiga regained his freedom, after meeting the kidnapper’s ransom demand, General Abdullahi released a public statement of appreciation.

The statement bears re-publishing, for the records and for what it signifies. googletag.cmd.

push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1718806029429-0'); }); Wrote the General to friends and associates; “Appreciation to you for your wonderful and unexpected contributions in our struggle to ensure that General MI Tsiga regained his freedom from the 5th of February 2025, when he was violently taken away from his house in Tsiga town, Bakori LGA of Kaduna state..

...

The moment we heard of General MI Tsiga’s kidnapping, myself and Major General LB Bunza started exchanging ideas towards the release of General Tsiga. On the 9th February 2025, we decided to create a WhatsApp platform that we named simply “TSIGA”. The aim was to inform the general public of the unfolding situation, i.

e., the abduction of General MI Tsiga. As the days went by and when the bandits made their demands of 400,000,000 naira as the ransom money they wanted before they released General MI Tsiga, we decided to solicit for donations on our TSIGA PLATFORM.

The response was overwhelming. On this platform, we had over 300 members; made up of retired military officers, serving military officers and civilians from all segments of our society, university lecturers, ambassadors and businessmen”“From 22 February 2025, when donations started coming in to 15 March 2025, the amount we received was indicative that yes, TOGETHER WE CAN. (emphasis his).

Today,4th April 2025, I have come to the end of my humble task...

As I write this little write-up, I feel fulfilled as our collective efforts have finally yielded a very positive outcome i.e. THE RELEASE of General MI Tsiga” This, in a nutshell, is the Odyssey of MI Tsiga, retired Brigadier General of Nigerian Army, as told by his friend, Brigadier General, Ismaila Abdullahi.

Exactly how much was paid to ransom Tsiga is not known, for now. The terrorist kidnappers demanded for N400,000,000 (Four Hundred Million Naira) only. That is roughly $250,000 USA dollars.

That was what the kidnappers asked for. From the account of General Abdullahi, it is possible that all of that amount, or at least, near that, was raised and paid for the General to keep his life and regain his freedom. $(document).

ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({})}); Tsiga was not an unknown quantity.

He was a General of the Nigerian Army. He had also served as Director General of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). In other words, he should be a prominent figure in both military and government circles in the country.

Yet kidnappers “violently took him”, in the words of general Abdullahi, from his home in Katsina State. And they kept him till they were paid what they asked for.So, what, really, is a General worth in Nigeria? Forget the assessment of the kidnappers.

Their valuation may not only be based on the need to maximize profit in their undertaking, it appears, also, to be a statement of defiance and disdain. Obviously, the worth of a General in Nigeria is no higher than the value of life generally, therein, which does not amount to much at the moment. Quite sad.

Were it to be any different, the Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria would not have been going and coming from France and other places, with scant attention to a retired General of the Armed Forces at the mercy of kidnappers for almost two months. Were the worth of a general of better reckoning, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, would not have made to jet off to Canada for a game of veterans, at the period a retired General of the Nigerian Army was in the grips of kidnappers. Were a General in Nigeria worth what a General is worth in other climes, the National Assembly would have made the kidnapping of General Tsiga a big issue, compared with how the legislators were queuing up to condemn the killing in 16 individuals in Edo State, purported to be hunters, but whose actual credentials remain contentious, even at death.

As embarrassing as the kidnapping of a General of the Nigerian Army ought to be, it curiously didn’t seem to mean much to both the government and the military high command. Not surprisingly, it became the headache of General Tsiga’s friends and associates, to pull together the resources to rescue him from the kidnappers, if the statement of General Abdullahi is to go with. The question of what the worth of a General is in Nigeria, cannot but continue to reverberate.

The ordeal of General Tsiga is a clear statement by the government to Nigerians. The message is simple; ‘you are on your own! If a General will be kidnapped, kept in the wild for close to two months and eventually managed to regain freedom after paying ransom, what fate do travellers on the high way, or young NYSC members, or indeed, any other citizen, expect when kidnappers strike? Who is safe? The recent decision by former President Muhammadu Buhari to relocate from Katsina State, back to Kaduna, may, after all, not be unconnected with the Tsiga incident in the same Katsina. Kidnappers have, obviously, reached the next level in Nigeria.

They do not even have respect for positions. Nor do they seem to care about those who were sympathetic to them yesterday.The siege to Nigeria by barbarous invaders is apace, without compromise.

With virtually no commitment by the government to securing lives and property, the constituent ethnic nationalities in Nigerians are watching and scampering away as their homestead is being seized and many killed. It is a very bizarre situation. Neither the governors, nor the so-called representatives of the people at the legislature, are asking questions about why the military is only checkmating those who try to fight the invaders, but feign helplessness in the face of the atrocious march by the terrorists, whether called herdsmen or bandits.

Who are those behind this raging one-sided war? $(document).ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).

push({})}); The destruction of Plateau and Benue States have continued without let. The indigenous peoples of the two states are being visited with steady acts of extermination, while the government makes bland threats and at other times, plea. The same people who found their voices in condemning the killing of “travelling hunters” with questionable identity, strangely lost their voices in condemning the killing of more than 52 persons in Plateau State.

So, who want the indigenous people of Plateau dead? Who are those occupying their land? Over in Benue State, at Otoibi, in Otukpo Local Government Area, the home of Brigadier General David Mark, former Senate President, invaders struck last Saturday, April 5 2025, shooting indiscriminately and sacking people from their homes. Few deaths were recorded. Police spokesperson, Superintendent Anene Sewuese Catherine confirmed the latest attack.

Nigeria is at war. Why the government continues to deny reality remains baffling. The assault on communities across all the geo-political zones is coordinated.

That much is clear. The Tinubu government is glaringly not up to the challenge. That, now, is the crux of the matter.

So, what is to be done?Director General of the Department of Security Services (DSS), Adeola Ajayi, was uncommonly candid recently, when he advised communities to organize to defend themselves, rather than wait on security agencies. That seems a fair deal. First, however, the government and security agencies have to cease waging war on communities and local vigilante groups that acquire and bear weapons to defend themselves, at the same time as the same security agencies turn a blind eye to heavily armed terrorists and Fulani invaders, including those from the Sahel, who are on a mission to sack farmlands and communities all across the country.

With Generals now as vulnerable as farmers and all other citizens, at the hands of invaders and kidnappers, matters are coming to a head. Whether Nero is Tinubu’s model is to be seen. $(document).

ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({})}); The post Generals also cry appeared first on The Sun Nigeria.

.