Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (rtd) rarely speaks, and when he does he captures the conscience of the nation. He has done that since he retired as a young, idealistic soldier during the turmoil of the June 12 crisis in the early 1990’s.
The now septuagenarian ex-soldier turned farmer intervened in the affairs of the country recently in a letter to the President, Muhammadu Buhari.
Echoing words of Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio who led the 1804 jihad in northern Nigeria, Umar warned against lopsided appointments and sued for fairness in the country. He noted that the wave of appointments by the present Federal Government does not reflect the diversity and flavours that make up Nigeria today.
He noted that he addressed a press conference after President Buhari was elected as the nation’s chief executive, urging his challenger, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to concede in the interest of peace in the polity. Very poignant was his reference to the fate of the acting president of the Nigerian Court of Appeal, Monica Dongban Mensem. He observed that she is serving her second three-month term in that acting capacity. She is a northern Christian from Plateau State.
“I do not know Justice Mensem but those who do attest to her competence, honesty and humility,” he remarked, adding that she is eminently qualified to be made a substantive president of the court. He fears that since she has not been confirmed in that position, the plan might be to allow her run out her term as acting president so the president appoints the next in line, a Hausa-Fulani man, in a substantive capacity. This would be a cynical step, Umar implies, and an act of injustice to the woman, the northern Christian, the pursuit of justice and fairness in the country and our spirit of diversity as a people.
“If she is not and bypassed in favour of the next in line who happens to be another northern Muslim, that would be odd,” he wrote. By “odd,” Umar probably does not mean it is unusual for this administration but in a nation in pursuit of hierarchical justice and unity.
He came down hard on the military appointments, where virtually all key positions are in the hands of the northerner. This matter has been raised for years by well-meaning critics of the president. But the physiognomy of the security top brass has not changed, even when they have not impressed the citizens in taming insecurity in the country.
Umar’s voyage to history was particularly telling. He recalled the recruitment of the first General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Nigerian army when the white man was vacating it in 1965. Defence minister Muhammadu Ribadu recommended Aguiyi-Ironsi because he was the most senior, not necessarily because he was the most qualified, especially because Maimalari, a sure bet for the job, was passed over for fairness.
He also adverted to Chief of Army Staff Theophilus Danjuma’s decision, after the death of Murtala Muhammed, to head-hunt Shehu Yar’adua to become the number two man under Olusegun Obsanjo as chief of staff, Supreme Headquarters. Danjuma, a Christian, thought it was not proper for a Christian head of state to have a Christian from the north as his deputy.
It is not late to change matters, and for all the present government has done in terms of infrastructure work, the human elements of trust and inclusion are as important as any other legacy a government can bequeath.
We agree with Umar that Mensem be confirmed as president of the Court of Appeal, and it is just the right thing to do.
