 Abducted military officer Major Dalong murdered after bandits attacked Nigerian Defence Academy. PDP crisis enters another phase as Uche Secundus hands over to deputy following a court order. This is plus politics and I am Mary Anacom. The military officer Major Christopher Dalong abducted at the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna State has been murdered. According to reports his body was found on Tuesday evening hours after he was captured by bandits. The security bridge of the Nigerian Defence Academy triggered shock across the nation with everyone wondering if anyone is really safe if bandits could still operate so freely inside an elite military institution. Well joining us to discuss this is security expert Peter Ebedion and retired Colonel Chinedu Ohonda. Thank you very much gentlemen for joining us. Thank you for having us as well. Good evening. Great. I'm going to start with you Colonel Ohonda because you obviously this is your constituency. I mean everyone who is in the armed forces like I said yesterday trained in that Defence Academy. Even those I spoke with a retired AVM yesterday and he said that most of the people who occupy that facility are cadets and not necessarily soldiers per se. But let's talk about we don't want to go back into you know why and how that place was infiltrated by bandits. But now a soldier has been killed. A high ranking officer in that facility has been killed. First it was insults but now it's injury. How does this make you feel as a person who you know used to wear the Nigerian Army uniform as someone who has fought for the honour of this country. OK issue of NDA is quite devastating painful and I weep for Nigerian Defence Academy. Why do I say that. I was lectured in NDA. I handled from regular 46 to 51 and also taught direct regular combatant from DRC 9 to 12. So I know how the security there is. It is quite tight. I'm getting in mind also that a lot of abduction killing has been taking place within and around NDA. That should make our military people to beef up the security at that place. Therefore instance the School of Forestry and Mechanism, Agriculture and Mechanism. Incited adjacent to NDA. And the Kaduna Parminus of Abuja with Parminus Isatrigasa very close to NDA. The airport, the traditional airport in Kaduna is very close to that place. And they have been organizing people, carrying away people and so on. So something should come to the mind of our officers that look they should have beefed up these things. And from one position headquarters is not up to four kilometres from there. And Air Force Base is at that place very close to NDA two kilometres away. So they should have beefed up that place. But none. None was done. At least a platoon plus or a company should have been armed and guide that place. The cadets don't have the issue of carry arms except when they are training on it. When they are going to win or do field training. That's when they come in contact with us. The house they use, they return it back to the Amore. So the soldiers ought to be beefed up there to this event. It is so diverse that they can with bike and cut into the residential areas of officers and took on these boys. And the story I don't know whether it's true or not that the man they abducted was found there. But I think they are yet to care that issue. So one of our one was wounded but is still in hospital and so on. So the whole thing is appalling. It's very, very appalling. Because it does not show any sign of seriousness on our own part. Talking about seriousness here. Looking at the statement that was issued by the Army. The NDA community, let me, I just want to quote them directly. They said that on Tuesday that the incident must be treated with all seriousness and will be thoroughly investigated. People were hoping that the Defense Academy will come out with strong words. They would not just talk tough but they would see some form of action. But were you satisfied with the statement, the press release from the Defense Academy after what happened? The problem is that there was a compromise in the first instance. And then there were two people either you see from the gate. They were sleeping. Those that were manning the CCTV were asleep and so on. So this thing is there must be a compromise or there was a collaboration. So you're insinuating that there's a mole in the Army that allowed for the NDA to be taken over by bandits and for a senior officer to be taken or abducted. You're telling me that there is a mole, a collaboration of sorts. You believe this? Well, the most investigated them properly and come out with all the investigation and come out with those that are seen to have collaborated the ponies accordingly. Why would there be collaboration in the NDA with bandits whom this joint tax force or joint armed forces are trying to fight and trying to repel. They're trying to stop the activities. Why would there be a collaboration? Well, you see, what we are saying is that NDA is a training institution and is not a fighting group. If they have gone to rebuy the controlment or Dalit Barracks is a different case. NDA is a training institution and there are modules which they use in making sure that the place is safe. They use soldiers, go on soldiers from either demo battalion and this is to cover up their security, to provide security for them. Cadets are seen to be training and when they are training they don't have arms. The arms are kept in the amory and not anywhere. So it's a different ball game if you talk of Barrack that is maintaining a workforce that is fighting force that is there. So what we are saying is that the army, the hierarchy of the army most institutes an investigating panel to check up know who is capable, know who is not. And know the people that on duty that make this thing happen and so on. They most identify them by force. Alright, well I'm going to come to you Peter but first the attack on the NDA obviously has gotten all sorts of reaction. But the first of the most of the reactions is a former, or rather he's still a musician but a very famous daddy Shokie reacted in a video about what's happening in the country and what's happening in the army and he seemed to have been disappointed in the army. Let's take a look at that video and when we come back I'd like to hear your take Peter. Our pride in Nigerian defense academy was attacked. You people are still calling these people bandit. These people are not bandit but mercenaries, mercenaries. We should start calling them the right in their mercenaries that are coming to take over our land. See, it's a shame that right now the government cannot, you are talking of God Almighty. It's a shame and a disgrace, a heavy disgrace. A shame. NDA, Nigerian defense academy, attacked soldiers, children killed, soldiers killed and you people are still calling yourself Nigerian army. But you can beat people that wear camo flag, you can go ahead beating people on it. So Peter, you can hear Daddy Shokie there. He's not just talking about the fact that the army, he makes it seem like the army has lowered its guard and has allowed this to happen. He seems to sound like the army brought this upon themselves. Again he's talked about the fact that the army seems to be more brutal to civilians instead of being brutal to the bandits. But share your thoughts with us. Well, that perception that the army is more heavy handed on the civilian populace is not misplaced because we've seen incidents like this in the east of Nigeria, in the south of Nigeria and we don't see a similar situation up in the north. I'll also address something that he mentioned in his video that we played for us to listen to. He said that these people behind it should be called the men that they are not just bandits. They should be called the most serious tag. He said use word mercenaries. And that view is not misplaced because if you look at the projections from even the global terrorism index and any serious think tank across the world has predicted already that starting from as a 2020 going forward, the epicenter of the terrorist activity in the world will shift from Middle East to Africa, especially West Africa and East Africa. So it is not out of place to believe that these people who have committed these attacks are mercenaries. Again, the general feeling of the populace because information warfare is one of the things that I do. The general feeling of the populace is that we are defeated, we are defeated people. I mean, I'm not even surprised that this is happening to be honest because even Colin mentioned a few minutes ago of the attacks at Phan at First Mechanisation. We've heard of these things before now. The fact that this has happened. I mean, even in Bono that were convinced of NDE where the cadets are not armed. What of this? These people have attacked places and held their fort for hours. I mean, CO was killed in Nigeria in Bono some months ago. So I'm not surprised that this is his opinion. And I believe it's the general opinion of many Nigerians right now. I want to push forward. There's a former military man who this morning claimed that Boko Haram members are in Mr. President's cabinet. There are governors who are sponsoring them. There are members of the... I mean, he made a very huge claim. He said, governor, senators, Aso-Lok officials are sponsoring these terrorists. He's making a bold claim. He said, during interrogation, these names have come up. And this is not the first time we're hearing this. Remember when President Goodlock Jonathan was the sitting president. He also mentioned at the time that he did have sponsors of Boko Haram in his cabinet. He did not name them. He never got to naming them. And this brings the question, are we really, really ready to fight and put an end to terrorism or at least stem it down? Or are we politicising the issue? I remember General Achuwa Dhanjima has said this several times. There have been other high-profile individuals in the country who've said this before. Even foreigners with intelligence can say this clearly that there are people they believe to be highly placed in the good of Nigeria who are sacred cows that cannot be taught. Which reinforces the belief that this government lacks both the political will and even the good will to prosecute this fact correctly. When the clamour was high that the services should be replaced, eventually they did so to play together. This incident that has happened now, I believe, is a very strategic one. Again, I mentioned information warfare and psychological warfare. What is happening now is you see these elements within the battle, not just only in the fields or in the actual battlefront, but in our minds. We know what's happening in Afghanistan. The general belief that it's spreading across the world is that Nigeria is going to be a target for these people. And with the Cabinet Government saying there was a ban on ransoms, that they have made this attack where they've made it and taken a major and are demanding for ransom as reports are occurring, it is psychological. The damage they're doing is psychological. And they are winning this war they're asking because they are perpetrating terror across Amin. I'm in Lagos right now, I've been on the phone almost all day with people across the country. The general belief is that we're not safe or they don't know where it's next. This government is, I mean, I don't have as much information as the gentleman on the major TV station that spoke this morning may have at his fingertips. But it's our belief that if the government was indeed sure about this, there will be many other things that have done better than they've done. But I mean, I keep asking this question every day. We make it seem, and I'm not in any way trying to resolve the presidency, but we make it seem like this is a war that needs to be won just by the presidency. Where are the governors on this? The governors don't have the power constitutionally to do anything. They're practically sitting blocks. I'll give an example that may be a bit controversial. The Southern Governors Forum came out some weeks ago to make certain recommendations to Mr. President and to the executive arm of government about certain things it notices in the country, including the petroleum industry bill that was not passed into law some days ago. We've not seen any action from the government in response to what the governors have said. The governors are hamstrung. They can make these statements that seem to produce some form of power. I'm not sure I agree with you, Peter. When you say the governors are sitting docks, governors do have, I mean, they're chief security officers in the estate, whether it's on paper or not. You know, whatever they say, whatever they do, their body language plays. I mean, look at Kaduna State, which seems to be more like a theater for all of these abductions and these attacks. It seems to be the hardest hits. Yes, for example, it has its fair share. But Kaduna, it's more like a daily thing in Kaduna State. So really, can you say that the governors have not no role to play? They do have a role to play. Their job is to secure the people in the estates first. I also use the word hamstrung. It means that even, I mean, when someone is hamstrung, they may have the ability to run, but they can only run so far. They can't run as fast as they normally would have without being hamstrung. These governors, even the constitution does not empower them to do the things that they'd like to do, but they cannot do right now. I mean, I remember during the election season, just a few months ago, I mean, in 2019, it was on TV that, I mean, the state governor was complaining that the army commander in his estate was in charge of those who were going to hire that collection of material. The fact that these kinds of things can happen, and the governor is not able to take action immediately without reporting to, but even if we report to DHQ, there is very little that can be done. These governors are hamstrung, and I feel sorry for Manijia because the way it is, it will likely get worse. Conor O'Honda, I'm coming back to you now because, again, armed forces have been known to be the best when it comes to peacekeeping. Keeping outside this country, they're very highly rated, but when it comes to winning a war in our backyard, it looks like the army is overwhelmed. And there are so many things to it. I'm sure if we start having a conversation as to brain drain and welfare of the people who are fighting and what needs to be done, I mean, that's a whole kettle of fish on its own. But is this a wake-up call for the army and the guys in the rank and the file? What needs to be done as someone who's been there, who's fought in many wars, who has also trained and has been trained? What do we need to do now? I mean, the president, yes, is a retired general and also knows how warfare happens, but this is not a conventional war. So going forward, what needs to be done? What needs to be considered? Because the army has to take the lead in dealing with this warfare. And on the part of our politicians, what needs to be done? Well, you know, with the army, the Nigerian army came in contact with Gorilla warfare or Asymmetric Warfare in the year 1991 when we encountered the forces in Liberia and Sierra Leone. And the army took it upon themselves to fight that war and we were winning. But what is happening now is that there is no proper collaboration. There is no proper synergy between the army, air force and navy. But if there was and the armies overwhelmed because you know they are performing duty at the United Nations level, performing duty at the AU level, performing duty at the ECOMOG level, performing duty. Both in Tana and Astana, duty at this. And if we have a problem in our backyard, shouldn't the AU and the UN, all of these people and ECOWAS, shouldn't they know that this should be our primary focus? We can't be fighting another person's war when our backyard is on fire. Well, that is the case. The numeric strength of the army is quite overwhelming. It's quite low. It's quite low and the army cannot be everywhere at the time. So what we have suggested is that there must be more recruitment bringing the retired people to train the soldiers. So it's not a question of them thinking retired men can come and start fighting for them and so on. They have retired, they have retired. They can use them for other means of returning those that are here in the DC. We should have more. At least our armed forces should be up to combined, up to 1.5 million if we are to protect our population. And not just talking of less than 500,000 and 600,000 use talking of the DC. We don't have the same. And they are ill-equipped. The army is ill-equipped, as I say now. And they don't have all the instruments of warfare to fight. So that is the DC. And there is always that problem of high-placed civilians, high-placed leaders, high-placed politicians have been fingered as those sponsoring these people. The United Nations are less. The United States, they are the ones sponsoring them. They have been able to pick up one name and publish and prosecute. No. But in United Arab Republic, they have done that. And they have killed about seven of them. But we keep hearing rumors that the people are still sponsored by top politicians, top leaders and so on in the country. And the opponent general said there are over 500 leaders and so on, but they have not published it. Nigeria has known the people. And we are just playing to the gallery. That is the problem we have. Okay. Peter, we're wrapping up right now. So quickly, do you see this going away anytime soon with the body language of Mr. President, our politicians and the fact that 2023 seems to be more in view for our politicians than security? I typically am an optimist. But to say that this is going to go away anytime soon would be both naive and would be both injurious to the confidence of people who could trust our council to take decisions. One of the reasons I'm saying this is because with the buildup of arms across the Sahel, down to where we are in West Africa, it is alarming. We have non-state actors across different parts of the country who have built up light and heavy weapons. And even with what's happening now, there's going to be a migration of jihadist fighters from the Middle East to this part of the world. And they find Nigeria to be a lucrative target for what they've been doing. The borders are poor us. The government is interested in its fight against terrorism. So it is likely that this kind of attacks will increase across many cities in Nigeria in the next 18 months as we head towards the election. One of the reasons this is happening is that they are determined to put Nigeria. I mean, it happened during the last election. No, the 2015 elections. Moko Haram had captured significant land masses in Nigeria and the election had to be postponed or delayed for a while so that the military could be deployed to deal with those issues at the time. They are going to repeat the same thing in this election cycle and it's a scary consideration. I don't know how else to see this, but we are in big trouble. Well, we hope that that would not be the case. PTA Median is a security expert and Chinadu Ohonda is a retired colonel in the Nigerian Army. Thank you very much, gentlemen, for speaking with us. Yeah, thank you very much. All right, we'll take a short break. And when we return, we'll be talking about the crisis within the PDP as it takes a new turn and a court has ordered that the party chairman, which is seconded, steps down. Stay with us.