The veteran martinet and gumshoe, who, some myopic detractors believe, has been over recycled too often, Aliyu Gusau (retd.), new Defence Minister, is being speculated to have thrown in the towel after being miffed by the irreverent conducts of the Service Chiefs who are supposed to defer to him. The Service Chiefs were said to have shunned a meeting summoned by Gusau as freshly installed Defence Tzar.
Some detractors have always held that Gusau should now be archaic in outlook on security and intelligence affairs and cannot have anything new to offer. They believe the septuagenarian should have been left to rest cosy in retirement and fresher blood and minds, who are abreast of modern arsenals of war as well as sharper and more scientific methods of intelligence gathering, should have rather been brought in to deal with the increasingly intractable problem of Boko Haram insurgency and other security challenges.
Well, as we said earlier, all those who hold such archaic views regarding Gusau are myopic. Our savvy President, Goodluck Jonathan (Let those who are always branding him clueless eat their hearts out), made a perfect choice to have brought in Gusau at the nick of time.These detractors were even speculating that Jonathan would rather have Gusau out of reckoning as an unrepentant presidential contender against in 2015 and so the President gave the martinet the sinecure post of Defence Minister.
These detractors, of course, are the clueless ones. Have they not noticed that it is just when the Gusau phenomenon resurfaced that the military started recording some long-waited successes against Boko Haram.
Some mischief makers are running their mouths that that the recently appointed Service Chiefs who were also settling into their jobs and were apparently valiantly taking the battle to the insurgents would not want to be robbed of recognition and credit for the instant impact they are making. Hence they would not be too willing to defer to the new Minister of Defence, though a General of much longer standing than them, not to talk of Gusau’s deputy, the new Minister of State for Defence,the ‘Lagos boy’, Musiliu Obanikoro, considered a mere upstart in military and intelligence affairs, not minding that he is a distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic, a diplomat and seasoned politician to boot.
Of course, all those thoughts are satanic.
The tale bearers reported that Gusau, apart from resigning, stayed away from the first Federal Executive meeting he would have attended as new minister because of the purported raw deal he got from the Service Chiefs.
Unconfirmed rebuttal by presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, said Gusau did not play truancy, but rather caught a flu which he had to nurse, not a cold feet, mark you.
We shall continue to put our ears to the ground and keep you posted.
taiwoogundipe 