Col. Gabriel Adetunji Ajayi (retd.), an erstwhile colonel administration and Quarter-Master General of the Lagos Garrison, has identified the biggest problem with the Nigerian military.

Ajayi spoke to TheSun against the backdrop of recent allegation of complicity against the military by a former Minister of Defense, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd.).

He said Danjuma, a former chief of army staff, had asked them to disobey him if he told them to do anything unethical during their training at the Nigerian Military School in 1978.

The ex-Defence minister recently caused an uproar when he accused the military of complicity in the killings and destruction of properties going on in some states allegedly by Fulani herdsmen.

Asked what he makes of the allegation and the call on the people to defend themselves, Ajayi said, “By the pedigree of General Danjuma, he holds the reputation of a no-nonsense man.

“He was my Chief of Army Staff. I remember vividly in 1978, he visited us while we were on a course at the Nigerian Military School of Infantry.

“And he forthrightly told us that if he, as our Chief of Army Staff asked us to do anything unethical that we should disobey him.

“So he is a very forthright person. He is not a frivolous man; he would not speak without having concrete proof and evidence. I don’t like the way Nigerian military have been behaving for quite some time now and I am not happy about it.

“They react to certain things that need not to react to. If the military is owned by Nigeria and Nigerians are complaining about certain things, all they need to do is not to defend themselves but to look at those things and carry out amendments where necessary.

“One mistake I found with the military throughout my career is that all of us believe our loyalty is to the Commander-in-Chief and not to Nigeria whereas the Commander-in-Chief himself is supposed to be loyal to Nigeria.
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“The military must see itself as an agent of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and acts as such. They are not to defend themselves. The constitution is made for Nigeria; Nigeria is not made for the constitution.

“If you are saying you want to carry out your constitutional responsibility you must know that the nation is above the constitution. The nation can afford to throw away the constitution and make another one but the constitution cannot afford to do away with the nation.

“So if people of Danjuma’s pedigree are saying something as serious as that, it is not for the military to immediately reply and begin to debunk the claims.

“What they need to do is for them to look inwards and see what has gone wrong. If a former Chief of Army Staff could turn round to say his boys are partial, it is like a father telling his children that they are not doing the right thing, Danjuma is a father to the military.

“I don’t think he can be frivolous in his statement. All we need to do is to examine what he has said, see where we have gone wrong and make the necessary amendments.

“It is very unfortunate for the military to start saying that they are impartial when many senior federal government officials have said that the herdsmen are from Chad, Niger, which means they are violators of national integrity so the question of being neutral and handling them with kids ‘glove does not arise except something is hidden somewhere.

“But as far as I am concerned, I don’t like our institutions to react to criticism the way they do rather they should look into those criticisms.”

Why would you write like this. How would your readers know who Ajayi is. Begin by introducing him in p1. Also tell whether he is a serving or retired colonel
Col Gabriel Adetunji Ajayi, has revealed the biggest problem with the military.

Ajayi spoke with Sun while reacting to the recent allegation of complicity against the military by a former Minister of Defense, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma.

He said Danjuma had asked them to disobey him
If he asked them to do anything unethical during their training at the Nigerian Military School in 1978.

The ex-Defence Minister caused an uproar last week when he accused the military of complicity in the killings and destruction of properties going on in some states allegedly by Fulani herdsmen.

Asked what he makes of the allegation and the call on the people to defend themselves, Col. Ajayi said
“By the pedigree of General Danjuma, he holds the reputation of a no-nonsense man.

“He was my Chief of Army Staff. I remember vividly in 1978, he visited us while we were on a course at the Nigerian Military School of Infantry.

“And he forthrightly told us that if he, as our Chief of Army Staff asked us to do anything unethical that we should disobey him.

“So he is a very forthright person. He is not a frivolous man; he would not speak without having concrete proof and evidence. I don’t like the way Nigerian military have been behaving for quite some time now and I am not happy about it.

“They react to certain things that need not to react to. If the military is owned by Nigeria and Nigerians are complaining about certain things, all they need to do is not to defend themselves but to look at those things and carry out amendments where necessary.

“One mistake I found with the military throughout my career is that all of us believe our loyalty is to the Commander-in-Chief and not to Nigeria whereas the Commander-in-Chief himself is supposed t o be loyal to Nigeria.

“The military must see itself as an agent of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and acts as such. They are not to defend themselves. The constitution is made for Nigeria; Nigeria is not made for the constitution.

“If you are saying you want to carry out your constitutional responsibility you must know that the nation is above the constitution. The nation can afford to throw away the constitution and make another one but the constitution cannot afford to do away with the nation.

“So if people of Danjuma’s pedigree are saying something as serious as that, it is not for the military to immediately reply and begin to debunk the claims.

“What they need to do is for them to look inwards and see what has gone wrong. If a former Chief of Army Staff could turn round to say his boys are partial, it is like a father telling his children that they are not doing the right thing, Danjuma is a father to the military.

“I don’t think he can be frivolous in his statement. All we need to do is to examine what he has said, see where we have gone wrong and make the necessary amendments.

“It is very unfortunate for the military to start saying that they are impartial when many senior federal government officials have said that the herdsmen are from Chad, Niger, which means they are violators of national integrity so the question of being neutral and handling them with kids ‘glove does not arise except something is hidden somewhere.

“But as far as I am concerned, I don’t like our institutions to react to criticism the way they do rather they should look into those criticisms.”

http://www.mcebisco.com.ng/2018/04/col-ajayi-reveals-what-ty-danjuma-told.html

Fixed

“It is very unfortunate for the military to start saying that they are impartial when many senior federal government officials have said that the herdsmen are from Chad, Niger, which means they are violators of national integrity so the question of being neutral and handling them with kids ‘glove does not arise except something is hidden somewhere.
Danjuma was right.Imagine a "foreign Fulani" violating Nigeria's sovereignty yet a Buhari-led Nigerian government cant do anything about it
APC government just kept shoting itself on the foot.

Tell them...the army belongs to Nigeria and not Buhari

Great facts but please check my signature

That is d problem with d armed forces and security agencies generally. They believe their allegiance is owed the C-in-C rather than to the Nigerian state.

Fire down Colonel

Right on spot

Well said COLONEL.
That's how people of INTEGRITY should talk, and not the likes of Osibande, Lie Mohammed, Garbage Nshiewu and etc.

And this c-in-c values loyalty above integrity so what do you expect?

Defending of Nigerian should be Nigeria Military paramount priority

We are yet to see the end of this drama

If you that the loyalty of the nigerian army lies with the people click like
If you knows that the loyalty of the nigerian army lies with buhari and their fulani masters click share

Ajayi have not been Afonjalised.

When the whole Nigeria security apparatus is in the hands of herdsmen and Boko patrons.

What else's do we expect .

Rightly so General Danjuma cannot just wake up and make frivolous accusations

With the spate of killings by the herdsmen it's right to say that the security agencies have been compromised, how many arrests have been made by these agencies or are the herdsmen ghosts

Buhari has turned the Nigerian Army against the Nigerian people ...tell me which treason is bigger than that? Buhari is the biggest threat Nigeria has faced from time immemorial.

To Colonel Ajayi and Sergent David bako..
For speaking the truth despite all odds..

freeze001:
That is d problem with d armed forces and security agencies generally. They believe their allegiance is owed the C-in-C rather than to the Nigerian state.

And even worse now that the C-in-C's allegiance is to his tribe, and not Nigeria.

"He was my Chief of Army Staff. I remember vividly in 1978, he visited us while we were on a course at the Nigerian Military School of Infantry.

“And he forthrightly told us that if he, as our Chief of Army Staff asked us to do anything unethical that we should disobey him."



It is obvious that Buhari was not at the parade ground on that day.

Demented rogues, useless empty foools in uniform , so who asked them to starve women and children during the civil war, good for nothing armed robbers

Omeokachie:
"He was my Chief of Army Staff. I remember vividly in 1978, he visited us while we were on a course at the Nigerian Military School of Infantry.

“And he forthrightly told us that if he, as our Chief of Army Staff asked us to do anything unethical that we should disobey him."



It is obvious that Buhari was not on parade on that day.

Buhari was walking his cows that day

Nigeria is finished

Nigeria's military and law enforcing bodies has been bastardized and turned into personal attack dogs under Buhari and APC
Never in history has this country gotten to such an all time low

TY is indeed a good man. But people change.

I love T.Y danjuma

#IStandWithTYDanjuma.