FIGHT THE BATTLE, YOU CAN WIN - BY USMAN MOHAMMED

FIGHT THE BATTLES YOU CAN WIN.

For a former General, Muhammadu Buhari doesn't appear very bright. His knowledge of the Art of War appears blunted hence its no surprised he was ousted from power over 30 years ago in a backroom coup d'etat by his own soldiers. Or what else do you call a General who is fighting war on two fronts and then goes ahead to open a third and even more dangerous front?
Goring and Himmler warned Hitler not to open up a second front during the Second World War but the eccentric megalomaniac did not listen and he commenced an attack on Stalin and Russia opening up the Eastern Front. The rest is history as the cold Russian Winter dealt a severe blow on the Third Reich destroying its specter of invincibility.


    Similarly a wide spectrum of analysts warned General Buhari to leave Niger Delta Militants alone once he assumed power for the war in the North Eastern Front against Boko Haram seemed more pressing.
But low the "wise" General did not listen and decided to attack Government Tompolo, the leader of this group in an assault that failed to decapitate the Militant leadership and only served as an impetus for the assault on the nation's oil infrastructure. The rest is history as the bleeding of lost revenue from having almost half of the Nation's oil supplies shut in heralded the Almighty Recession.


    Indeed the "smart" General has neither defeated the militants nor captured Government Tompolo as the nation lies in ruins battling runaway inflation and the worst currency crisis in a generation as the naira competes with toilet paper for a status above the Zim Dollar.
As if the folly of this General is not enough he sits by and watches unperturbed as a third front is opened up with the new plot to exterminate the Shittes from public view.


    The Islamic Movement of Nigeria, the umbrella Shia Group in Nigeria has always been a nuisance but have been contained and kept under wraps by avoiding confrontation with their militant wing. But alas General Buhari appears to have left his history books in Daura forgetting that in a similar manner, Boko Haram, that remains undefeated after seven years of war started in the midst of a Government crackdown. IMN is even more deadly for they have a strong affiliation to the Theocracy in Tehran that is not taking this crackdown lying down as the rhetoric on their State Cable News Channel, Press Tv, has been unrelenting.
The Ayatollah in Tehran has only to order his Revolutionary Guards and its Allied Hizbollah (Party of Allah) to provide arms and logistical support to the IMN and the easy pickings the Nigerian Army is currently enjoying will become another long drawn out guerilla war.



     Why a supposedly smart General keeps on picking fights he can't win is a mystery one can not wrap one's head around. And which economy is going to support this new war effort?
Even the plan to commence oil exploration in the North appears muted for with the likes of IMN and Boko Haram running amuck will this strategy really succeed or isn't it another wasted pipe dream of a General whose true prowess is subduing his wife in the other room? The Nigerian Military is already overstretched.


      Indeed the media failed to join the dots that on the day The Army was cracking down on Shittes celebrating the Assura, was the Day a Boko Haram Suicide bomber slipped through the reduced security dragnet to bomb a busy park in Maiduguri. Hence one wonders what would be the aftermath of a full blown war with IMN, Boko Haram and Militants all in the Theatre of battle. The carnage will be horrendous.


      Meanwhile the one battle the President should be fighting he ignores. The war against rampaging Killer Fulani herdsmen is only fought in Abuja for no one wants to smell the stench of cow dung in the palaces of the nation's ruling elite. Only here are Federal muscles flexed to keep this menace at bay while in the hinterland Nigerians are up in arms as these modern day marauders kill, rape and pillage in order to secure prime pasture for their hungry cows.
Parts of Kaduna lie under siege as Herdsmen have invaded and overthrown chiefdoms sacking towns like how the Barbarians sacked Rome. But alas there is no drumbeat of war against these marauders for they are kinsmen of the ruling clan and enjoy unwritten immunity.
This is the quagmire the nation lies in where a celebrated General fails to pick his battles and wants to fight everyone leaving behind a scorched earth policy.
No, in this recession don't be like this General, the harbinger of hardship. Pick your battles wisely. Assess your opponent or competitor before entering into a bidding war. If the odds of success are slim in a venture don't venture into it. Choose your battles carefully. Pick the fights you can win. Barter is good thus learn to get the best deal possible.
Avoid defeat by weighing the odds and executing a well thought out strategy. Obtain advise from more successful individuals.


     Read history and learn from the experiences of others.  This is the key to success.
As one sits and watches this obscene drama play out, a silent prayer is said against the Ayatollah in Tehran, that he gets too preoccupied with his proxy war against Saudi Arabia in Yemen and Syria hence is to busy to bother about the persecution of Shittes in Nigeria to send military assistance to his Shia brother, I silently mumble.
But if even the Great Yakubu Gowon, the veteran and victor of the Biafran war could mouth out his concerns that Nigerian leaders prefer to press the self destruct button over exercising common sense most times hence he wonders if our prayers are in vain or amiss thus I am not holding my breath in anticipation when I see a General that wants to fight with everyone.


     One wonders which friends Buhari will have at the end of his tenure? Fights with Tinubu, Saraki, Aisha, IMN, Militants, Judges etc, while the recession draws the ire of angry hungry Nigerians enduring untold hardship.
For the General he should learn to pick his battles wisely for currently he is not taking any prisoners as the recession marches on!!!

Written by

By Usman Mohammed

(usmanmohammed117@gmail.com)

300L, Department of Mass Communication IBBU