I recollect painfully my meeting 40 years ago to date with President Muhamodu Buhari, when he was General Officer Commanding, 2nd Mechanized Division at the Command's Office Agodi, Ibadan. I went as Commander-in-Chief of Man O' War Club, UNIFE with my Chiefs of Staff, to appreciate his Office as our Sponsoring Authority and request for further Logistic Support.
He kept us waiting for about 20 Minutes before coming out personally. Mr President, you or your aides will read this hopefully. He stood tall and addressed us.
He said " I was informed there is a C-in-C in the Office of a GOC, I suppose it is the GOC that should go to see the C-IN-C!
I got his message and I got up and saluted him respectively as he deserved! He then shook hands with me and smiled.
You may now come into my office, now that we know who is in charge. I then introduced my men, appreciated the Army for their support for our training and ended by saying "Sir, we are here to also request for further logistic and training support".
He studied me for about 6-7 minutes, that looked like eternity. His three questions keep coming up in my mind, especially with where we are as a Nation!
Question 1:
How many Northerners are in your University? (I wasn't expecting that and the Truth helped me): Ans 1: Sir, as you are aware, University of Ife is a regional University in the Western Region, so naturally there will be more Westerners than students from other regions but there are few Northerners, similar will be true for ABU where there will be more Northerners than students from other regions and in Nsukka too, there will be...), Response: Okay!
Question 2:
How many of your members have joined the Army, since we have been Sponsoring your Club. (Knowing he wasn't pretentious about preferring Northerners in his thoughts above other tribes, I remembered Col Sam Bafuyai of Plateau State and I mentioned him.
Question 3:
Is that all? Okay, how have you been managing our Uniforms?
Answer 3: Here is my QMG Sir (for you bloody civilians, the QMG is the Chief Store Officer in military rank parlance), (Mr Anakwe popularly called Idi Amin for his height, heavy body weight but a very gentle, very friendly and soft-spoken gentleman). Sir, he issues Uniform to all members at the beginning of each Semester and two weeks to end of drills, he directs all of us to launder, tag and return the uniforms to the War Office, if there are torn dresses, the Chiefs of Staff evaluate and decide whether to mend it or burn it to make sure the Uniform doesn't get to wrong hands!
Response: He studied me again for some minutes and told me that he was actually writing his handing over note for whoever will take over from him. That if we come in two weeks' time we would know their decision.
True to his words, two weeks later we repeated our call and met the new GOC, the Late General Joshua Hananiah (May his Soul Rest in Peace) who did not even allow us talk but shocked us when he said: Man O' War, it has been decided that henceforth we must not see you in our Army Green. If caught we will treat you as impersonators! I wanted to give him historical background of how we got connected to receive Para-military training and Logistics but he cut me short. Brig Hananiah said" Don't you understand that when a Superior Officer has taken a decision, you just have to obey it? I give you two weeks to return all the Uniforms with you. That was the final.
As the President of National Union of Man O' War Clubs in Higher Institutions of Nigeria (NUMOWCHIN), I summoned an Emergency Meeting where we changed the Uniform to Brown Khaki presently used.
Why this narrative? To me General Buhari knew what he wanted and is priority has been about his people. Not until he said it that I now know the real meaning of "I am for nobody, and I am for everybody" few minutes after he got what he had been hoping to get- the Presidency!
I also now believe that he is for Nigeriennes but not for Nigerians, with reference to his Arise Briefing few days ago!
Credit: Prof. Ife Adewumi
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