As Atairu Goes Home: Responsible or Irresponsible Govt? By Isah Abdulazeez

While
the nation mourned Lt Gen Ibrahim Atairu and other fallen soldiers of the
ill-fated NAF201 Jet yesterday, the APC governors were in Kano to celebrate and
party. It is already an open secret that the Commander in Chief of Armed Forces
who Atairu directly reported to didn’t find it worthy to attend his funeral
rites. His vice who in the public domain is literally known as the “minister of
burial” didn’t even deem it necessary to represent his boss at least, he has
been doing that creditably well. Oh, Atairu! Your only crime was that you stood
to fight the common enemy confronting us as a nation.

One
would have expected our leaders to borrow sense from Vladimir Putin who On 19
December 2016, attended the funeral of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, Andrey
Karlov, who was murdered by a terrorist group. Similarly, on March 24, 2018,
French Policeman, Arnaud Beltrame, was killed by terrorists and Emmanuel Macron
attended his funeral. Meanwhile, Buhari could fly all the way to Paris to
attend meetings that he contributed little or nothing to. What excuse does he
have to give for not attending a funeral that took place under his nose?

It
is pertinent to state that actions like this show how irresponsible our leaders
are. If someone of Atairu’s status could die and no top government official was
there to show him the last respect, there is no gain saying that indeed, cows get level pass humans (cows are
more valuable than humans) in the eyes of the present government.

With
incidents like this, how do you get the rest of the nation to be patriotic and
put the nation first? If the fight against insecurity, Boko Haram and other
insurgencies must be won, the Nigerian government needs to appreciate the
effort of the front line fighters who risk their lives just to see that this
nation is secured.

The
presence of Buhari or his vice at burial ground of these gallant and brave men
would have boosted the morals of others in the line of duty knowing fully well
that the government appreciates their efforts.

A
simple farewell speech at the burial venue by the president or his vice would
have gone a long way to boost the morals of other officers in the front line.

But
with this kind of action, one does not need a soothsayer to know that these men
will put their safety and lives first before the nation. This is the major
challenge or clog in the wheel of our quest to defeat Boko Haram. Our leaders
just have a lot to learn, unlearn and relearn.