General Christopher Musa, the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff, recently urged us to learn combat skills to protect ourselves when faced with danger. He made this point as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today. He likened the acquisition of martial arts such as Karate, Taekwondo, and Judo to driving, swimming, and other essential survival skills. He even suggested that, were it not for the fact that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has been “watered down to three weeks,” the programme should train Nigerian graduates in unarmed combat skills for daily survival against evil men.
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He said: “I think it is important that we are able to give every Nigerian security awareness at whatever level. Self-defence is very important. Unarmed combat, swimming, driving—these are critical skills for human endeavours.
“These are things we should never take for granted because they prepare you for the future. The world we are in now is dangerous. We have individuals who don’t mean well for the people. They kill for whatever reason.”
I also agree with what General Tukur Yusuf Buratai said—that you cannot demoralise the Nigerian soldier—but not with his call for a COVID-era-style lockdown because of insecurity.
You only demoralise the soldier at the peril of the nation. Let’s not forget that clinging to the position of Chief of Army Staff for the long period he was there—with the then-president retiring fine gentlemen officers to keep him in office and denying many other fine ones the opportunity to reach the apogee of their profession—was enough demoralisation of an entire officer corps, disappointing about eight sets that could not produce a COAS, aberrations people are still paying a high price for.
I will not delve into the exploitation of rights and privileges, especially those of the rank and file who, while fighting terrorists on empty stomachs, watch the bellies and bank accounts of some of their superiors swell. But that’s a topic for another day.
General Musa, who has been at the forefront of the fight against insurgency and terrorism in the land, should know better. I, for one, side with him on this. I always advise the young to learn these basic self-survival and defence skills and to improve their stamina. There’s no point in knowing how to defend yourself if you easily get exhausted while doing so or running away. When faced with existential danger, the basic human instinct is encapsulated in FoF—the acronym for Fight or Flight; you must have the stamina for both.
Unfortunately, criminality is on the ascendancy, pressing hard on the accelerator while deterrence is stepping on the brake pedal. Banditry is now seen as a “stakeholding business,” and its practitioners as a group of worthy “stakeholders” whom society trusts with its protection—going out of their way to pay courtesy calls and homage to the bad guys in their enclaves.
“How have the mighty fallen!” lamented David in the Bible when the Philistines slew King Saul and his son Jonathan in battle on Mount Gilboa. Ours can be a lament on how the giant of Africa is threatened to be dwarfed by mere irritants to a nation serious about its sovereignty and the security of its people.
The pitiable aspect here is that those responsible for caring for the people in various states are busy attending to their own hedonistic lifestyles. One such state “married off” its “First Daughter,” where the state’s “First Lady” gave a musician the latest RAV4 jeep and ₦10 million “for fuel”. This is apart from the money spent staging the event and the state’s chief security officer’s other acts of “generosity” towards the singer. At the same time, citizens are engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with bandits just to survive.
For the past fifteen years—not months, weeks, or days—terrorists have held us by the jugular. They are becoming more daring, more “legal,” more established in society. They now occupy towns, accept homages, collect taxes, and appoint local chieftains. You can only be assured of “peace, justice, and security” when you become their vassal. God save you if you don’t wise up to this, believing that Lady Green-White-Green has your back and will be there when you need her.
As of the last count, at least five local governments in Katsina State—Danmusa, Batsari, Jibia, Safana, and Kurfi—have negotiated with bandits to achieve peace. In some states, you see local government chairpersons going out meekly with their traditional leaders to meet bandits and propose truces. And so, military leadership, representatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), Police, Community Watch Corps, vigilantes, traditional authorities, and local government officials are in attendance.
Nobody needs to be told that somebody somewhere is not doing their work, and so society has to help itself. No one should blame a people who seek peace or even bow to their traducers if those sworn to protect them are parroting successes where there is little to gladden the heart. It is called “self-help.”
It is this self-help spirit that motivated one lawmaker, nicknamed Total, a member of the Katsina State House of Assembly, to purchase—and cause to be licensed—some guns as his “Constituency Project” for his community. He said he was moved to act after seeing locals fighting bandits with stones. In a viral video, members of his constituency, including councillors, lined up and received training on how to use the arms. To the lawmaker and his people, this was what they needed; otherwise, their wealth would be confiscated, their properties burned, and their women ravaged. Therefore, they are ready to heed General TY Danjuma’s advice: defend yourself or die waiting for government forces.
So yes, by all means, learn the art and science of self-defence. Enhance your stamina to withstand exertion and stay focused during defence. And when it dawns on you that there is wisdom in fighting and running away so that you live to fight another day, you must have the stamina to make your escape count without being overtaken.
Hassan Gimba, anipr, is the publisher and CEO of Neptune Prime.
