Is Anyone Listening to Danjuma Ali-Keffi?

The revelation by a former General Officer Commanding 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Maj Gen Danjuma Ali-Keffi (rtd), that the air crash that killed former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, was linked to terror financiers is an opportunity for President Bola Tinubu’s administration to demonstrate the sincerity of its avowed commitment to fight terror financiers and crude oil thieves, Ejiofor Alike reports

The failure of successive administrations to unmask the prominent Nigerians allegedly behind terrorism and crude oil theft has given many citizens the impression that the past administrations paid lip service to the fight against terror financing and oil theft.

Despite the mounting evidence suggesting that powerful people were frustrating the war against terror and crude oil theft, the previous administrations failed to investigate the various leads provided by intelligence officials and other relevant stakeholders.

Nigerians were alarmed again with a recent allegation by a former General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Maj Gen Danjuma Ali-Keffi (rtd) that terror sponsors were behind the air crash that killed former Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, and called on President Bola Tinubu to probe the air disaster.

Though shocking, Ali-Keffi’s claim did not come as a surprise to intelligence and security analysts as Nigerians had earlier been told that some powerful forces in former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration were allegedly sponsoring Boko Haram.

Speaking on a live television programme in August 2021, a former Deputy Director of Defence Administration, Commodore Kunle Olawunmi (rtd) had alleged that the Nigerian government knew those behind the Boko Haram insurgency in the country, stressing that some of them were serving governors and senators while others were working in Aso Rock.

Rather than utilising Olawunmi’s wealth of experience in military intelligence to unmask the enemies of Nigeria allegedly serving in Buhari’s administration, the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) had after the interview, reportedly invited him for questioning.

His lawyer, a human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who accompanied him to the DIA headquarters in Abuja, had told Premium Times that Olawunmi, returned home after what the senior lawyer described as a friendly chat with his “colleagues.”

The allegation was subsequently swept under the carpet, lending credibility to the retired military intelligence officer’s claim.

Shortly after Ali-Keffi’s revelation, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr. Dele Alake, during a visit to the explosion site in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, revealed that since he commented on the involvement of powerful and highly placed Nigerians in illegal mining at the National Assembly, he had been receiving life-threatening messages.

“I said it openly; of course, I received threats, but we are undaunted because these things have to be said, and in any case, I wasn’t saying anything new, most people knew it.

“Many people have been saying it; I only gave it an official stamp, based on intelligence reports,” Alake reportedly added.

The question agitating the minds of many Nigerians, including some of the soldiers fighting the insurgency war is: If it is common knowledge in government and intelligence circles that powerful Nigerians are behind all these crimes, why is it difficult for the perpetrators to be brought to justice if the war being waged by the government is genuine and sincere?

Despite Alake’s allegation that he was being threatened, the hordes of security and intelligence agencies in the country, which take delight in hounding harmless Nigerians and violating human rights have not found it necessary to publicly unmask those behind the threat.

Before Ali-Keffi and Alake made their allegations, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Obadiah Mailafia had repeatedly claimed that the agents of former President Buhari’s administration were behind the nationwide killings.

It was not surprising that when Mailafia died in September 2021, his sharp criticisms of former President Buhari-led administration over its alleged complicity in the nationwide insecurity had fuelled concerns and suspicions on the cause of his death.

Though the Chief Medical Director of the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH), Prof. Bissallah Ekele, had claimed that Mailafia died of COVID-19 “due to comorbidities,” the Middle Belts Forum (MBF) and some public commentators had alleged foul play and called for an investigation.

Though much had been said about the involvement of powerful Nigerians in oil theft and terror financing, Ali-Keffi’s revelation was particularly striking, given his strategic role in Buhari’s administration, being an integral part of the administration’s security architecture.

In the no-holds-barred interview with THISDAY, Ali-Keffi lamented that no less a person than the late chief of army staff and 11 senior officers and crew members died in a “suspicious” plane crash and the matter was swept under the carpet, as the full report of the crash investigation was not made known.

He said Attahiru devised the strategy to end terrorism in the North by cutting off the oxygen of terrorism, including funding and logistics, and to take down terror financiers, Ali-Keffi said.

Ali-Keffi, who had been billed to receive the late army chief, as GOC 1 Division in Kaduna, pointed to the sudden change of time for Attahiru’s trip to Kaduna, the change of aircraft, change of airport of landing, from the military airstrip to the Kaduna International Airport, his landing in a turbulent, stormy weather, and the ear-shattering explosion that occurred before the crash.

He also pointed to the fact that there was no crater or impact on the crash area, noting that the bodies of the passengers were flung out of the aircraft and burnt beyond recognition long before the aircraft came down, a strong indication that there was an “explosion”.

Ali-Keffi, who headed the Operation Service Wide (OSW), a presidential task force, which he was commanding at the time of Attahiru’s headship of the Nigerian Army, had as its primary mandate to dismantle the terrorism financing network in order to aid the fight against terrorism and insurgency.

Ali-Keffi had earlier written to Tinubu over his arrest, detention and compulsory retirement, following the revelations of a presidential investigative task force that he headed.

The inquest had exposed the involvement of senior government officials, a top banker, and top military brass in terrorism financing.

Ali-Keffi said he headed a presidency-instituted Board of Inquiry (BOI) convened by Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd), the former National Security Adviser (NSA), which sat in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) for five weeks, from early January to late February 2020.

The retired military general said the BOI under his headship uncovered 295 oil tankers that conveyed petrol, with the major smugglers identified.

According to him, “The most worrisome aspect was that some of the individuals involved in financing Boko Haram terrorists and who were also involved in procurement and movement of arms and ammunition for Boko Haram and other criminal organisations had links with the military.”

President Tinubu should as a matter of urgency probe the cause of the air crash and Ali-Keffi’s allegation if he wants his administration to make a difference in the war against terror and oil theft. It is not enough to accuse him of sour graves by the dismissing the allegations.