You had the option of pushing the Alpha jet to base after getting hit by enemy anti aircraft guns. But you refused to take the option. Instead, you nosed down, air rammed into the enemy, like the Kamikaze, to kill 63 of them & deployed your chutes in hostile territory.

It is said that when men die in service, little is said of the alternate story that would have happened if these men never crossed the line. So, on 12/9/2014, when we watched how you were murdered, we knew the alternate story will have been chaos for those communities.

If you ever work at mid or top level in government, you would soon realize that the productivity of appointees is based on the ideologies of their principals & having witnessed this, I am slow to conclude on who is a failure or not. I would give you two real life examples. It is always not right to mention names of serving military officers. One of the best directors of operations in one of the armed services in the last 2 years appeared very ordinary prior to this. Reason? At a point, circumstance did not entertain out-of-box thinking.

Congratulations president-elect. Every patriot will want you to succeed & this is my 2 cents. You are just about to take command of the biggest & one of the most sophisticated militaries in Africa. In there is an overabundance of highly-trained, loyal men & women, the finest! For these, you may wish to consider your appointments based purely on merit. After all, the loyalties of officer A & B are non-negotiable. And you know what, if you decide to do otherwise, nobody will complain but you will see the effects in full term.

Now that the manifestos are coming out & the candidates have been sharing their thoughts on security, we can clearly see that the main strength of all the 3 top candidates is in the economy. Very watery approach to security. Obviously they are not talking to experts. 1/12 First of all, resources are scarce. Setting up new battalions or even an agency isn't what you need. You will lose time in training & administration. The enemies won't be waiting for you. Again, continous recruitment is not a tactic too. 2/12

In the last 3 weeks, I've closely followed 2 families caught in the tragedy of banditry activities around Birnin Gwari.

Kidnapping is currently at an incredible. Bandits requested for 12 million each to release per abductee. But this is not all. 1/10 After negotiations, in each case, when the families had paid the ransoms, they made fresh requests for motorcycle bikes, desert bikes, they refer to as, 'Boko Haram'. Families were instructed to deliver the bikes, alongside 2 million each for fuel (Kudin mayi). 2/10

Bravery

6 May 17, I was privileged to fly on the last chopper that brought back the released Chibok girls. Seeing the girls - young, naive BUT broken, was a reminder of how cruel man is. When we touched down, I stayed with them briefly in the C-130 before the Abuja lap. Military medics began basic checks, deworming them and tending their wounds. There was one particular girl who had lost a leg. She said the Air Force had hit BHT positions & during the strike she lost a leg. I stared at her, wishing it was a dream.