Nigeria’s military top brass of presiding over a frontline crisis while enriching themselves.
In an interview with Daily Sun, Lawal alleged that soldiers are being deployed to battlefields with obsolete weapons and inadequate resources.
He said a soldier barely completes training before being sent to the front line with an antiquated rifle, sometimes with the magazine tied together with rope or cellotape.
According to him, some soldiers demonstrate firing exercises with their mouths because there is no money for ammunition, while senior officers are building estates in Abuja and acquiring properties in Dubai, leaving “the son of a poor man to face the enemy with a rifle held together with tape.”
The former SGF linked the institutional decay to what he described as a broader security collapse under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration. Three years into the administration, he said, his worst fears about the controversial APC Muslim-Muslim ticket had been tragically vindicated. He argued that the same-faith presidency had emboldened bandits and kidnappers across the country, resulting in what he described as an exponential rise in insecurity.
Lawal said banditry had increased nationwide since Tinubu assumed office, with virtually every state now facing its own form of criminality, allegedly fuelled by people who believe “their people” are in power.
Recalling an experience during his tenure as SGF, Lawal said Fulani herders invaded his farm and openly boasted to police officers that they had influential contacts in government, forcing him to intervene personally to secure their prosecution. He warned that such arrogance had now evolved into a national security crisis.
Lawal also accused President Tinubu of deliberately balkanising Northern Nigeria along ethnic and religious lines.
He alleged that northern Christians and minority ethnic groups are facing systematic marginalisation under the current administration. According to him, northern Christians working in federal establishments in Abuja frequently complain of being overlooked for promotion while their subordinates are elevated above them.
He described the situation as a common grievance among minority ethnic nationalities in the North, who, he claimed, are treated as third-class citizens.
Lawal further alleged that Tinubu’s agenda had nothing to do with restoring equity in the system, but was aimed at deepening existing divisions in the North.
He said: “President Tinubu’s agenda has nothing to do with restoring equity in the system. His agenda vis-à-vis the North, as I see it, is to balkanise the North along existing fault lines. He operates at the upper echelons of society and has no interest in people like us.
“Tinubu does not appreciate that within the North there is a Kilba man, a Jukun man, or a Tiv man. For southerners, we are all Hausa or Fulani. Tinubu does not concern himself with liberating us.
“He distributes appointments as the Fulani do: if there is no Yoruba man available, he manages with whoever will do his bidding. He has no interest in addressing the oppression embedded in the system.”
On the proposed creation of state police, Lawal dismissed the initiative as a cosmetic solution that would merely transfer dangerous powers to governors.
He argued that the policy would not address the root causes of insecurity, likening it to pushing dirt around a room without removing it.
Lawal further claimed that the dominance of Fulani governors in the North had sidelined the larger Hausa population and other ethnic groups.
Turning to opposition politics, Lawal, who recently left the African Democratic Congress (ADC), explained why his relationship with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had broken down irretrievably.
He described Atiku as self-centred and authoritarian.
According to him, Atiku behaves as though he is still vice president, travelling with a convoy that is sometimes longer than that of a sitting president and moving around in private jets while expecting unquestioning loyalty from associates.
Lawal said Atiku was unlikely to realise his lifelong ambition of becoming Nigeria’s president because many Nigerians have grown weary of his repeated appearances on presidential ballots since 1993.
He said many citizens now question Atiku’s motives and view him as self-serving.
Looking ahead, Lawal expressed reservations about Labour Party’s Peter Obi, whom he previously supported.
He said Obi does not spend money in politics, adding that former Kano State governor Rabiu Kwankwaso is even more reluctant in that regard.
Lawal said Obi’s chances of winning remained slim because of the structural challenges associated with operating within a party that lacks resources and nationwide political structure.
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