By Ibrahim M. Baba
babamibrahim@gmail.com
“We must keep the promise to our nation! We must make a difference!” – Lt. Gen. TY Buratai
Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai is a Borno State indigene from Buratai town, Biu Local Government Area of Borno State. His father, Yusuf Buratai, was a non commissioned officer in the Royal West African Frontier Force and World War II veteran who fought in Burma. This has therefore proved that his professionalism and doggedness has an ancestral beginning.
Since his childhood, Buratai has demonstrated a wealth of experience and intelligence which has paved way for his career development in the Nigerian Army. He had his primary education at Buratai town and thereafter gained admission to Government Teachers College Potiskum, Yobe State, where he graduated with distinction.
In January 1981, Buratai attended the Nigerian Defence Academy Kaduna as a member of the 29 Regular Combatant Course (29 RC). On successful completion of his Officer Cadet training, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 17 December 1983 into the Infantry Corps of the Nigerian Army.
In the course of this struggle, Buratai bagged a degree in History from University of Maiduguri and another degree in Philosophy from Bangladesh University of Professionals, Dhaka.] He is also a graduate of National Defence College, Mirpur, Bangladesh.
In the military career, Butarai served in 26 Amphibious Battalion Elele, Port Harcourt, Military Observer at the United Nations Verification Mission II in Angola; later 26 Guards Battalion, Lagos; and the Lagos Garrison Command Camp.
Lt General Buratai also served as administrative officer at the State House, Abuja; 82 Motorized Battalion; 81 Battalion, Bakassi Peninsular; Army Headquarters Garrison, Abuja before he became a Directing Staff at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, earning the prestigious “Pass Staff College Dagger” (psc(+)) appellation.
Subsequently, he served at Army Headquarters, Department of Army Policy and Plans, Abuja; Assistant Chief of Staff Administrative Matters, HQ Infantry Centre Jaji before he was again posted to the Armed Forces Command and Staff College as Director Department of Land Warfare, from where he was appointed Commander 2 Brigade, Port Harcourt, doubling as Commander, Sector 2 JTF Operation PULO SHIELD.
Upon promotion to the rank of Major General, he was appointed Commandant, Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji; thereafter he was appointed Director of Procurement DHQ before being appointed Force Commander of the newly reconstituted Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTNF) under the auspices of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin Republic, an appointment he held till he became Chief of Army Staff.
His operational deployments include Military Observer at the United Nations Verification Mission II in Angola, Operation HARMONY IV in the Bakassi Peninsular, Operation MESA, Operation PULO SHIELD, Operation SAFE CONDUCT, MNJTF, Operation ZAMAN LAFIYA and Operation LAFIYA DOLE. He was appointed Chief of Army Staff on July 13, 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari.
As he retires this January 2021, the month of January has been playing a significant role in his professional career as he moved from Lieutenant in January 1985, Captain in January 1989, Major in January 1994, Lieutenant Colonel in January 1998, Colonel in January 2004, Brigadier General in January 2009, Major General in January 2012, and Lieutenant General in August 2015.
Buratai’s honours and awards as a serving military officer also include; Forces Service Star (FSS), Meritorious Service Star (MSS), Distinguished Service Star (DSS), Grand Service Star (GSS), Pass Staff Course Dagger (psc(+)), Field Command Medal, Training Support Medal, as well as the United Nations Medal for Angolan Verification Medal II.
As the Chief of Army Staff, General Buratai has several achievements to his credit which Nigerians would never forget, especially his dogged, brave and fearless approach in containing terrorism and insurgency in the north east.
“We must keep the promise to our nation! We must make a difference!” – Lt. Gen. TY Buratai
This is the quote he sealed his speech with, a day after he was appointed as the Chief of Army Staff. It is a popular quote from the book “The Art of War” written by the Chinese Warrior Author – Sun Tzu.
He looks upon the troops as his children. He stays with them, walk with them at any trying moment. Thus they can venture into deep river valleys with him. He looks upon the troops as his beloved sons as I have seen in the media, a video showing how the Leutenant General broke his Ramadan fast in the trenches with the other soldiers. Part of the reasons they always feel they can die together with him.
He placed loyalty to the state above his own interest and he truly treated his troops as his blood as far as permissible under the cultural context in which he operated.
For General Buratai, even the culturally and socially permissible was no barrier to him bonding with the troops on the front. Not a few pessimists dismissed images of him working out with troops as cheap publicity stunt.
His real strength as a warrior, was with the lightning speed with which Boko Haram terrorists were routed and territories recovered from them few weeks after his assumption on duty.
His coming has proved beyond reasonable doubt that with the right strategy in place, it was a matter of weeks before the insurgents were forced to change tactics and the warrior in Buratai was prepared for them even ahead of when they started implementing their new mode of attacks.
Before you know it, the cowards that were once prancing around in armoured personnel carriers soon became vermin that were carrying out hit and run attacks on soft targets before scampering for the desert.
Buratai’s quick thinking resulted in the creation of a motorcycle brigade that is able to deploy rapidly, in order to counter the fighters wherever they are carrying out attacks.
This creative thinking would explain why troops are willing to “venture into deep river valleys with him,” and the Nigerian Army of today takes care of its own.
The troops did “venture into deep river valleys” with Buratai in the theatre of war in the northeast and the result today is that sanity has returned to where Boko Haram once held sway.
Under his command, the efforts of the Nigerian Army in the north east resulted into returned of thousand people at Mafa, Magumeri, Dikwa, Konduga, Benisheikh, Askira Uba, Kala/Balge and Kaga, Gwoza local government area councils that have been reclaimed from the Boko Haram Islamic sect.
Something else General Buratai said on the day he made the famous Sun Tzu quote, was his declaration that “We must keep the promise to our nation. We must make a difference.” So far, he has kept to this promise and appears to be well committed to keeping it for the rest of his life. Even the tone with which he made the declaration was profound to the point of galvanising the rest of us to begin renewing our faith in the country coming from a time when there had been a total loss in nationalistic spirit among citizen.
General Buratai, right from the day he was appointed has proven the positive difference he set out to make in commanding the Nigerian Army to rescue north east from the hands of those enemies of the state.
He approached the task with this deliberate disposition that has resulted in the gradual actualization of his vision and the road map for a better Nigerian Army.
Until his retirement, Buratai has remained committed to his vision for the Nigerian Army, which is “to have a professionally responsive Nigerian Army in the discharge of its constitutional roles”. The vision has been the pivot around which everything he does revolves.
Another giant achievement to his credit is the establishment of the Nigerian Army University Biu, where hundreds of students are currently pursuing degrees in different fields of study.
The establishment of this university which remained the only green campus a cross West Africa, will result in a more civic relationship between military personnel and civilians in the country. The Institution provide avenue where the two group work, eat, play and sleeps together as one people.
In addition, the “Yusuf Tukur Buratai Counter Terrorism Center” in Buratai Town, Biu Local Government Area is yet another achievement to his credit. The center is currently upgraded to an institute of war and peace studies as part of Nigerian Army’s aim of understanding all forms of warfare, particularly new forms of asymmetric conflict, including terrorism and insurgency.
The Tukur Buratai Institute aims at training and capacity building for military personnel as well as civilians in counter-terrorism and insurgency, humanitarian responses, peace building and construction.
The institute had six centres, including research, documentation, counter-terrorism and insurgency, cyber security, strategic communication and centre for museum and archives.
Prior to this effort, Buratai town was severally attacked by insurgents. The institute’s building was donated by L.T General Yusuf Buratai in 2015 as a museum, where relics of war and insurgency were displayed.
But in 2019, the Nigerian Army decided to upgrade the museum to become a centre for counter-terrorism and insurgency,” and in the year 2020, the Nigerian Army University Council in its wisdom thought it necessary to upgrade the centre to an institute.
According to Buratai, the conversion of the center to an Institute of War and Peace was part of army’s efforts of defeating the Boko Haram insurgency not only by kinetic force.
The institute would intellectually provide education, which the insurgents detested in their campaigns of war.
A part from all these, there are alot of other legacies put in place by the former Army Chief with which Nigerians would continue to remember him.
Sir, as you retire back home, I pray that God the Almighty will continue to guide and protect you through out your remaining days on Earth. For the newly appointed Service Chiefs, may God give them the wisdom and strength to fight this insurgency to it’s end.
