The Return Of Gusau

For over three decades, one name has become synonymous with the intelligence community worldwide. Mention any of the government the country has had since the military intervened in the country’s political life and even after the return to civil rule, he was the arrowhead of intelligence cum national security in all. He is no other than Gen. Aliyu Gusau .He can hardly be said to be a neophyte in the country’s politics. In the military, he is seen as an authority. His mastery of intelligence work is considered a huge factor that has seen him serving in the Murtala/Obasanjo, Shehu Shagari, Generals Mohammed Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Ernest Shonekan, General Sani Abacha , Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan administrations. This rich credential accounts for his enormous respect within the military circle.

By next week, when the Senate considers the new list of ministerial nominees, Gen. Gusau will be one of those to be screened. President Goodluck Jonathan is said to have offered him the slot of the Minister of Defence. From feelers, he is not just going to be Minister of Defence; he is going to be some sort of Coordinating Minister for Defence/Intelligence. Something similar to the Chairman of Homeland Security in the United States of America. Everything about defence will stop on his table, which means the National Security Adviser (NSA), the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) will report to this man who served the civilian administration of former President  Olusegun Obasanjo as NSA.

Gen. Gusau supported Obasanjo’s bid for the presidency and the former President minced no word in telling whoever cared to listen that he was the one who understood intelligence gathering the most. They, however, fell apart over Obasanjo’s bid for a third term in office. He resigned from the government some months before the end of Obasanjo’s second term. The retired General was to later launch a bid for the presidency in 2007, having resigned as National Security Advisor a few months earlier.

This will be Gen. Gusau’s second coming to the Jonathan government. After the death of the late Umaru Yar’Adua, Jonathan saw in Gen. Gusau the man who could help him stabilize his administration and made him the NSA. That was on March 8, 2010.  This former COAS resigned in September 2010, handing over to his deputy, Kayode Are, who was Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS).
Born in 1943 in Gusau, Zamfara State, Gusau was a pioneer cadet of the Nigerian Defence Academy. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant on March 18, 1967. His first military posting after he became an officer was in the 5th Infantry Battalion. A year after, he was elevated Lieutenant and in 1969, a Major. He was promoted a Lieutenant Colonel in 1975 and Colonel in 1979. Gusau became Brig.-Gen. in 1984, Maj.-Gen. in 1988 and a Lt.-Gen. in 1993.

The Zamfara-born retired was Commander of 9 Infantry brigade, Abeokuta (April 1976 – July 1978), Adjutant General of 2 Mechanised Division (July 1978 – September 1979) and Director of Personnel Services, Army Headquarters (October 1979 – November 1979). From November 1979 to December 1983, Gusau was Director of Military Intelligence (DMI). This alumni of the the Royal College of Defence Studies in Britain was Director of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and Acting Director-General of the NSO from September 1985 to August 1986. He was the Coordinator on National Security from August 1986 to December 1989. He reorganised the security and intelligence apparatuses, which had fallen in disarray, breaking up the NSO into three organisations: State Security Services (SSS), National Intelligence Agency (NIA),Central Intelligence Agency CIA, and the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI).
Gusau was General Officer Commanding 2 Mechanised Division, Ibadan  from December 1989 to August 1990 and Chief of Administration, Defence Headquarters, Lagos from August 1990 to February 1992. He was Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna from February 1992 to January 1993. Gusau became National Security Advisor in January 1993, and was promoted to Army chief when Gen. Ibrahim Babangida passed control to the short-lived Interim National Government led by Chief Ernest Shonekan.
He retired from the military during the Sani Abacha regime and  became Chairman  and Chief Executive of Alpha Public Affairs Consultancy from December 1993 until he was recalled as NSA by Obasanjo in May 1999.

He played a central role in ensuring that the transition to democracy in May 1999 went smoothly. He was the National Security Advisor in the crucial period when former political office holders in the armed forces were retired in June 1999, helping Obasanjo assume control of the armed forces as a civilian President.
Speaking at a seminar in April 2010, Gusau said the legal system seemed to promote crime and the law enforcement agencies appeared overwhelmed. He also said efforts to fight corruption were perceived as selective and ineffective, and some of the agencies had credibility problems since their leaders had been accused of corruption.

In April 2010 it was announced that Aliyu would seek nomination to be a candidate in the 2011 Presidential elections, but a consensus arrangement produced former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar .

Akinmade, a public affairs analyst, contributes this from Lagos.

- Leadership

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