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A retired Nigerian Army Major General, Danjuma Hamisu Ali-Keffi, has queried Defence Minister, Christopher Musa over his recent comments on former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, describing the remarks as politically motivated.

Ali-Keffi, a former General Officer Commanding 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, also cautioned senior military officers against being drawn into partisan disputes, arguing that statements by generals could easily be interpreted as reflecting the position of the military establishment.

Speaking in an interview with SaharaReporters, the retired officer said serving and former military commanders should exercise restraint when commenting on politically sensitive issues.

Ali-Keffi said, “Generals should be very careful how we comment on political issues. We are not professional politicians. I mean, we should leave politics for politicians.

“Our words carry a lot of weight. Our words are listened to by so many people, right? So we should be very careful.

“He alleged, that is CG Musa alleged, that El-Rufai paid bandits. How? You have facts? Present it! Why are you keeping it? Present it!

“I am really disappointed in what the Minister of Defence and my erstwhile friend, I should say, General CG Musa, has done.”

Drawing from his period as GOC 1 Division, Ali-Keffi disputed claims that El-Rufai prevented troops from taking action against armed groups in Kaduna.

He said he never received instructions from the former governor to spare criminal elements on the basis of ethnicity.

“El-Rufai never negotiated with bandits. El-Rufai never prevailed on us military people while I was the General Officer Commanding not to carry out operations against the Fulani. In fact, he said criminal Fulani person should not be spared!” he said.

Ali-Keffi maintained that his experience working with the Kaduna State Government was different from the picture painted by Musa.

According to him, military personnel conducted clearance operations in several parts of Kaduna while El-Rufai was governor, with the state government providing intelligence to assist security agencies.

The retired officer singled out Samuel Aruwan, who handled Kaduna’s internal security portfolio under El-Rufai, for what he described as regular cooperation with military commanders.

He said Aruwan maintained communication with security officials and supplied intelligence useful to military operations.

Ali-Keffi also recalled contacting El-Rufai ahead of some clearance operations to request that residents be warned to avoid areas where troops would be deployed.

According to him, the former governor initially questioned the need for such warnings because he believed people remaining in some forests were assisting criminals.

Ali-Keffi said he nevertheless explained that the military had an obligation to minimise civilian deaths and other collateral damage.

He claimed El-Rufai eventually accepted the military’s position and did not interfere with the operations.

Ali-Keffi also questioned the timing of Musa’s criticism, suggesting that the defence minister chose to speak after El-Rufai had lost some of the political influence he wielded while in government.

He further stated, “Where’s your chivalry? The man is down. Why didn’t he say that when [he] was gone up? He didn’t have the liver, no stomach.

“That to me is far-fetched. That to me is plain politics, and cheap politics at that matter.”

He warned that military officers risked damaging their professional standing when they became openly involved in political disagreements.

Despite defending El-Rufai against Musa’s allegations, Ali-Keffi said his position should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the former governor’s entire record in office.

He recalled having his own disagreement with the former Kaduna governor, including the demolition of a property he said belonged to him at the National Eye Centre area in Mando.

“I would not have said these things I am saying but it is very unfair for the Minister of Defence Christopher Musa to have gone after El-Rufai, I don’t support some of the things that El-Rufai did, no,” he added.

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The Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), on Thursday said terrorists are using motorcycles given to Nigerians as palliatives to wreak havoc across the country.

He, however, advised the state governors and lawmakers to stop giving motorcycles as palliatives, arguing that some of the motorcycles eventually end up in the hands of terrorists to facilitate and enhance their nefarious activities.

Musa, who stated this when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today, said efforts are being made to curb terrorism and the operational challenges confronting the country’s security forces.

“We try to appeal to even governors to stop giving motorcycles out as palliatives. Because these motorcycles are the same ones that still end up with these terrorists.

“Even if you have to give, don’t give them the big capacity motorcycles; give them the small capacity ones that they won’t be able to use to run around, because that gives them leverage. They can easily enter and then disappear,” he said.

The minister also warned that motorcycles distributed through constituency projects and other palliative programmes by lawmakers could find their way back to bandits and terrorists.

“Those bikes… before you know it, they’re already back to the bandits, and that’s what they’re using. So we must stop that,” he said.

According to him, security agencies had identified illegal markets and motor parks as channels through which terrorists move arms and ammunition into areas where they operate.

“What we realise from experience is they establish illegal markets or illicit motor parks. They go to those motor parks; that’s where they move arms and ammunition into those areas,” he added

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The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has announced the rescue of 15 minors allegedly trafficked and sold for N2 million each by a man posing as an official of a child-rights organisation.

NSCDC Public Relations Officer, Babawale Afolabi, disclosed the development while briefing journalists at the Corps Headquarters in Abuja, saying the rescue was carried out during a wider operation targeting criminal syndicates involved in child trafficking and vandalism.

The Corps also said stolen rifles and vandalised telecommunications equipment were recovered during the operation.

According to Afolabi, a member of the alleged trafficking syndicate posed as an official of the National Council of Child Rights Advocate and deceived parents into releasing their children.

He said the suspect operated an NGO and orphanage programme known as the Back to School Project, which he allegedly used to lure less privileged parents into releasing their children with promises of free education.

Afolabi said the operation was conducted by the Commandant General’s Special Intelligence Squad, headed by Commander Dandaura Appollos.

He said 15 of the 16 children allegedly trafficked from Kama Madaki and Gudindi Mada communities in Kokona Local Government Area of Nasarawa State were eventually rescued from their buyers.

According to him, the operatives used field tracking, technical intelligence and multi-state tactical operations to locate the alleged buyers, who were based in different parts of the country.

The NSCDC spokesman said three of the minors were rescued in Anambra, Imo and Enugu states, while the remaining 12 were recovered during a coordinated operation along eastern transit routes.

He further disclosed that three suspected buyers, comprising one man and two women, had been arrested in connection with the case.

The NSCDC said investigations into the alleged trafficking network were continuing.