By Mohammed Bello Doka
There is a video circulating online that should keep every Nigerian awake at night. It shows a retired Major General of the Nigerian Army, a man who once commanded soldiers, who once took an oath to defend the territorial integrity of this nation, now sitting helplessly in a forest with a swollen leg. He is in the hands of bandits. Ragtag outlaws who, by every logic of military science, should not be able to hold a general of any kind, retired or not. That video is not just a tragedy for General Rabe and his family. It is a mirror held up to the face of every citizen, every serving officer, and every political office holder in Nigeria. If the Nigerian military cannot defend its own veterans, then there is no hope for the rest of us.
Let us call this matter by its proper name. What we are witnessing is the complete and total failure of the Nigerian defense architecture. Not a failure of equipment alone, though that exists. Not a failure of intelligence alone, though that is broken. A failure of the fundamental social contract between the state and those who serve it. General Rabe gave decades of his life to the Nigerian military. He rose through the ranks. He swore oaths. He put his life on the line so that civilians could sleep. And now, in his retirement, when he should be enjoying the respect of a grateful nation, he is being held in a forest by criminals who operate with impunity. If he is allowed to die in that captivity, it will not just be a bad image for the military. It will be the definitive proof that Nigeria has abandoned every single person who ever wore a uniform.
This is the bitter truth that no one in power wants to speak. The security apparatus of this country is designed to protect the powerful only while they hold power. Watch how it works. A governor travels with a convoy of dozens of vehicles. Sirens. Police escorts. DSS. Military aides. All of it paid for by the state. A president moves like a pharaoh. A minister cannot step out without a small army of security personnel. But the moment that governor leaves office, the moment that minister is sacked, the moment that military officer retires, the security disappears. They are left to fend for themselves on the same dangerous roads, in the same vulnerable villages, under the same sky where bandits now operate with AK-47s and rocket launchers. The protection was never about the person. It was about the position. And once the position is gone, the person becomes just another Nigerian. Just another target.
That should terrify every single person reading this. Because it means that the security you see around powerful people is not a sign that Nigeria is safe. It is a sign that the powerful know exactly how unsafe the country is, and they have chosen to protect only themselves while they can. The ordinary citizen has no convoy. The retired general now has no convoy. The former political office holder has no convoy. And the bandits know this. They are not stupid. They watch the news. They see who has fallen from grace. They see who is no longer surrounded by bulletproof vehicles and trigger-happy guards. General Rabe was not targeted by accident. He was targeted because the criminals understood exactly what the Nigerian state refuses to admit. A retired officer is a civilian. And in Nigeria today, a civilian is prey.
This is the warning that must be shouted from every rooftop in the country. It is Rabe today. But it can be anyone tomorrow. Every serving military officer should look at that video and ask themselves a question. When I retire, will the same army that I served forget me? Will the state that took my youth and my health abandon me to bandits? Every political office holder, from local government chairman to senator to president, should watch that video and understand that their immunity and their security details are temporary. The day they leave office, they become General Rabe. They become vulnerable. They become a potential headline.
And what of the citizens? The citizens who never had a convoy to begin with? The citizens who have been screaming for years that bandits are everywhere, that roads are death traps, that farms are no longer safe, that kidnapping has become an industry? The citizens have been told to be patient. To pray. To trust the military. But how can anyone trust a military that cannot rescue its own general? How can anyone believe that the government is winning the war against insecurity when a retired Major General is sitting in a forest with a swollen leg, possibly bitten by a snake, possibly suffering from deep vein thrombosis from being bound in one position for days, while the bandits make demands and the government negotiates?
Let us be clear about what is at stake here. It is not just the life of one man, though that life is precious and should have been rescued yesterday. It is the entire credibility of the Nigerian project. A nation that cannot protect its veterans is a nation that does not deserve the loyalty of its citizens. A military that cannot avenge or rescue its own is a military that has lost its soul. And a political class that only secures itself while in power is a political class that has already condemned the rest of the country to death.
The bandits holding General Rabe are watching. They see the hesitation. They see the weakness. They see that the Nigerian state is not coming with overwhelming force to burn the forest down. They see negotiations. They see delays. And they draw the only conclusion that any rational predator would draw. Nigeria is soft. Hit them. Take their generals. Take their money. Take their pride. They will not fight back. They will only talk.
If General Rabe dies in that captivity, let no one pretend that it was the bandits who killed him. It will be the Nigerian defense architecture that failed him. It will be the political leadership that abandoned him. It will be a system that protects the powerful only while they are powerful and forgets them the moment they become ordinary citizens. And if that system does not change, then every Nigerian should know the truth. There is no hope for the citizens. There is only the waiting. The waiting for your turn to become General Rabe.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via bellodoka82@gmail.com
