Unmasking Sambo Dasuki the new NSA

Following rage over heightened insecurity in the country, President Goodluck Jonathan last Friday wielded the big stick by removing the National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoye Azazi (retd) and the Minister of Defence, Alhaji Mohammed Haliru Bello. While still shopping for a new Defence Minister, the President appointed Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki (rtd) as the new National Security Adviser. In this piece, Managing Editor, Northern Operation, Yusuf Alli and Dare Odufowokan explore his strengths and weaknesses
Against permutations, President Goodluck Jonathan bowed to public yearning to review the nation’s security apparatchik and stem the spate of bombings in the country. Barely a few hours after returning from the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the President removed Gen. Owoye Azazi as the National  Security Adviser and fired the Minister of Defence, Alhaji Mohammed Haliru Bello. Coming in from the cold from the Tsunami was Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki (rtd), who emerged as the new National Security Adviser. Apart from being a blue-blooded scion of Sokoto Caliphate and a former Aide-de-Camp to ex- Military President Ibrahim Babangida, Col. Sambo could pass for a taciturn. This explains why every Nigerian is interested in knowing the antecedents and capability of the new NSA. The questions in the week bordered on the following: Who is he?  Is he not a Colonel, how will he command the respect of the service chiefs? Does he know anything about intelligence gathering? Can he solve this problem?

The politics of the sack
There were many speculations on why the President unceremoniously removed his NSA and Defence Minister. While some attributed the sack to a genuine concern to address the Boko Haram insurgency, some claimed that the summons from the House of Representatives gingered him into action and a few others attributed it to pressure from World leaders on Jonathan at the summit in Brazil. It was learnt that no world leader, encountered the President without a reference to the insecurity in the country. Nigerians living in Brazil were also not left out of the agitation for action. According to investigation, the President had wanted to make the announcement from Brazil but he exercised restraint until after a ‘valedictory’ session. The haste with which the announcement was twitted by the presidency suggested a different signal and alluded to the wake-up call from some world leaders in Brazil. The method was a rapid departure from the status quo. But a source said: “If you know about security, such an appointment like that of the NSA could not have been done in a hurry. The President did his homework before arriving at Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd). It might interest you that some former military leaders, those you did not expect were consulted.”
Investigation by The Nation also revealed that the events that led to the ouster of Azazi and Bello started with an interim report submitted to the presidency by one of the committees set up to look into the Boko Haram crises.
The committee, whose members were also at one point saddled with the task of dialoguing with the sect, according to reliable sources, recommended the appointment of northerners into some positions in government as a means of diffusing the tension in the north and preventing a backlash should the government decide to use maximum force to quell the uprising in the north.
“As part of the build up to frontally confront the Boko Haram menace, the committee, having failed to get the sect to lay down their arms after months of negotiation, adviced the President to embark on actions that will give the north more sense of belonging in his government,” a source said.
One of such is that he should appoint more northerners into key positions in the administration. Specifically, he was told to give the job of solving the Boko Haram problem to a northerner by appointing a northerner as his NSA. He was also advised to consult former Heads of states on how to go about the issue, especially those from the northern region,” our source claimed.

Azazi’s, Bello’s last ‘supper’ with Jonathan
When Jonathan returned last Friday and summoned an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, members regarded it as routine stock-taking session. The President, however, played a fast one on the team. He placed only Boko Haram as the sole agenda for the session in what appeared a hint of what he intended. Yet, it was difficult for council members to read his mood and to understand that it was a rare supper for Azazi and Bello. A source said: “Each member of the council took time to offer suggestions on the way out of the Boko Haram menace.

Sambo is fluent in Hausa and English; semi-fluent in Spanish and French languages. As a royal scion, his hobbies include Horse riding, Traveling, Polo and Scrabble. Before his appointment, he was on the board of some firms like  MegaCards Ltd.;
Regency Alliance Insurance Plc.; Seokwang Construction and Engineering WA Ltd.; Kinley Securities ; and Sealog Nigeria Ltd
But of all his accomplishments, Sambo came into national prominence when he emerged as the first Aide-de-Camp (ADC) of former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida after the palace coup which toppled the regime of Major General Muhammadu Buhari on August 27, I985. As a Major, he was said to have teamed up with other Majors like Abdulmuminu Aminu and Abubakar Dangiwa Umar to ease out Buhari and the dreaded late Gen. Babatunde Idiagbon from power.

Is he really a novice?
Since his appointment, there has been the tendency to write off the NSA as a novice because the highest political office he occupied in the military was ADC to ex-Military President, Ibrahim Babangida. But apart from his royal background, Sambo has over the years commanded much respect from the military elite in the North and key ones from the South, like ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo. Although he had been out of the military since 1993, he could be rated as one of the “power brokers” behind the scene who have helped to stabilise our democracy.  He is member of the military cabal in the North whose backing is required to resolve the Boko Haram menace. In a copy by a respected investigative journalist, Henry Ugbolue of The News Magazine on June 12, 2000, he described Sambo Dasuki as one of the eight men behind the then new administration of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo. He wrote: “Colonel Sambo Dasuki, former aide-de-camp of General Babangida, played a big role in the emergence of the Obasanjo presidency. It was known that Sambo Dasuki, then exiled, joined Gusau to prevail on the military regime of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar to accept Obasanjo. The  story has it that Sambo Dasuki told both Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar that if another leader from the South-west other than Obasanjo became the president, they would be probed and probably jailed or even killed. “Babangida thereafter worked on the regime of  Abubakar to prepare grounds for the emergence of Obasanjo….while abroad, Sambo Dasuki who is the eldest son of Alhaji Ibrahim  Dasuki, the deposed Sultan of Sokoto, zealously worked on several  retired military officers of Northern extraction to accept Obasanjo.  Sambo eventually entered the country quietly early 1999 to continue his high-wire campaign for Obasanjo. With victory secured, Obasanjo quietly named Sambo the Managing Director of the Nigerian National Security and Printing Corporation (MINT). The President (Obasanjo as it were), The News learnt still consults Sambo Dasuki on a number of issues.”

Unknown strengths of the new NSA
According to findings, the real moral asset of the new NSA is his ability to call a spade a spade. Unknown to many, Dasuki was one of the few loyal military officers, like Brig.-Gen. David Mark, Col. Abubakar Umar, who stood up to their boss, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, and asked him to step aside in August 1993. Babangida knew the game was up the moment his boys like Dasuki told him to his face to quit. Another instance of Dasuki’s courage was when he squared up to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, who was trying to molest his father.  The NSA soothingly bluffed Abacha long before his father, ex-Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki, was deposed in 1996. His audacity earned him an untimely retirement from the Nigerian Army from the maximum dictator.
Besides Abacha, as steely as ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo was in power, the NSA opposed moves by his administration to privatise the Nigerian Security Minting and Printing Company. He had on March 26, 2002 appeared before the House of Representatives with a former Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Kayode Naiyeju, to make his position known. He insisted that NSPMC deals with sensitive security documents which cannot be left either in the hands of the private sector or a foreign investor. He said: “I do not favour that (privatisation of Mint). I have looked at the people we should be copying from, I can’t see any. Everywhere, it is government business. As a Nigerian who votes, I think it is the wrong way to go about.” He countered the allegation that NSPMC is not viable, saying: “My immediate reaction is to ignore the statement because it was made out of ignorance.”
He stressed that even if government is poised to privatize Mint, it should be based on truth and not running down a company before it is privatized. When he was the lone voice, he resigned as the Managing Director of the Mint to drive home his point.
A source in Sokoto said: “Sambo might sit for hours without talking but he can brave the odds to stand out in the crowd. He goes to where all of you fear to tread. But he is a good listener and quick to apologize once he is convinced that he is at fault. I remember that as a Colonel, he had a sharp disagreement with a top Army Officer and the case got to his father, His Eminence Dasuki. When he was summoned by his father, he just prostrated with his face down as the father was scolding him. He did not say a word and he left Sokoto immediately to apologize to the Superior Officer.” He lived up to this rating on Thursday when he visited Yobe State which is a foremost enclave of Boko Haram. His body language suggested that he is taking the battle to the sect.
A cosmopolitan Nigerian, the NSA has lived more in Lagos than Sokoto. As a matter of fact, he is said to have 90 per cent of his businesses in Lagos where he is often more at home.

How will he cope with service chiefs?
Immediately Sambo’s appointment was announced, a major challenge raised was how a Colonel will be managing or commanding Service Chiefs who are mostly Generals. But a source said: “By virtue of military tradition, seniority is based on year of commissioning. Sambo passed out of the NDA many years ahead of the service chiefs. There is no cause for alarm in that respect.
“Have these service chiefs not been taking instructions or directives from civilian Defence Ministers?

The ball is in Sambo’s court
As for Nigerians, the ball is now in Sambo’s court. On Thursday, he was in Yobe to assess the security situation. He personally took the battle to the Lion’s den. The visit may be a confirmation of his readiness for the job. But the nation is awaiting his magic wand. Certainly, he deserves the sympathy of all because this assignment could make or mar his career.