He was a very simple man, who could easily be mistaken for a decent, peace-seeking and law abiding civilian. Even when fully kitted out in military gear, he still came across as a decent, self-effacing and unassuming man with a heart.  There was always a spirit of ‘live and let live’ about the man, according to those who knew him for decades.

Easygoing and without pretensions about personal or professional authority, the immediate past Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, was never unduly obtrusive in any way. Yet he was also always conscious of his authority, but in such a way that he only exercised it in order to drive professionalism, efficiency and operational effectiveness.

The late Lagbaja was widely known for readily facilitating anything good that needed facilitation in the name of national security, and without putting on airs about it. Efficiency and professional effectiveness were his major focus, undergirded by knowledge and capacity for informed decisions that followed best practices.

I first encountered him at a public event, not too long after his appointment as Chief of Army Staff (COAS). “Ah, Prof I am seeing you live today, instead of always reading your numerous articles, or watching you on television. I love the fact that you always endeavour to be objective and professional in your media interventions”. Then he mentioned something I had said on television in the past, or something I had written in the newspaper.

It struck me that his voice was soft, firm, very clear and rose above the din without being raised. He said everything he wanted to say within that very short encounter; and did not place, or use, one word amiss. His sense of propriety was also that of a man who appears indifferent to much of what is going on around him, but who was actually fully aware of it at the same time. All said, he was a professional soldier with much success casually tucked under his belt.

Gen Lagbaja’s understanding of the security challenges facing the nation is much deeper than many can imagine. Towards the end of August, at the Chief of Army Staff Combined Second and Third Quarter Conference in Uyo, he said that the recent protests at the time were primarily driven by discontent over economic issues. He also urged his colleagues not to forget that “… as an Armed Force, we must not only focus on physical security and defence of the nation, but note that food and social security issues can snowball into physical security challenges.”

Not quite done on that occasion, he went ahead to draw attention to the fact that the protests were “…largely driven by provocative and inciting social media traffic, although it was professionally managed by the Nigeria Police, supported by the military and other security agencies”.

While presenting the first strategic personality lecture at the Institute of Peace and Strategic Studies (IPSS), University of Ibadan, Lagbaja harped on the need for us to adopt and implement a Whole of Society Approach to national security problems. He fingered unemployment, poverty and youth bulge as the fertilizers nourishing some aspects of our security challenges. He pointed out that the unemployed and poor are susceptible to recruitment by criminals and violent non-state actors, as he urged all stakeholders to leverage the strengths of every demographic group for a cohesive and coordinated response to national security threats.

Consistent with his Command Philosophy, which emphasizes operational success “within a joint environment”, the late COAS always insisted that no single agency can solve the myriads of security challenges facing the country alone. For him: “The operating environment has evolved to a point where no single service or agency can effectively and independently tackle the threats to national security. Collaboration, communication, and cooperation are required for planning, sharing of intelligence, and the practical execution of all operations. Where synergy is lacking among security agencies, there can never be a coordinated approach to the prevailing security challenge”. 

While commissioning Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC) projects in Okuku community in Odo-Otin Local Government Area of Osun State recently, he said: “Military action alone cannot overcome the security challenges confronting the nation. The nation’s security and progress depends on the synergy and cooperation of all stakeholders. And part of the reasons for COAS Special Civil Military Cooperation Intervention Projects in communities is …to promote cordial co-existence, galvanize support and give impetus to ongoing efforts at combating security threats and challenges across the country”.

But by far one of the most telling interventions with a wide stakeholder base was Lagbaja’s charge to the DG of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), Maj. Gen. G A Wahab, alongside NARC’s Programmes Partner, Development Specs Academy (DSA), to organize a national RoundTable on “Asymmetrical National Security Challenges” and their effects on national development and the Nigerian Army.

The late COAS did not want a retreat, conference, or summit on national security that would deliver only lamentations and detailed descriptions of the problems, as well as their historical origins and their negative impact on our lives, without proposing solutions. He asked for specific solutions to specific problems.

Consistent with his aforementioned procliviity for measurable results, Lagbaja wanted a purely solutions-based engagement, driven by objective and clear-sighted third-Party narratives. That was his reason for endorsing the NARC/DSA RoundTable, as a way of further refocusing our conversations about national security. For him, the national roundtable titled “Asymmetrical National Security Challenges, the Army and National Development” must interrogate .the issues and come out with specific Implementable Action Points (IAPs) for execution.

He saw the value of involving DSA’s Strategic Partners such as the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Voice of Nigeria (VON), the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Institute for Strategic Development Communication (ISDEVCOM), Nnamdi Azikiwe Business School, and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), among others.

The point of securing the buy-in and deep commitment of these Strategic Partners was to make these credible and highly regarded professional bodies, institutes and institutions, as well as agencies of government that are headed by professionals in public communication, the dominant and credible voices to speak out on core issues of national security.

As was reported here on June 22, 2024, “The organizers of the Roundtable went round, consulted with Partners and other stakeholders, achieved some measure of consensus on the core issues and came out with a template for pragmatic and realistic solutions”.

The Roundtable thus stood out as a Third-Party initiative, designed to distil IAPs on pressing asymmetrical national security challenges in the country. This is with particular reference to “…security challenges that do not take the simple form of easily-identified, routinely compartmentalized, properly isolated and unilaterally targetable problems”. The challenges range from embedded targets, refusal to help the army and other security agencies with local intelligence, the targeting of military personnel for hostile civilian attention, unproductive community engagements, deliberate misrepresentation of the activities and achievements of the Nigerian Army through fake news, to deliberate misinformation and disinformation, among other disruptive environmental variables.

That gesture of endorsement from the former COAS gave rise to a people’s RoundTable, designed to drive non-partisan, and believable national interest narratives; anchored on the twin elements of objectivity and professionalism. The idea was to use it to promote public understanding of the roles, and achievements, of the nation’s military and security agencies, as well as the role of the citizens.

The task of “… creating a groundswell of that aspect of public communication that is usually best described as National Interest Communication without Propaganda (NIC–P) was thus given wider public ownership.

As things stand today, no one is exempt, or immune, from the clear and present dangers around us. And that roundtable, as approved by the late COAS, drove a new narrative, by getting Nigeria’s various publics to see and understand their roles, and the roles of other key actors, in the wider national ecosystem of synchronized security.

It re-emphasized the specific and general roles of the military, particularly the Nigerian army, in the cocktail of structures, activities and processes that constitute the national security architecture. It also addressed emerging challenges that derive more from deliberate misrepresentations of our men in uniform and showcased facts-based reviews of current asymmetrical national security challenges. This was done within a holistic perspective on the imperatives of a “whole of society approach” to national security challenges.

All said, that RoundTable established informed linkages between the negative fallouts of political decisions, overlooked multiplier effects of poor civilian political leadership and emerging national security challenges in different parts of the country. And it handed in a detailed set of recommendations, accompanied by implementation strategies to the former COAS.

As Nigerians mourn Lt Gen Lagbaja today, we all have a loss to feel sad about. There will always be the other Gen Lagbaja that you do not know, but whom somebody else knows and now misses. In whatever capacity that you may have known this man, chances are that you knew him as a good man. Miss him many will. All are joint losers and mourners at the funeral of a good man. Let us all pray for the soul of a man who is missed today as father, husband, brother, nephew, professional colleague, mentor, friend and much more.

Quote

We all have a loss to feel sad about. There will always be the other Gen Lagbaja that you do not know, but whom somebody else knows and now misses. But in whatever capacity that might be, miss him many will. All are joint losers and mourners at the funeral of a good man. Let us all pray for the soul of a man who is missed today as father, husband, brother, nephew, professional colleague, mentor, friend and much more.