New Telegraph

A profile in audacity, heroism, service

MIKE OZEKHOME san, ofr

Introduction

He is a retired thorough bred officer and gentleman of the Nigerian Army. He is worldless, austere, Spartan, and disciplined. In spite of his incredible simplicity and modesty, he has this stern look about him that immediately frightens a first comer. His sonorous metallic voice is fearsome.

 

But, he laughs a lot; occasionally with a guffaw. His house in Maitama, Abuja is virtually bare, stripped of any sign of opulence and luxury.

 

No sign of modernity, very ordinary just, like a house belonging to a middle cadre retiree. It is difficult to comprehend that this was a whole former Military Administrator (Governor) of old Oyo State, who succeeded Col David Medaiyese Jemibewon, the then Military Governor of Old Western State that was later split into Oyo, Ondo and Ogun states. No one can imagine that this was a man who bestrode the Nigerian Army space like colossus.

 

Tarfa’s first national limelight

 

Tarfa’s disciplined and regimented nature came to National limelight during the Buhari regime when he was nicknamed that earned him “Colonel Koboko” in Lagos.

 

The lawless Lagos traffic-violating commercial bus drivers (popularly called Molue and Bolekaja) had given him that sobriquet. They were joyfully joined by their anarchic private car owners and drivers (those who were derisively nick-named “I-go-drive-myself”). They were lawless and anarchic.

 

And Tarfa and his men wielded the koboko (bulala) on them. I was then a young fledgling rookie lawyer, sweating it out in the legal furnace of fire called Chambers.

It was owned by unforgettable legal prodigy and indefatigable national icon, late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, SAM. Gani was my mentor. I rose gradually from the position of a junior lawyer to become his Deputy Head of Chambers by 1985.

 

He famously nicknamed me “Ozekbaba”, “mobile dictionary” or “mobile library”. I will never forget his mentorship and uncommon heroism. Before Gani, Chief Kanmi – Isola – Osobu (people’s lawyer) had taken me through the externship kindergarten rungs of the legal profession as a Law student of the University of Ife (now OAU).

 

So, in 1984, I could not understand why people would be flogged on their bare buttocks on the road.

 

However, later experience told me about the rot and the gross and reckless indiscipline suffocating the system. Only a psychiatric vehicle driver will drive directly against traffic, thereby causing glitches, gridlock, accidents and deaths.

 

Yet, such a driver would still come out, abusing every other victim of his/her madness. However, I still do not agree with the physical bulala corpora treatment meted out to them though.

 

Rather, such mental people deserved to be sent to rehabilitation centres in either Yaba psychiatric hospital, Aro Mental Home, or immediately handed over to law enforcement agencies. But, this octogenarian brooded none of it.

 

General Tarfa’s trajectory

 

He is uncorrupt and incorruptible. He is a pan-Nigerian patriot who believes that there are more unifying than divisive factors that wield Nigerians together. If you have not still guessed by now who we are talking about, he is Major General (rtd) Paul Chabri Tarfa.

He just turned 80 years. Tarfa was appointed Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, during the military rule of General Murtala Mohammed (July 1975 – February 1976). Lieutenant-Colonel Tarfa (as he then was) became Provost Marshal-General of the Nigerian Army.

 

He was reporting directly to General Theophilus Danjuma, the then Chief of Army Staff, for the clean-up campaign embarked upon in the four divisions of the Army. He was then given the near impossible task of reducing the ever present traffic congestion in Lagos.

 

The January 15, 1966 military coup

 

Tarfa is as brave as he is audacious. He displayed this as a Second Lieutenant during the January 15, 1966 Major Kaduna Nzeogwu Chukwuma – led military coup.

 

As one of the five officers in his unit under Danjuma when the coup took place, Tarfa experienced firsthand pandemonium and national upheaval which the coup caused. The Officer Commanding and the other Officers in his unit had joined the coup plotting crew.

Not for Tarfa! Ever loyal, Tarfa acted swiftly and courageously on the side of loyalty to the Government of Nigeria. He immediately took up complete control of the situation. He ordered the Federal Guards to resist the coup. Tarfa promptly arrested the coup plotters at Dodan Barracks, Lagos.

 

With the help of loyal soldiers, he resisted and rebuffed the orders from the rebels to consummate the coup. Indeed, Tarfa’s bold, gallant and prompt action in quelling the coup was the greatest factor that led to the total collapse of the coup in Lagos.

 

Growing up: The morning tells the day

 

Tarfa was born in 1941, in Garkida Adamawa State. While growing up as a kid and youth, Tarfa had, early in life, been saddled with positions of leadership. These eventually propelled him to taking up a career in the Army. And he distinguished himself. His Secondary School Principal, discovering his great potentials, had encouraged him to enlist in the Army. As Military Commander in various sectors, Tarfa was never found wanting in the discharge of his duties. This has since inspired and led many others to emulate his sterling qualities.

 

Tarfa’s military and professional odyssey

A member of the Nigerian Military Training Course 5, and commissioned into the Nigerian Army as second lieutenant in October 1963, Tarfa retired as Major General in 1988, after 26 years of meritorious service to his fatherland. He was thereafter appointed the Managing Director Nigerian Railway Corporation.

 

Tarfa had served as Commander and Staff Officer in the Nigerian Army. He was in the 1st Battalion, Enugu, the very unit which was a United Nations Peacekeeping Contingent in the Congo. Tarfa had also served as Battalion and

 

 

 

Brigade Commander during the civil war. He became Assistant Adjutant General, and Provost Marshal, of the Nigerian Army. Later, he was posted to Oyo State as Military Administrator, prior to the October 1979 handover to civilian regime by the General Olusegun Obasanjo military junta.

Thereafter, Tarfa became Director, Army Faculty, Command and Staff College, Jaji and Commandant, Nigerian Defence Academy, until his retirement.

 

As Commander, Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), Nigerian Army, Major General Tarfa took over command in Minna, Niger State. He was then the immediate past Commandant, Martin Luther Agwai peacekeeping Centre, Jaji.

 

He was also a onetime Corps Commander, Artillery Corps, and also a former Director of Military Intelligence at Army headquarters. He is an Army Czar round and round.

Prior to Tarfa’s appointment as Provost Marshal of the Nigerian Army Corps, (alternatively called Military Police, MP), the MP was barely of a battalion strength. It only consisted of general military Police duties and a Special Investigation Branch (SIB).

 

It was under Tarfa that the MP Corp acquired the good image that it is still known for till date. Tarfa expanded the Corps, promoting the capacity building of its Officers and Men to meet the ever-increasing and challenging duties of modern Corps.

As Provost Marshal, Tarfa instilled and reinforced sanity and order in the Nigerian Army. Indeed, after the civil war, the Army went through major reorganisation and reconstruction.

 

As the Chairman of the panel assessing the quality of work done by Field Commanders, Tarfa accomplished the nationwide clean up assignment without any compromise, fear, favour, affection or ill-will.

To curb corruption, Tarfa and his panel apprehended many defaulting Officers and recommended appropriate sanctions.

 

Though, not an Engineer, Tarfa reached out to experts who helped him perform creditably. In 1994, Tarfa was appointed the Chairman of a panel to reorganize, restructure and reposition the Nigeria Customs Service. In this appointment, the General proved himself extraordinarily competent, diligent and transparent.

 

That was when I first met and knew him. I worked closely with him on the panel. He brooded no lateness to meetings or non-performance of assignments. He treated the members like his brothers, sisters and children. But, his love never extirpated his disciplinary self.

 

After the Customs Re-organisation Panel’s work, Tarfa wrote to me a most memorable letter, extolling my uncommon virtues of incorruptibility, hard work, diligence, creativity, brilliance and pro-active stance that greatly enhanced his work and enabled the panel to achieve its loud success.

 

But, I had  this letter which I wanted to frame as a plaque. In November, 2020, I visited the General at his Abuja residence. I told him I had misplaced or lost the letter.

 

To my surprise, nay shock, Tarfa, the ever meticulous Archivist and historian said, “Mike, give me 5 minutes and I will get you a copy of the letter”.

 

He walked up the stairs of his modest home; not groggily as would an octogenarian like him; but spritely and briskly. He displayed the bouncing steps of a young Military Officer. He fetched a copy of the letter he gave to me 26 years earlier. My mouth was agape.

 

Where is Tarfa now?

 

Even in retirement, Tarfa’s enviable track record will not allow him to have his welldeserved rest.

 

In January 2019, President Mohammadu Buhari pulled Tarfa out from his retirement and made him Chairman of the North-East Development Commission (NEDC).

 

This is the equivalent of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) that daily reeks of putrefying corruption and embezzlement stench. Have you heard a wimp of this in NEDC?

 

No. And you would never hear because the man who heads it will never permit it. Thank you sir, General. Continue to enjoy your golf and the company of your grandchildren. Go ahead tending your poultry and citrus farms in Kaduna. I will not forget my stay with you in company of my then very young wife of three years marriage.

 

This was while you took your traditional title of Yeriman Garkida. While taking this title in 1994, Tarfa hosted me in Garkida, Adamawa State.

 

The outpouring of love for him by his people was infectious and emotive. Though retired, Tarfa is not tired. Enjoy your well-deserved retirement sir.

 

And this

Crack your ribs

There are two sides to every coin. Life itself contains not only the good but also the bad and the ugly. Let us now explore these. “A mother said to her son, “Look at that kid over there; he’s not misbehaving.”

 

The son replied, “Maybe he has good parents then”- Anonymous

 

“A 3-year-old boy sits near a pregnant woman.

 

Boy: Why do you look so fat?

 

Pregnant woman: I have a baby inside me.

 

Boy: Is it a good baby?

 

Pregnant woman: Yes, it is a very good baby.

Boy: Then why did you eat it?”

 

A boy comes home having vacated from School.

“Dad: Can I see your report card, son? Son: I don’t have it.

Dad: Why?

Son: I gave it to my friend. He wanted to scare his parents.”

 

Thought for the week

 

“Everyone in society should be a role model, not only for their own self-respect, but for respect from others”. (Barry Bonds).

 

Last line

God bless my numerous global readers for always keeping fate with the Sunday Sermon on the Mount of the Nigerian Project, by humble me, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, OFR, FCIArb., LL.M, Ph.D, LL.D. kindly, come with me to next week’s exciting dissertation.

• Follow me on twitter @ MikeozekhomeSAN

Read Previous

Lagos Motor Fair showcases 2021 Ford Explorer

Read Next

Traders to Ikpeazu: Save us from BIR men’s illegal taxation, harassment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *