Ex-NSA Aliyu Gusau under investigation over alleged link with Lebanese Terrorists Past National Security Adviser, NSA, and former Presidential aspirant, General Mohammed Aliyu Gusau (rtd) is currently under security watch over suspected links with the busted huge cache of arms stocked in an underground bunker in Kano. Security sources quotes the Joint Task Force spokesman in Kano, Lieutenant Ikedichi Iweha, as giving this hint. According to a JTF source, from the arrests made so far, it was disclosed that Gusau’s alleged link to the Hezbollah group is being investigated following confession by “those we have arrested”. Gusau’s Failed Presidential Bid and Desperate Plot To Replace Azazi As NSA The retired Lieutenant General was in two years ago enmeshed in alleged desperate and well orchestrated plot to return as Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA) to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Recall that Gusau is a three-time National Security Adviser under the administrations of General Ibrahim Babangida, President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan before he resigned his appointment to run for President, which his marabouts had repeatedly revealed to him was his for the taking. Gusau has never hidden his desire to fulfil the messages from his seers that he would be Head of State just like his peers—Sani Abacha, Ibrahim Babangida and Olusegun Obasanjo. His bid for the presidency however suffered a major set back when he joined forces with three other contenders from the north under the auspices of the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) — Ibrahim Babangida, Atiku Abubakar and Bukola Saraki to produce a consensus candidate, where Atiku eventually emerged as presidential candidate of the group. Having suffered a major political blow in his presidential bid and later out of work, Gusau, about 70, had opened his ‘spy-bag’ and started a well-oiled campaign, with the tacit support of some political allies to discredit then NSA General Andrew Owoye Azazi. Gusau’s first plot to return as NSA came up during the negotiations between the President and his aides on one hand and top members of the NPLF after Atiku Abubakar and the group had suffered an embarrassing defeat at the Presidential primaries of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Gusau was alleged to had pressed the group to insist on nominating the NSA, who would assume office immediately as apart of the reconciliation deal. The former Director of Military Intelligence (DMI) according to sources had assured Atiku and core members of the group that once he returned as NSA before the Presidential election proper, he would use the resources and authority of the office to work for the victory of a candidate from the north that would get the group’s nod. President Jonathan however did not fall for the scheme and talks ended with the NPLF. Furthermore, while talks were ongoing between Jonathan and the NPLF, a clique of the pro-zoning group made a move through the National Assembly to undermine the office of then National Security Adviser by pushing for a bill that would have made the Office of Coordinator on Terrorism independent of the Office of the NSA which superintends over it like most other intelligence and security agencies. The plot was to create parallel intelligence coordinating office that could rival the NSA. The scheme, it was gathered, was to have Gusau or his nominee take up the position. This move however als to hit a dead end. Having failed again, Gusau has once again taken his campaign abroad where his influential contacts in the United States Jewish community helped pressure the United States Government to nudge then Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to hand him back the NSA job having been sacked by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Sources said that Gusau had covertly hinged the campaign for his return on his experience in local intelligence and clout in the north, which he said would help hold the nation together and keep the military out of politics. 2015 Presidential Ambition Gusau wants to run for President again in 2015, sources close to him have disclosed, and he has started his campaign very early. A well-orchestrated propaganda campaign in the local media as well as western intelligence and diplomatic communities started as far back as 2011. The local media campaign had focused on blaming the leadership of the national security community as being unable to manage the security crises that engulfed some northern states in the aftermath of the presidential polls. This is supplemented with sponsored editorials and cooked up analyses hinged on the need for Jonathan to bring erstwhile opponents from the north into his new government; the strategy being to subtly pressurise President Jonathan, that given the recent outbreak of post election violence in the north, only an ex-security chief of northern extraction could calm angry nerves in the north and thus manage the crises. Azazi was the first non-northerner and non-Muslim ever to be appointed National Security Adviser in Nigeria’s history. This may not be unconnected with the current security challenges in Nigeria as a result of network of insurgents which took years under the watch of successive NSA, who allowed Boko Haram to build its network and train suicide bombers and fighters. A Defense & Foreign Affairs Special Analysis report by Global Information System, ISSA formerly known as Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily, founded in 1972, the March 22, 2011 analysis painted a picture of scary uncertainties that awaits a Jonathan presidency in the north if he doesn’t include aggrieved opponents of his presidential run in his administration. The report specifically recommended General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, the retired Zamfara State politician as one of the key elements to guarantee a peaceful northern Nigeria.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 10:06:04 +0000
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