How I almost lost my military career – Abdulsalami Abubakar

Abdulsalami Abubakar, former Nigeria Military Head of State has recalled how he almost lost his job as a soldier, while trying to care for his family and duty calls, adding that he was almost Court martialed but for the quick intervention of Major General Abisoye, he would have lost his job.

Abubakar revealed this under what he described as ” Narrow Escape” from ” one of the most excruciating experiences “, in his military career, in chapter 13, page 105 of his book, titled ” Call of Duty”,

Abubakar recalled that he had gone to see his wife who just lost a pregnancy and undergone an operation, but due to the call of duty, he had to abandon his family at such a critical moment at Owede and proceeded to resume duty in Lagos.

” What she needed most in the world was the presence and comfort of her husband and soulmate. But I owed the nation a duty. It was what I signed up for when I joined the Military. My heart was in pieces when I left Owode as I knew that if everything went according to plan, I would soon be heading to Lebanon for my next national assignment and might not see my wife in a very long time, perhaps another year or two.”

“I got back to Lagos only to discover that my situation was getting worse. All arrangements I made before leaving Ikeja Cantonment
the previous day had changed.

He recalled that unknown to him, the operations officer had moved his arrival forward from 10am to 9am, adding that ” there was no way for me to know as my second-in-command couldn’t reach me.”

“By 9:15am, I was already back at the cantonment. To my pleasant surprise, the
troops had already lined up and taken their positions.

“The officer and his team from the Army Headquarters were around and stood
at a corner. I saw him and complimented him but he ignored me”

He however went on his normal duties not knowing what was ahead of him

” I went over to my second-in-command to ask him what had happened. He explained that after I left, there had been a change of timing. He said he had explained to the officer what happened to my wife which necessitated my rushing down to Owode.

” He said he had also tabled the operational challenges confronting the troops before the senior officer. He had tried to hand over the
parade to him but the officer flatly refused to accept it. I thanked him for his efforts and assured him everything would be okay.

“I asked him to call the parade properly and hand it over to me. I inspected the parade and later handed it back to him while I went
to the office to meet the officer so he could come to receive the parade.

“When I got to him and again saluted him, he burst into a fit of rage and abused me thoroughly. He said I was a useless officer.

“He added that left to him, I would not be leading the contingent to Lebanon because I behaved so irresponsibly”

At that point, General Abubakar ‘s emotion took over, as he became “stupefied” at the senior officer’s uncomplimentary remarks, which forced him to react to the officer’s furry of anger

“I looked at him straight in the eye and told him no one, not even any one of my seniors, had ever called me a useless officer in my entire military career.

” I told the officer it was only my life I hadn’t given the unit. I informed him it was people like him that would discourage me from giving my life. I asked him whether it was because he wasn’t pleased with my posting to Lebanon that made him describe me as a useless officer, aside from other invectives he poured
on me.

” It was later I got to know that the officers left the scene because they didn’t want to be witnesses against me in case I was court-martialled.

Abubakar who was then a Major, recalled that the officer, who was a Brigadier, went back to the Army Headquarters and reported to Lt-General T Y Danjuma, the then Chief of Army Staff.

“The officer accused me of insubordination and said I was a cantankerous officer who had
challenged his authority and abused him. Lt-General Danjuma ordered that I be arrested immediately.

“But as God would have it, Major-General Abisoye was at the Army Headquarters at the time the officer was reporting me. He asked the officer to explain what really happened.

” Without hearing my side of the story, Major-
General Abisoye immediately came to my defence. He said I must have been provoked and lost my cool to say some of those things.

“Major General Abisoye said he knew me well and he could vouch that I was a good officer and a gentleman.”

Abubakar expressed his eternal gratitudes to General Abisoye for his timely intervention

“I’m eternally grateful to Abisoye. He not only saved my military career, he also prevented certain imprisonment. He later came to me and pulled my ears, saying: “You idiot. You’ve committed a court-martial offence. Do you want to be sent to prison? Just go away, I don’t want to hear any word from you. Only ensure you’re very careful next time.” The matter was eventually ironed out. I was not arrested or
court-martialled.”

Shortly after the resolution of the issues in Abdusalami’s favour, he revealed that a “plane
was arranged to take us to Lebanon without delay so that I could go away with my trouble” he said.