Facts have emerged that fate, fuelled by fortune, time and chance tipped the immediate past Defence spokesman, Major General Benjamin Olufemi Sawyerr, to clinch his new job as Force Commander for the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) in Sudan.
Maj Gen. Sawyerr, who succeeds Maj. Gen. Kefyalew Amde Tessema of Ethiopia, is presently in New York holding another temporary position as Adviser to Office of Military Affairs, Department of Peace Operations at the UN Headquarters from where he is expected to leave for Abyei from March 15, 2022 to assume Command of UNISFA.
His appointment which was announced in New York by UN’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday, February 2022, is seen in the military community as another major boost to the global profile of Nigeria’s Armed Forces.
Checks by Daily Spokesman in Abuja particularly after last week’s visit by Nigeria’s former Chief of Army Staff and Minister of Defence, Lt. General T.Y. Danjuma (rtd) to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, also revealed that the duo were excited over Major General Sawyerr’s UN appointment.
As a major in 1999, Maj. Gen Sawyerr was Aide De Camp (ADC) to Lieutenant General TY Danjuma (rtd) when he was Minister of Defence. He had also served as ADC to former ECOMOG Field Commander in Liberia, late Brigadier General Adetunji Idowu Olurin. He is a member of the 27 Short Service Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna.
Expectations are already high that he will sustain and even surpass the enviable record left by his predecessor whose leadership the UN secretary general described as effective and invaluable.
Abyei is an area of 10,546 km2 on the border between South Sudan and the Sudan that had been accorded “special administrative status” by the 2004 Protocol on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict (Abyei Protocol) in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the fratricidal Second Sudanese Civil War.
Top sources at the Presidential Villa said yesterday that fate was a major force that landed the coveted job on the laps of Maj. Gen. Sawyerr whose military career, spanning more than 34 years with the Nigerian Army, was billed to end in 2021 as the Director of Defence Information of Nigeria’s Defence Forces.
He was said to have widely intimated many officers of his imminent exit vowing not to stay a day after his statutory retirement as a disciplined officer who must show example. He kept his word by proceeding on a three-month leave preparatory to his exit from service after directing all official files to WAP Maigida, a commodore in the Air Force and two-time Deputy Director of Defence Information who is widely acclaimed among defence reporters as calm, skillful and level-headed.
Moves by former COAS, Lt. Gen Buratai to position Adeosun
The sources revealed that before President Buhari finally removed the former set of service chiefs led by the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin who served for an unprecedented tenure of over 66 months (13 July 2015- 26 January 2021) there had wild speculations and expectations that the former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen Yusuf Buratai, would naturally replace Olonisakin as CDS. He was alleged to have worked at it as Plan A, following it up diligently by positioning the former Chief of Training and Operations and Chief of Policy and Plans in the Nigerian Army, Lamidi Adeosun, a major general, for promotion to lieutenant-general as his likely successor. He recounted how Adeosun, as Force Commader of Op. Lafiya Dole effectively mobilized troops to save him in 2015 from bands of ambushing insurgents in 2015 during his first operational visit as COAS to the North-East.
It was also gathered that on another hand, when early hints of the imminent vacancy in the UNISFA top job got to Buratai, he deployed his wide contacts trying to secure it, as his Plan B, for Lamidi Adeosun, a plot which perfectly fed into his calculations to recommend him (Adeosun) to President Buhari to be made a lieutenant general while expecting to be named as new CDS. It is assumed that Buratai was only acting on the axiom in the public service that “how you manage your entry is as important, if not more, as you manage your exit”.
Buratai got his wish granted on July 9, 2019 thereby promoting Adeosun, a fellow muslim, fellow member of the infantry corps but of Yoruba extraction, to lieutenant-general, making it the first time in the current democratic dispensation that the Nigerian Army had two serving lieutenant-generals, described by the then Army spokesman, Sagir Musa, as “a reward for extraordinary feats, courage, exemplary leadership, loyalty, uncommon commitment and valour in the counter-insurgency operation in the North-East part of the country”.
The January 26, 2021 replacements of service chiefs
President Buhari replaced the General Olonisakin-led set of service chiefs and immediately nominated them as non-career Ambassadors posting them to Cameroon, Benin, Niger and Chad, Nigeria’s contiguous countries, perhaps as proof of his decision to stick to and as well as keep them in the loop as the practice in nations with similar security experience.
Inside sources said that the generals-turned ambassadors still maintain a very close touch with Pres. Buhari thereby sustaining a chain of continuity with the current chiefs to achieve seamless operational directives of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
With Buratai’s exit and the near-collapse of his Plan A, Adeosun who was expected to retire after Buhari changed the service chiefs remained in service with the new chiefs, contrary to usual practice that automatically retires officers senior to their new chiefs. But his continued stay in service was somewhat supposed to keep alive hopes of executing Buratai’s Plan B to secure the top UNISFA job for him.
The plan, like a pack of cards fell on November 13, 2021, as the curtains were finally drawn on the meritorious military career of the rugged and fearless Lt. Gen Adeosun, an indigene of from Kuta, Osun State, and whose record many officers aspire to attain. He hails from the same State as another fine and highly respected retired general, Lt. General Alani Akinrinade, a former Chief of Defence Staff from Ile-Ife. Adeosun was pulled out at a parade held at the infantry corps centre in Jaji Military Cantonment.
Advertisement for UNISFA’s top job
There are conflicting accounts that precipitated events that finally led General Sawyerr landing the job though sources are unanimous that Nigerians have continued to gain appointments in the United Nations and its affiliate agencies with the coming of the current Chief of Staff to the President, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and retired diplomat, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari after a brilliant stint working under four Secretary Generals at the United Nations where he served at various epochs ending up as Under-Secretary-General under former Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, has brought immense value and good fortune to the Federal Government.
On January 12, 2022, Nigeria’s former Minister of the Environment, Ms Amina Mohammed was re-appointed as United Nation’s Deputy Secretary-General by the United Nations helmsman, António Guterres.
An account said that Sawyerr was tapped for the job relying on his privileged presence and wide patronage at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) at the time the vacancy was open. Another account maintained that at almost the same time that the vacancy for the UNISFA top job was about opening, he had already cleared his desk as defence spokesman and proceeded on leave while regular official monitoring, updating and briefing by the effective Nigerian Defence Attache at the UN were being received at DHQ.
Then came a request to the Nigerian authorities including the Nigerian Army, to nominate. A similar request, it was believed, was made to three other countries to forward nominations to a vacant UNISFA’s deputy position based on the size of their troop contribution. Nigeria’s size was adjudged the lowest owing to the increasing involvement of military personnel to tackle security challenges in the country.
An account maintained that he did not know that his name had been forwarded as Nigeria’s nomination after necessary briefing of the Chief of Staff to the President by DHQ had been concluded on the principle that for such a key international job, Nigeria’s best foot should be put forward. While all this was happening, Maj. Gen Sawyerr had proceeded on leave after bidding farewell to and telling officers and top friends in the media to support him with prayers.
While he was away, it was gathered, came a message from the CDS, General Lucky Irabor‘s office requesting his urgent presence. When he was told of the vacancy and that his name had been forwarded for interview, he was said to have expressed personal worry having already switched his mind from his impending exit from the military and had started fantasizing about how to do deploy the residue of his energy and make the best of his fast-approaching private life in retirement.
Notwithstanding the sharp development, it was gathered, he showed up for the interview for appointment into the position of Deputy Force Commander, UNISFA, not the substantive Force Commander. His performance was said to be very impressive and dazzling particularly that he exuded the brilliance and confidence of a prospective Force Commander. After the session, he was told that he would be contacted if the need arose. By this time, words had started spreading around the UN headquarters especially among Nigerian staff that the army general was being highly considered.
When fate beckons
While sources noted that Maj. Gen Sawyerr’s brilliant performance within a short time as defence spokesman significantly brought him to greater limelight, they unanimously agreed that fate was a major force that tilted the scale in his favour to clinch the coveted job. Widely known to many around him as an officer that takes his job and faith very seriously, General Sawyerr’s new appointment at a time he was already on his military career’s departure lounge to arrive as UN Force Commander in Sudan is a testament to the sheer overarching force and influence of providence.
It is not over until it is over
Maj. Gen Olufemi Benjamin Sawyerr’s story is a moving account of the journey of a man whose destiny is anchored on the phenomenon that it is not over until it is over. As a young major in 1999, General Sawyerr was Aide De Camp (ADC) to Lieutenant General TY Danjuma (rtd), former Minister of Defence. He had also served as ADC to former ECOMOG Field Commander, late Brigadier General Adetunji Olurin. He is a member of the 27 Short Service Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna.
He obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Master of Science Degree in Defence and Strategic Studies from the University of Magravs, Defence Services Staff College Alex in India. General Sawyer is a Fellow, National Defence College, Abuja.
He was Commanding Officer, 231 Battalion, Biu, Commanding Officer, Nigerian Battalion 22 United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), Commanding Officer, 22 Brigade, Ilorin, Deputy Director of Doctrine and Combat Development from 2017 to 2018 and later Director of Plans, Department of Army Policy and Plans, Nigerian Army Headquarters between 2019 and 2020.
He was Commandant, Nigeria Armour School, Bauchi before his appointment as Director of Defence Information in July 2021. It is noteworthy that General Sawyer’s short stay as Director of Defence Information witnessed great improvement in Military-Media Relations.
The UNISFA Peacekeeping Force in Abyei was approved on 27 June 2011 by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in Resolution 1990 after a flare-up in the South Kordofan conflict earlier in June 2011.
Abyei is an area of 10,546 km2 on the border between Sudan and South Sudan. It has been accorded “Special Administrative Status” by the 2004 Protocol on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict (Abyei Protocol) in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War.
A brave, suave and urbane officer, Maj. Gen Sawyerr has never been recorded to have failed in his past operations perhaps to prove his huge asset as a man with a close-to-ground height.
It is widely assumed that by his trade-mark no-nonsense trait which partly formed his growing years as ADC to the straight-looking and highly-disciplined former Minister of Defence, Lt. Gen T.Y. Danjuma, complemented by the smoke-eating former ECOMOG Force Commander, Late Brigadier-General Adetunji Olurin of blessed memory, Maj. Gen General Sawyerr already has his job cut out for him to keep the peace in Abyei, Sudan.
