Newly appointed Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (rtd), has issued a firm directive to troops to immediately engage any armed bandits they encounter without waiting for further orders.
Musa gave the instruction on Wednesday during his ministerial screening before the Senate, stressing that swift engagement is essential for protecting frontline personnel and restoring public confidence in the country’s security response.
The lawmakers had raised concerns about delays in issuing commands during insurgent confrontations, prompting Musa to clarify that troops deployed to conflict zones automatically carry the mandate to neutralise armed threats.
“You are to engage any criminal or bandit who is armed and attempting to kill you. You don’t have to wait,” he told the Senate. “Once you are deployed, you automatically have that responsibility.”
He warned that no soldier on active duty should claim to be waiting for authorisation in the face of imminent danger. “If someone is aiming to shoot at you and you are waiting for orders—from who? Any member of the armed forces who says he is waiting for an order in such a situation is lying and is a coward,” he said.
The minister-designate also revealed plans to withdraw soldiers from routine checkpoints and redeploy them to active conflict zones, saying the Police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) would take over checkpoint duties. This move, he explained, would enable soldiers “to go into the bushes and take out these criminals.”
Musa emphasized the urgency of restoring security for farmers across affected regions. “Farmers must be able to go back to their farms. If people can’t eat, you can imagine what will happen.”
Commenting on the rising killings nationwide, he described the perpetrators as “evil people on drugs,” noting that terrorists exploit lapses in inter-agency coordination. “No Nigerian must be killed for whatever reason,” he insisted.
Acknowledging the weight of public expectations, Musa concluded, “I know that I cannot afford to fail myself, fail my nation, or fail my family.”
