By Banji Ayoola
The Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai, has been aptly described as a jinx breaker by the Olowu of Kuta, in Ayedire Local Government Area of Osun State, Oba Adekunle Oyelude, Tegbosun the Third, popularly called Makama.
He is called so for mobilising the Engineering Corps of the Army to complete the age-long bridge over Osun River, which links Kuta, Ikoyi and Ede communities, and had for many years locked the communities up in a dead end.
The people, on their own, started the construction of the project many years ago, but abandoned the project midway due to its enormity, expertise and resources needed, which were beyond their ability.
Buratai will commission the Bridge on Monday, September 14, 2020, and thus tear off the veil over the area, and remove the communities from a cul de sac to which the people have been consigned since their forefathers settled there hundreds of years ago.
Thus the bridge has now opened limitless opportunities for the people of the communities who will now be able to interact freely in carrying out their legitimate socioeconomic activities. Besides, this development would attract the much needed investments to the areas and accelerate transformation in all sectors of the economy.
Oba Oyelude who is particularly thrilled about the bridge’s completion, lavished Buratai with superlative adjectives as he went down the memory lane describing the horrors his forefathers had gone through over the formerly impassable bridge.
He told The Radiance: “With what God has been using me to do, my subjects are full of gratitude to God. They can only pray for longevity of life from God. I have created a history, and we are still creating.
“There is an age long agitation on the Bridge. Over 500 years, my forefathers, and Kabiyesi Timi of Ede’s forefathers had been looking at it so that we would have a road network that links us; but the Osun River has been the barrier.
“Before the colonial era, they had been on it. But to God be the glory, our relationship with the Nigerian Army and the Chief of Army Staff, God has used Gen Buratai to become a jinx breaker. The bridge has been completed fully.
“Our able governor also has promised now that he is doing the road. I told Gen Buratai that he has given me retirement and pension because the day I was enthroned, before my community said a pregnant woman would deliver well, aboyun ile a bi were, agan a towo ala b’osun, the first thing they said was that l’asiko tiyin, oju ona Ede a lo. (during your reign, Ede Road will be constructed.)
“And it has been done. It’s a fulfilled mission. So if God gives me a hundred years more alive, my people in Kuta are not expecting me to do any other thing. What they want me to do, what all my forefathers had not been able to do, I have done it.
“So if I do any other thing it is an addendum. I can pick my brief case and say I am going on holiday; I am going to Canada, Eskimos, anywhere in the world. I have fulfilled the mission of New Kuta. The aspiration of my forefathers that they were unable to fulfil, I have fulfilled it.”
On the reactions of his subjects, sons and daughters nationwide and worldwide to the bridge’s completion, he said that these have been electrifying.
He said: “Oh! It’s marvelous because they didn’t believe it could come this time around. They didn’t believe. Their fathers and forefathers had been contributing money and manpower to do it manually, but despite that, it didn’t materialise. Now without anybody contributing a penny the bridge has been completed.”
Buratai who was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari, assumed office as COAS in July 2015.
He was born on November 24, 1960.
According to Wikipedia, he was commissioned in 1983 and has had multiple command, administrative, and instructional appointments.
He is from Buratai town, Biu Local Government Area of Borno State. His father, Yusuf Buratai, was a non commissioned officer in the Royal West African Frontier and Second World War veteran who fought in Burma.[
Buratai had his primary education at Buratai town and thereafter gained admission to Government Teachers College, Potiskum, Yobe State, where he graduated with distinction.
His military career started in January 1981, when he attended the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna as a member of the 29 Regular Combatant Course (29 RC) where he was given the prestigious appointment of Cadet Sergeant Major (CSM).
On successful completion of his Officer Cadet training, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 17 December 1983 into the Infantry Corps of the Nigerian Army.
He has a degree in History from University of Maiduguri and a degree in Philosophy from Bangladesh University of Professionals, Dhaka He is also a graduate of National Defence College, Mirpur, Bangladesh.[
He served in 26 Amphibious Battalion Elele, Port Harcourt, Military Observer at the United Nations Verification Mission II in Angola; later 26 Guards Battalion, Lagos; Lagos Garrison Command Camp. Lt Gen Buratai also served as administrative officer at the State House, Abuja; 82 Motorized Battalion; 81 Battalion, Bakassi Peninsular; Army Headquarters Garrison, Abuja before he became a Directing Staff at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji. learning the prestigious “Pass Staff College Dagger” (psc(+)) appellation.
Subsequently, he served at AHQ Dept of Army Policy and Plans, Abuja; Assistant Chief of Staff Administrative Matters, HQ Infantry Centre Jaji. Additionally, he was again at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College as Director Dept of Land Warfare from where he was appointed Commander 2 Brigade, Port Harcourt, doubling as Commander, Sector 2 JTF Operation PULO SHIELD.
Upon promotion to the rank of Major General, he was appointed Commandant, Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji; thereafter he was appointed Director of Procurement DHQ before being appointed Force Commander of the newly reconstituted Multinational Joint Task Force MJTNF) under the auspices of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin Republic, an appointment he held till he became Chief of Army Staff.
His operational deployments include Military Observer at the United Nations Verification Mission II in Angola, Op HARMONY IV in the Bakassi Peninsular, OP MESA, Op PULO SHIELD, Op SAFE CONDUCT, MNJTF, Op ZAMAN LAFIYA and Op LAFIYA DOLE.
Buratai’s promotion dates are:
- Lieutenant (January 1985)
- Captain (January 1989)
- Major (January 1994)
- Lieutenant Colonel (January 1998)
- Colonel (January 2004)
- Brigadier General (January 2009)
- Major General (January 2012)
- Lieutenant General (August 2015)
His honours and awards include
- Forces Service Star (FSS)
- Meritorious Service Star (MSS)
- Distinguished Service Star (DSS)
- Grand Service Star (GSS).
- Pass Staff Course Dagger (psc(+))
- Field Command Medal
- Training Support Medal
- United Nations Medal for Angolan Verification Medal II.
