Reminiscences with Major Mohammed Galma (rtd)

Major Mohammed Bashir Shuaibu Galma (retd) was one of those who joined the Army at an early age. He later left for the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), where he retired as an assistant director. Now 73 years old, Galma, who lives in Kaduna, disclosed why he left the Army for the NIA. He also spoke on other interesting matters.

How did you join the Army?

Right from our secondary school days I was in the cadet. We were the first set to start the cadet in 1965 at Government College, Bida. What inspired many of us to enlist as cadets was that so many students from our school enlisted in the Nigerian Army. The prominent ones are General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who became heads of state. Babangida was head boy, Abdulsalami was our prefect, and as God would have it, when we started the cadet, one of our former prefects, General Sani Sami, who is now the Emir of Zhuru, was detailed to initiate our training.

The cadet programme was approved by the then premier of Northern Nigeria, who directed that all secondary schools must have cadets. We were provided with full uniforms and military drill. That was when we saw examples that aroused our interests.

So, when I had my school certificate in December 1966, my intention was to apply to go to the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA). That time, it was not as difficult as it is now. We just went to the admin office of the academy and bought the form. The form was about 5 shillings. I bought them, filled it, took it to my father because there was a place in the form where either your father or guardian was supposed to sign to show consent. But when my father went through the questionnaire he vehemently told me ‘no!’  He did not sign because of a clause there. And at that time, Nigeria was threatening to go to civil war; that was in 1967.

When I applied to the NDA I was already working in Kaduna as a third class clerk in the Federal Ministry of Communication. There were vacancies at the federal ministries, so we had it easy. We were working and waiting for our results. By March 1967 when the school certificate results were released I was very successful. It remained only for my father to sign the form, but he refused. He was in the Ministry of Communication in a position that was the equivalent of the director of personnel. He was sent here by Gowon to start recruiting northerners. He said he would not sign my NDA form and would not like me to continue working where I was.

One day, I bought a copy of the New Nigerian newspapers and saw a vacancy. There was a company looking for people it was going to train to become sales representatives. As God would have it, I just decided to apply; when I applied I even forgot. One day, I just went to our house in Kaduna because I was born here. In the letter box I saw a letter from that company inviting me for an interview. I passed that interview; that was around October 1967. They told me to be ready to move to Lagos for training. When I showed my father this one, he told me again that he had some problem with me working in a private company. He said: ‘Why not at any other place in the government?’ But I went; I did not want the people to be disappointed. When I went, they set an examination for us and I passed. I did the interview and the white man loved the way I performed. I was among the first eight out of more than 100 sent for the training in Lagos. But during that training I got another letter using that very address, offering me  a job in the Central Bank as a grade three clerk on 18pounds only, while the other company I am working was paying me 35pounds.

I told my father to just let it be and he allowed me. We finished training and I was posted to Jos. I worked in that company for two years, but during the war, so many of my friends became emergency commissioned officers. They used to come to me and I would just say, “Look, I want to join you in this work.’’ In 1972, I lost my father, so that was the time I decided to apply. I was already 26 years old by then, so I couldn’t go for the regular course of the NDA, but vacancy came out for the short service combatant commissioned officers’ course, which was to start in January 1973 and finish in June. I did the interview with my result and was successful. So we started the course in the academy. I was a cadet of the Ashanti Company, NDA, under the command of one Major Awodeyi, who retired and left the Army as a lieutenant colonel. The commandant of the academy at that time was Major-General Adeyinka Adebayo with his 2IC, one Brigadier S. Chandel from India.

At that time, the NDA was full of Indians as instructors. In my company, I had two Indian officers, Capt Ashok Chaki and Capt D.S Karwar, who even became the Chief of Indian Staff. On June 23, 1973, we were commissioned as second lieutenants and that was how my Army job started.

I was posted to 1 Division in the Nigeria Army, here in Kaduna and was later posted to 3rd Brigade in Kano. The 3rd Brigade was under Lieutenant Muhammadu Magoro, who was also my senior in school; so from there again I was posted to 82 Infantry Battalion in Katsina.

When I was posted to Katsina, it was just like a punishment, but now, the place has developed; not only Katsina, Gombe, Abakaliki, all those places that later became state capitals. Abakaliki was a big village. I can remember that at one time in Gombe, a market caught fire and the only place they could get water was to drive to one Dadin Kowa dam, which was far away. By the time they got back, the fire had burnt half of the market. When I joined the Army, there was no favour, and nobody gave any note. If you failed, that was the end of the matter. Nobody could force you inside, and everything you got was by merit. We had so many Air Force cadets. Some of my course mates were former chief of Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike and so many major-generals.

Apart from Katsina, I also served in Kaduna here at 81 Battalion, under the command of Lt Col I.O.S. Nwachukwu, now retired General Nwachukwu. I also served in Gombe and Abakaliki; then later on, brigade quarters in Enugu in 1978. I was then posted to Kontagora, where I was promoted captain. That was in 1978 when the military was trying to hand over to civilians. So we had administrators. After three years I was sent to go on course in India.

What was the clause your father saw that made him refuse to sign your form?

At that time, Nigeria was threatening to go to war, and in the military there is what we call 10per cent casualty. So there was the clause that if it happened there would be no compensation. Another thing was that in those days, our parents believed that once you got into the military you would bid farewell to religion. But there’s a little fact about it because honestly, we did stuffs like drinking and so on. It is just now that God has prolonged our lives that we can sit down and ask him for forgiveness. There is no way I should hide these things from you.

What was your mother’s reaction about the whole thing?

As I am talking to you now, she is in that house where I was born, 73 years ago? She is alive. In those days, if a husband said something, the wife dared not go against it.

What happened when your father died?

My mother just blessed me when I told her what I wanted to do. I started the course three months after he died. There was already a letter waiting for me in Kaduna to become a big company manager. The white man came to our house to deliver the letter, but I had made up my mind to go to the NDA, so I didn’t pay any attention to him. He kept coming to my house six weeks after, but I had gone far in the course.

What was school life like?

At that time, school porters were white people. There wasn’t anything like corporal punishment, but everybody knew his bounds. In the North here, our fathers, especially those who were top civil servants, were blamed for the actions of their children who misbehaved. Parents would be blamed for failing to discipline their children. When the case was decided, the chap would be suspended because those white people won’t wait. There was something they called advisory board. A student could be suspended for three months, after which he could be asked to go. So we were afraid and didn’t want to commit any offence that would bring about punishment.

When Babangida was a student, he knew how to get people behind him. He could defend the weak ones if a punishment was too harsh. In fact, there was a time he went to the other prefects, collected all their assignment caps and took them to the principal and demanded that the punishment be rescinded on some students because it was not their fault.

We were highly disciplined. You could hardly hear somebody committing an offence that would warrant corporal punishment. There was a time we had one colonial principal who was caning people. He would use the cane over small offences.

What rank did you come out of the academy with?

I came out as a second lieutenant.

Why didn’t you go beyond the rank of a major?  

I didn’t cheat, as far as my age was concerned. When we went to the NDA, I was 26 and I didn’t hide it from them. It is designed that by the time you reach the age of 55 you could become a general. I was promoted a major in January 1986, and I should not be above 42 years wearing that rank. I had the option of degrading my commission, but I refused to do that. That was in 1987. When the time came, they said they had given us six months to either agree or write resignation letters by December 31, 1987 to leave the Army. When I entered we were about 100, with so many different cases. Some could not pass their staff college exams, but my own was age in rank. They were not going to allow us go like that, so they opened places where military officers could work as men of the State Security Service (SSS), National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Prisons, Customs and other places. But I told them that I won’t remove Army uniform for any other one. So they asked me where I wanted to go and I said I would go and decide. I asked one of my friends and he advised me to go to the NIA, which had just taken off. So that was what I told them.

I was told to go for an intelligence course, which I did and finished in December 1987. Immediately I finished, I wrote a letter to General Sani Abacha, who did not want me to go until the day he got that letter. I went and gave it to him.

You could have become a military governor, having known Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar closely.

No, no, no, those guys are not like that. That is why I sit down and laugh when people talk about Babangida and others. You don’t know them. They are not nepotic at all. They didn’t care where you came from; they just wanted the job done. But what is the big deal about being a governor? Just to create a name or something like that? That was never in my head.

What part of Niger State are you from?

I am from Kontagora.

Were you born in Kaduna here? 

In that house where my mother is now.

How would you describe your early life?

I was born in Kaduna on February 1946. My father taught me in the house for six months before I started school. I started from class two. When my father got promoted, he was posted to Lagos, so he had to leave with my mother and two of the other children. I and my brother were sent to the Emir of Kontagora, who was like a father to my father. Then in 1957, the emir told my father that he was getting old. By then I was in class four and my brother was in class two. I had an aunty, who is now late. She was married to a teacher in Provincial Secondary School, Bida, so my father sent us to them in 1957. It was at that time that Babangida and the rest came to start form one. Automatically, they were coming to the teacher’s house. So I have known Babangida for 62 years. As God would have it, we found ourselves in the same place again in the Army.

Were you in the military intelligence unit?  What prepared you for the NIA?

No, but there was no training that they did not give me. I can count the number of countries I have not been to. To top it all, I worked with top people like the president of Egypt, Al-Sisi, even Mubarak. They knew me when I was the liaison officer, going around North Africa before I came back to Nigeria. I spent three years after doing my National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) course, went back to the same liaison office in South Korea and Japan, all those pacific realm.

What was your experience in the NIA? 

Change of name. I was not using my name because of how we operated. Sometimes you would go somewhere and somebody who knew you would call you by another name. But when I reached a certain grade I reverted to using my correct name. When I joined the NIA I was trained as the head of DIP protection. My job was to travel to any country and arrange for the security of VIPs like the president, vice president, ministers and so on. The SSS is in charge of protecting the president in the country but the NIA is in charge of protection outside. I was heading that place for four years before I was posted to Egypt.

Would you say that Babangida did the right thing when he established the National Guard? 

We are regretting that it did not continue – all these issues overstretching our soldiers would not be happening. All the banditry taking place would have been handled by them.

But we have special forces…

Special forces are members of the Nigerian Army trained to do some anti-terrorist activities.

When you went for postings, did you go with your family?

Oh yes; we went together.

How did you meet your wife?

I met my wife here in Kaduna. She was working in the Bank of the North where my salary account was. She used to give me information about the state of our salaries. Sometimes officers didn’t get their salaries early enough. There was nothing like computer and we were not respected at all. I was an instructor in the NDA. She used to be a very beautiful girl. I think she was 20 years old. She finished from a commercial college. She is from Kafanchan. She was a Christian, and one of the conditions for us to marry was that she would convert. Her family said no, but she went ahead. I also told her that she had to resign from her job, and she did.

Were you into any sport when you were in the Army?

I was playing tennis, badminton, golf, billiards and squash.

What about social life?

I told you we did discos and so many other things. I have some records of the 1970s. I have more than 250 albums.

Do you still relate with your cadets that are now top military men?

No. The last time I met Buratai was during a funeral of one brigadier-general here. I don’t see them. Why should I be looking for them? But when we meet we greet.

How do you spend your time?

I spend my time with my family. I also have a little farm on the way to the airport, but my wife is the managing director of the farm. By the grace of God, I depend on my pension and some good officers who I didn’t even teach in the NDA

How many children do you have?

I have seven children.

Is any of them in the Army?

No; but one of them went. He is in his 400 level in Kaduna State University (KASU). When he went in 2013 he called to inform me that he was going to the old site of the NDA but soldiers closed the gate, saying he was two seconds late. So I told him to come back home because that was what I wanted.