Lagbaja: Nigeria Loses A Hero, Misses Its Heart Beat For Gallantry Contributions To Nation's Stability, Said, Ogungbangbe

By ISAAC OLUSESI

The news of the death of the nation's Chief of Army Staff is traumatizing as he did not leave the nation in the lurch of any precipitated withdrawal from Nigerian armed forces and that didn't happen which certainly could have thrown the nation into confusion, Dr Thomas Olaleye Ogungbangbe, a public spirited politician in the Osun East Senatorial District of the state, has said.

In his condolences to the nation's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Lagbaja's families, Osun publics, and particularly, the Olobu of Ilobu, HRM Alaiyeluwa Oba Ashiru Olatoye Olaniyan II and the people of Ilobu, the All Progressive Congress (APC) politician noted that when the nation was charged with fake and tendentious rumours, sourced to one of the military formations, the late Chief of Army Staff promptly rose to the occasion, cleared the suspicions and anxieties generated by the rumour, and made public statement on the true posture of things. And that step dissuaded the military from having any exaggerated notion. He charged the army to exercise a deep sense of its national duty and loyalty to the government. 

The seasoned business magnate in the private sector and esteemed player in political economy stated that the departed gallant soldier, weaned in the finest tradition of the global army, didn't exhibit any inertia under the gravity and sheer weight of the responsibility of his office.

Continuing, the scion of the Ajagbusi Ekun Royal Dynasty, said: "the late army brass proved an efficient and effective partner in the nation's socio-economic and political husbandry as he breezed against the army petty personal grievances; refrained the armed forces to come under the influence of national politics, politicized opinions and conclusions; preserved the military as a cohesive force, untainted, unswayed by politics; and he balanced military operations that neutralized internal strifes of the insurgencies and counter insurgencies of internal militants and external collaborators and never skewed to any parts of the country for threats of vengeance to have caused any preemptive strike."

He added, "All the actions and inactions of the now gone but not forgotten Nigerian Chief of Army Staff underscore the political stability of the nation."

Like in a swift recap of the life and times of the nation's number one soldier, Prince Ogungbangbe remarked: "When the late Lt. General Taoreed  Lagbaja was named the Chief of Army Staff, he picked the torch, aligned with the mood of the nation, and kept a glow the national renaissance, and implemented the policies of the Tinubu government, watershed in dynamism of government affairs, geared to precise frame of deadlines in the lexicon of public affairs management."

The late Chief of Army Staff, from Ilobu in Irepodun local government council area of Osun, popular for his fiery nationalism and _pan-Nigerianism,_  was outgoing and outspoken, hardy and intelligent, fearless and unpredictable, heartily civil and paradoxically, well respected for his cool headedness and economic use of men and materials in operations or battles. 

The now rested Lagbaja was a daring strategist who did his best and brought a sense of direction to Nigerian army, and the nation remains united, strong and prosperous, not slipping to any disequilibrium and never warranted a cataclysm of youths revolution as political army.

For one moment, today, Tuesday, Nigeria lost its 23rd Chief of Army Staff (June 2023 - Nobember, 2024), missed its heart beat; and for another moment, the nation stood at ease, then attention for its fallen hero who had a distinguished military career with honours, medals and citations to his credit, reflecting his heroic contributions to the Nigerian Army.

 *OLUSESI writes via* isaacolusesi@gmail.com