In a voice steady but weighty with lived experience, former Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Leo Irabor (Rtd), lays bare the wounds beneath Nigeria’s long war with Boko Haram, scars both visible and invisible - in his recently released book “Scars: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum”.
Zig Diaries | Feature & Analysis
Date: Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Time: 13:42 WAT
Location: 📍 Abuja, Nigeria
The book, he explains while speaking to Defence & Security Correspondent Nokai Origin, is not just a memoir of battles
fought; it is a record of Nigeria’s unfinished struggle, with deep-rooted
fractures that long predate the insurgency.
According to him, his 15 years on the tactical,
operational and strategic fronts of Nigeria’s security architecture revealed a
troubling pattern; “There
are deeper issues than what you see manifest in the sense of security problems,”
he reflects. “These issues are
deep-rooted. They have predicted the various occurrences on our developing path.”
The scars, he says, are both national and personal.
They are scars of a country that keeps repeating history, and of soldiers and
families who have paid a steep price for it.
General Irabor traces the motivation for writing Scars
to his growing concern that many in positions of responsibility, particularly
the political class and sections of the general public, remain detached from
the deeper structural issues that fuel Nigeria’s insecurity.
“I
wasn’t convinced they were knowledgeable or aware of the associated issues,”
he notes. “When you see social media
narratives and juxtapose them with realities at the frontlines, there’s a clear
mismatch.”
He insists the book is not about settling scores but
preserving hard truths for future generations. “Problems will never cease,” he warns. “But what is bad is for problems to recur. It appears we are not
learning from history.”
To make his point, General Irabor reads from Nigeria’s
historical record. One excerpt, delivered in 1957 by the country’s first Prime
Minister, calling for unity in the face of political division. Another excerpt recounts
bitter regional rivalries of the immediate pre-independence era. Both could
have been written yesterday from how relatable and current they sounded.
“Our problems
are iterative,” he says softly. “How
can we put an end to them if we don’t even understand their origins?”
He frames Nigeria’s recurring security crises as a
leadership and societal responsibility problem. “In life, the good, the bad and the ugly exist. Each of these groups
never rests. Criminals will always promote what they see as their calling. But
the people who are good must ensure they expose the criminals. If they don’t,
their own lives are at risk.”
Beyond the institutional and structural critique, Scars
is also painfully personal.
“I have scars,”
The Former CDS Irabor admits, pausing. “Apart
from the scars of war which I see physically on my body, there are emotional
scars. I have superintended over thousands of troops. I’ve walked through
hospitals, seen families broken. Even my family, at times, did not get the
timely support they needed from me.”
His voice hardens when he recalls moments at the
frontlines, where a young soldier barely in his twenties, struck down before
his life could fully begin; the young bride, newly married, weeping by a coffin
- a future stolen before it had time to breathe. These moments, he says, remain
etched in his heart. “Those are scars,”
he says quietly. “They never leave.”
General Irabor’s reflections also hold a warning for
Nigeria’s younger generation, what he calls the “voiced generation,” loud and
restless on social media who have a lot of questions. But, he adds, they must
also understand the roots of the problems they desire a fix for. “How can you address a problem that you do
not know?”
He urges youth to marry passion with understanding. “One day, they will grow into the very
positions they now criticize. It must be from a position of knowledge and responsibility.”
Scars
is both a reckoning and a challenge. It confronts Nigeria’s habit of
forgetting, of repeating, of bleeding in familiar ways. But it also invites a
national reflection on the courage to break the cycle.
As as General Irabor puts it, quoting Albert Einstein:
“You cannot solve a problem from the same
mindset that created it. You must first understand what gave rise to it.”
🏷️
Tags: Lucky Irabor, Boko Haram, Nigerian Military, Security, Counterterrorism,
Insurgency, Scars, Defence, History, Youth, National Unity
#Scars #LuckyIrabor #Defence #BokoHaram
#ZigDiariesDefence
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