The ECOWAS Youth Ambassador, and Executive Director of Security Affairs Limited, Austin Peacemaker has dedicated his ‘Africa’s Change Agent Award’ to the Nigerian Army, for their enhanced civil military relations in the country, and the Nigerian Army’s resolute in the face of diverse controversies and distractions, currently ongoing in the country.
Peacemaker while receiving the award in an event put together by the African Goodwill Ambassador Awards, told the cheering crowd that his award is dedicated to the Nigerian Army.
“We thank God our country did not burn as planned by some, we wouldn’t be here tonight celebrating, probably in we will all be in IDP camps or in refugee camps in neigbouring countries. But thank God! We all have a role to play in promoting peace and security in Nigeria. So my award is dedicated to the Nigerian Army, who remained resolute in the face of all manners of distractions and incitements.”
In a further chat with newsmen who were present at the event, Amb. Peacemaker reaffirmed his position, said his award is dedicated to the Nigerian Army, his organisation is in partnership with, and the enhanced civil military relations under the current Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen TY Buratai.
He admonished Nigerian youths to embrace peace no matter what, that violence will never achieve the new Nigeria we all dream of.
It will be recalled that there have been accusations that the country’s Army opened fire at peaceful protesters, however the Nigerian Army top hierarchy has maintained that the Nigerian Army acted professionally and kept to the rules of engagement in the handling of the #ENDSARS protesters at Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos on October 20, 2020.
Just recently CNN released a very disturbing report that there was a direct shooting at peaceful protesters, which a BBC reporter who was at the event of the alleged killings said there were no killings.
Peacemaker has also maintained that there was no CNN correspondent at the scene of the Lekki shootings. He said the channel relied on self-professed photo-video-journalists who doctored videos and manipulated pictures to create gory impressions of a massacre.
“We do ourselves no good if we continue to ridicule our armed forces before the international community, there are our only defence, we have no Army than the Nigerian Army. It is Nigerian Armed Forces, and their constitutional role is to defend us against external aggressors. If we then ridicule them then we are undoing ourselves. We must not forget that some foreign elements are intimidated by our size as a country and also as the giant of Africa, and are bent on seeing us divided, so we must not play into their manipulations by attacking our only form of defence as a country.” Peacemaker told newsmen.
Austin Peacemaker is an ECOWAS Youth Council Ambassador, a member of African Union (AU) ECOSOCC Peace and Security Cluster committee, and multiple award winning Security Affairs Analyst and Civil-military Affairs Consultant who has led team of journalists, bloggers and social media influencers to the Northeast of Nigeria on several occasion to conduct on the spot assessment, civil military relations and interaction with frontline soldiers, promoting global peace and security, and bridging the gap between the Nigerian Military and the civilian populace. He is the Executive Director of Security Affairs Limited and the founder of Television Security (TVS News) which is the first ever 100% security content television in Africa.
His organisation has been in partnership with the Nigerian Army Department of Civil Military Affairs since 2018 conducting town hall interactive sessions with social media influencers across Nigeria.
He is currently running a post-graduate programme in Conflict, Security and Development at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) department of History and War Studies.
He is an alumni of African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD), Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), and GOTNI Leadership School.
He is a member of the Institute of Public Diplomacy and Management, and the Chartered Institute of Disasters and Safety Managers (CIDSM) State of Delware, USA. He has understudied the development model of Rwanda and UAE under the Rwanda Cooperation Initiative (RCI) and Dubai Tourism Institute respectively. He has undergone multiple training programmes in security reportage with the Nigerian Defence Headquarters, Nigerian Army, and Nigerian Air Force. Amb. Austin Peacemaker is also the National President Coalition of Social Media Influencers for Peace and Stability in Nigeria (COSMIPAS) where is currently championing the campaign for global peace and security.
His hobbies are reading, writing, traveling and cooking.
