Undisciplined Anger More Dangerous Than Enemy, Security Expert Tells Armed Forces Personnel at Jaji
The President of the Security Resources and Risk Management Academy, Lagos, Mr Matthew Ibadin, has warned officers and personnel of the Nigerian Armed Forces that unmanaged anger poses a greater threat than the enemy itself.
Ibadin, who is also a doctoral researcher at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) and the University of Abuja, gave the warning while delivering a lecture to 436 participants drawn from the Army, Navy, Air Force and officers from eight friendly nations.
The lecture, titled “Emotional Discipline Under Pressure and Anger Management for Staff Officers,” was delivered to participants of Senior Course 48 at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna, on Monday.
Describing anger as “a temporary madness that leaves a permanent record,” Ibadin cautioned officers against assuming they are immune to its consequences, noting that “the line is thinner than one can imagine.”
According to him, one practical principle for officers under pressure — whether at home, in the office, or in command — is to ensure that “anger may enter the room, but must never take command.”
To illustrate the importance of restraint, he used the parable of lions, observing that while both male and female lions roar at every sound, the female roars only when necessary.
“She lives longer not because she is weaker, but because she is more disciplined,” he said.
Ibadin noted that many officers have become like “male lions,” reacting aggressively to juniors, spouses, traffic, phone calls and minor disagreements even when no real threat exists, adding that “that constant agitation slowly destroys what you have built.”
He therefore charged officers to “be a female lion in strategy — and a male lion only when tactically necessary,” stressing that “this is not weakness.”
He urged personnel to discern which battles deserve their energy, emphasizing that authority does not require constant aggression and that the strongest person in the room is often the calmest.
Citing Aristotle’s five tests of anger, Ibadin said maturity lies not in eliminating anger but in disciplining its expression: the right person, the right reason, the right time, the right degree, and the right manner.
In a military context, he explained that anger itself is not indiscipline but information — it may signal violated standards, a threatened mission, perceived injustice, unmet expectations, disrespect or operational setbacks.
He advised officers, when angry, to pause, assess the situation, verify facts and ask questions before making decisions, rather than assuming facts, shouting accusations or acting impulsively.
An officer, he said, can be deeply angry without shouting, insulting, threatening, humiliating others, striking, taking impulsive decisions or abusing authority.
Officers must remember, he added, that they lead personnel who bear arms, make decisions that affect lives, represent an institution, and their actions can shape missions and careers, make national headlines, cause institutional embarrassment, damage their homes and undermine years of diligence in a single moment.
Speaking on the battlefields where anger causes destruction, Ibadin identified health as a major casualty, describing anger as a silent killer capable of triggering high blood pressure and leading to hypertension, stroke, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic ulcers and accelerated physical decline.
He described the home front as another critical battlefield.
“At Jaji, your rank commands respect, but at home, your rank is irrelevant. Bringing command style home destroys sanctuary. An officer whose home is under emotional fire cannot think clearly in the command post. If you win at the office and lose at home — you have lost,” he warned.
“How many officers survived the war front but did not survive peacetime?” he asked.
Ibadin further cautioned that the most regretted decisions are those taken in anger, noting that impulsive orders relating to operations, procurement, personnel assessment, promotions and critical reports can lead to boards of inquiry, career ruin and mission failure.
He therefore advised officers never to allow emotional urgency to replace professional analysis, stressing that the higher the rank, the heavier the cost of undisciplined anger.
