Nigeria’s Khaki Brutes And Their Bludgeons -By Kene Obiezu

For a country whose memories of the military are full of pain and even revulsion, each new failing by men clad in khaki reopens old wounds which should rather remain hidden.

Wherever one turns in the country, there is to be seen just how much the egregious lack of professionalism shown by military men who took leave of their barracks at different times to usurp power contributed to the complications Nigeria has faced on what has been a most difficult journey to nationhood for.

A bloody past

On 15 January 1966 Nigeria cantered into what was to be the first of many military coups. It was a brutal blow for a country which had only attained independence six years earlier after decades of a savage colonial rule. It set the country back decades.

If the military coup of 15 January 1966 was not enough bitter pill, another one quickly followed on 29th July 1966 to prepare the ground for the harrowing civil war of 1967-1970.

Further military coups followed in 1975, 1983,1985,1990 and 1993 with each of them ushering in military administrations marked by insatiable greed and bloodlust. Nigerian military officers who went on to plunder Nigerias treasury, enthroning in the process the culture of systemic corruption and impunity that have today become a national nightmare.

The extent of the injuries suffered by Nigeria at the hands of successive military administrations can never be truly quantified.

Fists of fury

On Monday, August 4, 2022, some soldiers and policemen engaged in a fight near Ojo in Lagos State, leading to the death of a police officer SP Monday Orukpe.

According to the military authorities, the fight was over a traffic jam allegedly caused by the police. When confronted by the soldiers who were on their way to a function, a scuffle broke out and after a shot fired by the deceased police officer narrowly clipped a soldiers ear, narrowly missing his vital parts. That was when the soldiers descended on the police officer and beat him to death. They also injured another police officer.

The events which led to the death of SP Monday Orukpe were cast in the overkill which is typical of the Nigerian military – to overdo things. To kill a fly, the Nigerian military would go for a sledgehammer.

In a country where security threats are growing by the day, do we need really need security personnel turning on each other in infantile power tussles?

While it has become increasingly clear that the disconnect between the Nigerian military and civilians is hampering counterterrorism operations, it appears the military is little interested in taking deliberate measure to improve its relations with civilians and fellow security personnel under other Nigeria security agencies.

The impunity with which some men of the Nigerian military operate from time to time tell of the institutions contempt for Nigeria and Nigerians, one which apparently comes from a place of memory where power was repeatedly seized at the end of the gun and the Giant of Africa was ruled by draconian decrees instead of democratic constitutions.

It beggars belief that even more than two decades since the Nigerian military handed over power, residual impunity still finds refuge within its ranks, escaping from time to time to rip Nigerians open, and force them to relieve their worst nightmares.
There is no doubt that the authorities of the Nigerian military must do more to demand that the professionalism of their men is always at one hundred per cent and no less.

While Nigerians do their best to support the military which continues to make heroic sacrifices to keep the country out of from the claws of those who sow death and chaos, the ghosts of innocent Nigerians massacred at the Lekki toll gate in October 2020, and all those who have lost their lives at other times during run-ins with the men of the Nigerian military would no doubt continue to haunt what has been difficult relations.

As part of their training, properly educating those who make up the military of the boundaries of military-civilian relations is paramount.

It is also important that men of the military who turn their fists and guns on innocent people from time to time are court martialed and punished.

Unless lessons are harshly taught, what has up till now been grating impunity will continue.

Kene Obiezu,
Twitter: kenobiezu