My reading of the 252 page book of Lt. Gen. Ishaya Rizi Bamaiyi (rtd.) titled “VINDICATION OF A GENERAL” led me to one conclusion. That the Nigerian Army has not been combat ready from the time the Civil war ended on January 15, 1970 and the time they finally handed over power on May 29, 1999. They were not combat ready, hence they were planning coups and counter coups. Our military were not fully engaged in combat and since they are being engaged now with boko haram we are hearing less about coups.
When idleness becomes a way of life, a daily thing, it ceases to be refreshing. It becomes dangerous. Idleness is the breeding ground of trouble. It was one of the major factors that contributed to the decay of the Roman Empire. Good cannot be expected to come from a perpetually idle mind. It is like a stagnant pool that breeds scum, disease and filth. Evil thoughts intrude upon the idle mind and are nourished there, building up wrong desires that eventually express them in bad actions. Under the decadent influence of indolent nobles who avidly pursued money and pleasure, the people of the Roman Empire sank into the lowest imaginable depths of debauchery. With most of the labor in the empire being done by about sixty million slaves, approximately one-half of the whole population, idleness became the way of life for the Romans. It created an attitude that was dangerous to the continued existence of the empire. This led to the fall of the mighty empire.
General Bamaiyi was Chief of Army Staff between 1996-1999. I feel he should know about the workings in the military. In the book he declared “Growing up as a young man, I had always dreamt of being a soldier, of serving in the military in Nigeria, where I was born and raised. As a young man, I realized that dream but soon found out it was not everything I had imagined it would be. Where I had envisioned camaradie, honour and respect, I found secrets, lies and backstabbing. I found corruption where there should have been transparency and openness, and, worst of all malice where only valour should have thrived”. The book was published in 2014, but certain contents of the book are still very relevant.
General Bamaiyi declared in the book “the biggest casualties of the forays of the Nigerian military into the political arena discipline, respect for seniority, hierarchy of command and loyalty from above. These are time-honoured values that have sustained the military as an organization and set it apart from many other modern organisations. At the core of the problem which I try to highlight in this book is the impact of the erosion of discipline in the Nigerian military, and how patronage creeped into the military because of adventure into power. Once junior officers became beneficiaries of juicy political appointments and had access to untold wealth and influence in the ruling circles, insubordination of junior officers to senior officers became the norm rather the exception.
It is for this reason that Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, though it recognizes the role of the military in supporting internal security operations, makes this role complementary as important and as desirable as it may be.
What this means is that in practical terms it may be difficult to divorce the military especially of developing nations, from politics and power. The real issue however is that of maintaining a delicate balance between the allurement of power and politics on the one hand and the demands of professionalism including respect for discipline on the other hand. This becomes very critical because, from the Weberean point of view, the military is a foremost bureaucratic organization, whereby hierarchy and a clear chain of command flowing from the top to the bottom take precedence over other considerations. The efficiency and effectiveness that sustain the military as an organization largely derive from respect for discipline.
The Nigerian military, modelled after that of her British colonial masters, was expected to be apolitical and to be truly professional by sticking to its traditional role of defending the territory of the Nigerian state from external aggression. But this was never to be, as the experience of many West African countries, including that part of Nigeria, showed within one decade of obtaining independence from their colonial masters. It could be that for Nigeria and many African countries in similar situations direct military takeover of power could be inevitable considering the behavior of the politicians who took over power at independence”. There are some claims in the book that are challengeable.
In the book General Bamaiyi claimed that he was detained for more that 8years because he was opposed to a military man (General Olusegun Obasanjo) from taking over from General Abdusalam Abubakar. That was his claim. It now looks as if his wish may materialize soon. After 1999, we saw quite a number of former military officers rushing to party politics and signifying their intentions for elective posts. And we were wondering then where it would lead to. They included General Olusegun Obasanjo, General Muhammadu Buhari, General Ibrahim Babangida, General Omar Sanda Ike Nwachukwu, General Mohammed Magoro, Major General Abubakar Tanko Ayuba, Brigadier General Tunji Olurin, Colonel Ahmadu Ali, Col. Joseph Iorshagher Akaagerger, Lt.Gen Saliu Ibrahim, Brigadier General John Nazip Shagaya, Admiral Murtala Nyako, Col. Emmanuel Shoda (country man) Col. Bala Mohammed Mande, Colonel Mohammed Kaliel Bello, Colonel Dauda Komo, General Aliyu Gusau, Major General Lawrence Onoja, Colonel Olagunsoye Oyinlola, my oga, Commodore Olabode Ibiyinka George, Brigadier General Tunde Ogbeha, Brigadier General Bonaventure David Mark and a few others. Gradually they are being “deleted” by the people themselves while some have completely withdrawn from party politics. I am talking about elective office and party politics not appointments for we still have Brigadier General Mohammad Mansur Dan Alli, Colonel Ibrahim Hammed Ali and Lt-General Abdurahman Danbazau still holding political appointments today. I hear from the grapevine that the former Governor of Lagos state, Brigadier General (rtd) Mohammed Buba Marwa (64) is coming to the villa in a higher capacity as well as the Governor of Kaduna state, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. Brigadier Marwa’s coming which is under the sponsorship of someone close to the President may be designed to take care of the Presidents’ first constituency, the military, which he did not accommodate in his first term.
The retired military officers are complaining about their plight. There is also Adamu Adamu, the Accountant/Journalist, the present Minister of Education from Bauchi, who I am told is coming to the villa also.
With the recent defeat of Lt-General (rtd) Timbut Jeremiah Useni (76) in the gubernatorial election in Plateau state, there are only two military officers occupying elective posts today in the country. They are General Muhammadu Buhari and Rear Admiral (rtd.) Gboribiogha John Jonah, the present deputy governor of Bayelsa state, who is from Nembe. And his term ends in February next year. The complexity of Bayelsa state politics makes it difficult for anyone to predict whether Admiral Jonah or my friend, Ambassador Godknows Boladei Igali (59), an author and a retired federal Permanent Secretary, will contest in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Bayelsa state.
General Buhari was recently re-elected and all things being equal, his term will end in 2023. General Buhari came last to the political scene among former military officers and he may be the last to go. It may be too early to write the political obituary of the military in our body politics, for anything can happen before 2023. But let us indulge ourselves in bidding the military bye bye for the time being in our body politics. Their everlasting contribution was that they forced the expensive Presidential system of government on us without a plebiscite or a referendum. They also forced on us two constitutions—1979 and 1999. And we had no choice than to endure. After they have fully gone from the scene, we can sit down and reorganize our lives. In the fifty-eight years of post-independence era, military officers, either elected or not elected, have ruled us for about forty-two years out of fifty-nine years now. By 2023, they would have ruled us for 46years. I think that should be enough. For good or for bad an era is ending.
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