Welcome Back, Nigerian Army

In my adult age, I have regrettably come to know
eulogies are hard to extend to the Armed Forces
or armed men in uniform nowadays. Though the
Nigerian Army is indubitably the most prominent
among the three arms of Nigerian military, it is one
such institution which suffers public ignominy.
Nigerian soldiers, hitherto revered, in my days
of youth, became derided and hardly appreciated
by the same people it serves at a minutely risk of
their lives. No one was ready to sympathize with
them in their moments of trials or even think
positively of their salvation roles in nationhood.
Obviously perturbed, I undertook a private study
to unearth the reasons for this depth of hatred for
the Nigerian Army.
I painstakingly followed the feelings, emotions
and reactions of Nigerians for some time on
issues, which affects the Nigerian Army. And
quite shockingly, I discovered that even when
a soldier dies in the battlefield, it is not only so
much heartless for us not to be unemotional or
pensive about his brutal demise in the hands of our
enemies.
We hate to even know he died in the course of
protecting us or while battling to give us peace and
security in the comfort of our homes. Worse still,
we do not usually find it strange, and casually
dismiss his death as one of the hazards of his
profession. But oddly, the death of a politician or
local councilor in a community attracts wailings
and days of prayerful wishes for the repose of his
soul.
We ascribe to him lofty status, even when he
contributed nothing either to us personally or the community while alive in the service of the state.
What confounded me most was that the respect
Nigerians had for a soldier dissipated rapidly and
sustained for over two decades. The indulgence
of soldiers in partisan politics at the expense of
professionalism and expertise in warfare angered
Nigerians infinitely. It reduced the worth of an
average soldier in the estimation of Nigerians. I
quite agree with Nigerians who felt disappointed
with the Nigerian Army and extended hostility,
instead of gratitude to soldiers.
I still recollect vividly the perception as a
growing up boy, about soldiers as potential
millionaires’ once someone conscripted into the
Nigerian Army. The likelihood of his growing up
to become a MILAD or appointed into any other
political office was quit high. Even among peers,
we could giggle and hail friends who joined the
Army by flattering them with the appellation
“potential MILAD.”
This feeling completely extinguished the
spirit of professionalism, discipline, loyalty
and patriotism among soldiers. I saw the
incompetence of the Nigerian Army manifest
at the return of Nigeria’s democracy in
1999. Soldiers displayed very confounding
helplessness in quelling internal insurrections
or armed local conflicts that surpassed the
competence of regular security.
They faltered badly at combat fronts. So,
militancy thrived unabated; lethal separatism
movements’ choked Nigerians; religious
extremists and fanatical sects punctured the
serenity of Nigeria unchallenged; armed banditry
and cattle rustling became a vocation and the
worst of them all was the deadly progression of
Boko Haram terrorism. Indeed, from officers
to other personnel, Nigerian Army displayed
a shameful incompetence that attracted
widespread public mockery.
We lost the soul and integrity of a once
cherished armed force because they could not
perform their professional and Constitutional
duties. Meanwhile, soldiers became astute
backdoor electoral kingpins and election riggers
for politicians. They effortlessly and with the
smallest bait, unprofessionally and unlawfully
obstructed the electoral process for pecuniary
benefits.
The Nigerian Army was indisputably one of
the public institutions most abused by politicians.
Soldiers were almost destroyed by politicians as
officers and personnel abandoned their core
military training for politics and unhealthy
indulgence into petty national issues that had no
correlation with their professions