By Rev Fr Gerald Nwafor
We have watched in recent times the friction between the military and the civilians. We can compare this with other countries of the world where civilians and the military live side by side cordially. I have not witnessed in any manner, shape, or form where the civilians beat up their military. But this is like becoming a daily occurrence in our beloved country Nigeria. I grew up in our nature. I have witnessed many times when the police and our military men overstepped their boundaries to abuse my line and attack the civilians for no just costs. The problem with the military in Nigeria is that their uniform is always a kind of license to perpetrate anarchy, confusion, and brutality.
Human beings by nature will always react to force that is a threat to their livelihood, the force that is insensitive to their welfare, and the force that is about to diminish their existence. The problem at the Okuama community in Niger Delta is still fresh in our minds.
And now the problem between the military and the civilians at Abuja Plaza (Banex Plaza) is on the front burner. One may ask why we are quick to beat up our military men, not minding the fact that we will adore, praise, and respect them.
There are a few points that the military should investigate when it comes to dealing with civilians. In every little situation the people we go and call the military, who are your friends, relatives, or co-workers, come to intimidate, harass, and ultimately take away the adversary or the opposing party.
The military should know their boundary. If there is a market dispute between the the buyer and the seller and somebody who is your relative, your brother, your sister, cousin, or nephew, may come to call you to help him settle the dispute in the market.
As well-trained military personnel, you should tell that person that it is not your duty to do so. He/she should go and report the problem to the police station. As a military person, you are not supposed to engage in any form of dispute settlement within the state because you are not trained to do that: you are trained to protect the country.The event of the Abuja Plaza (Banex) calls to mind the failure of the government to call the military to order.
I remember that we cried foul when the military invaded the Okuama community and cordoned it off to the extent that they did not even allow the governor of the state the chief security officer to go in. People engaged in social media, traditional media, mainstream media, print media, and all manners of information technology to inform the military that they have no right to prosecute, arrest, or charge in court. Looking at today’s event at Abuja in the Plaza where they have cordoned off the Plaza and stopped people from going in to search for their daily lives, it all shows that the case of Okuama, it did not make any sense to involve the military.
Even the spokesperson of the military said in clear terms that they cordoned off the Plaza to investigate and fish out the perpetrators. One begins to wonder if all the clamor, all the shouts during the Okuama event that they do not have the power to investigate prosecute, and to charge to court made any sense to the military.
In the space of one month, we are back to the place where we started, shouting again, telling the military that they do not have the power to investigate to shut down a community or a business location in the name of investigation. One of the tragedies of democracy in Africa is implementation.
Most African countries that borrowed democracy from the West do not read the constitution of their own country to know what to do and what not to do. The military spokesperson and the former chief of army staff said that an attack on one in uniform is an attack on the nation of Nigeria. One may ask in layman’s terms: when your military man deviates from their work and the community reacts accordingly is it also an attack on Nigeria?
The simple quote says if you live in a glass house do not throw stones. If the military men do not behave themselves properly and accordingly, definitely society cannot help but also react to the misbehavior of the armed forces. The forest that is allergic to baskets should not grow mushrooms (offia na aso nkata nya epuna elo).In summary, Nigeria is under civilian rule not under military dictatorship.
Nigeria is governed by the constitution not by military decree. Nigeria is a secular state not some kind of religious organization. Therefore, the military should know that any action of theirs that is contrary to the constitution of the nation will be frowned upon by the citizens. The military should also be aware that human beings have a limit to what they can tolerate.
When you push somebody over the limits, the reaction you will get may not be very conducive and clement. Since the return to democracy in 1999 the Nigerian public has always in one way or another encountered the military with their excesses and abuse; if not on the road, it is in the market, or during the political campaign.
The military should know that their job is to defend the nation against another nation, not the nation against its citizens because that job belongs to the police. One can say that our police are inefficient and ineffective, but is it not the duty of the public to tell the government what to do with an ineffective police force?
The government should train and equip the Police Department so that they can be equal to the task before them like we see in other countries. The federal government should also inform the military, especially this time when their excesses are overbearing that they have nothing to do with the Nigerian civilians.
If the government fails to instruct the military and the military fails to behave themselves, I can assure you, because I know the Nigerian people very well, in less than one month another incident of military abuse will happen and the military will take powers into their hands once again to create mayhem and confusion.
