Publisher, Dele Momodu, wrote this article,
appealing to officers of the Nigerian Army to
cool their temper following their recent clash
with some members of the now outlawed IPOB
in Abia state. Read his article below
Fellow Nigerians, let me confess my admiration
for security forces generally. It is not just
because of the cleanliness and crispiness of
their uniform or the famed discipline that they
imbue in their members. It is because I find their
job too risky. I often wonder why any man or
woman would voluntarily sign his or her death
warrant. For me, they appear more like suicide
bombers. As a toddler in the ancient city of Ile-
Ife, I remember being told by older people that
“soldiers are trained to kill” and we were told to
avoid them. The myth flying around included that
most of them were recruited without having much
education. But as I grew up, I began to acquire a
special fascination for them, especially the elite
squads in the Navy and the Air Force. I would
later interact with many soldiers at home and
abroad. I love their uniforms, jackboots and in
particular their menacing guns.

I still imagine till this day what it takes to be a
killer. We were told soldiers were regularly
injected with special drugs that makes it
impossible for them to have the milk of human
kindness in them. But with time, I saw and met
many soft-hearted soldiers. I used to tease them
about what we were told as kids. I must say I
became one of their fans and good friends. I
visited our soldiers in Sierra Leone and Liberia
and gave them my humble support and they were
very appreciative of my modest contribution and
inspiration.

The reason for my preamble must be obvious to
you all. I was seriously angry after seeing a video
purportedly showing how our soldiers were
brutalising fellow Nigerians and subjecting them
to the worst indignities known to mankind. I’ve
been praying that the videos were shot in outer
space and not anywhere near Nigeria. But if what
I saw very vividly actually took place on our
planet and in this our dear beloved nation, then
we’ve truly missed the road. I did not see any
sign of weapons with these hapless victims of
oppression and repression. At the very worst,
even if as the military authorities claimed, that
the soldiers were pelted with pebbles and
stones, the treatment meted out to the
personalities in the video is undeserved by any
human being. How was the response from the
military commensurate to that of the supposed
hoodlums? Was it not an act of provocation in
itself for soldiers to be engaging in drills in an
area already soaked with tension?
Let me stretch the argument a bit further. Whose
idea was it to draft the soldiers onto the streets
to intimidate Nigerians in areas where there was
no war? How can anyone send soldiers to
threaten a people who already feel marginalised
and are saying so very resoundingly? What is
wrong with empowering members of the Nigeria
Police Force and especially the anti-riot police
squad to tackle cases of hooliganism and even
terrorism. Soldiers are meant to come out in
open battle only in extreme cases where there is
total chaos and mayhem. President Muhammadu
Buhari has wittingly or inadvertently walked into
the trap cleverly set for him by the Biafra
secessionists. Kanu and company have read the
President well knowing his proclivity for no-
nonsense and high-handedness.

If truth must be told, this is the height of
intolerance on the part of the Nigerian State. I
have not seen any Lawyer who believes in the
legality of what our soldiers have done. Kanu
may be reckless and irresponsible by promoting
internecine wars and heating up our country
unnecessarily but no one can deny him the right
of expressing himself and agitating for his
beliefs. What could have been done to him was
very simple; send the police after him and get
him rearrested for flouting his bail conditions.
Some of his hard core loyalists and acolytes
could be easily identified and kept out of
circulation. For the past few months, Kanu has
been raking and ranting but he has not fired a
bullet. As a matter of fact, this government has
unfortunately resurrected a man who was already
on his way to Golgotha and at a time his
bravado was becoming increasingly irritating to
many of those who took him seriously initially.
The staccato fashion of his argument was
becoming boring and predictable. I really don’t
know who misadvised our leaders into thinking
they can fight all wars and win all. Believe me
please, I know Nigeria a bit, it is a dangerous
gamble.

I’m aware that our President is a retired Major
General, a man well known for his taciturnity,
who packs his punches and loves to take on
known and imaginary enemies. But we supported
him because we believed Baba had transfigured
into a born again democrat. The Buhari we
supported was not the man who ruled with
draconian Decrees from 1983-85 and was forced
out of power and his detractors rejoiced openly
and widely. The same Nigerians who praised you
for beating your child would soon turn around to
castigate you and ask why you’re so wicked.
That is the reality of Nigeria. This particular case
is even more precarious. Some Northerners had
issued threats to the Igbos to quit their territory
or face monumental reprisals. A few of the
respected people in the North cautioned them
but they were rebuffed with insults in a most
vicious manner. No security arm ever tried to
even invite them for any chat not to talk of
arrests. The then Acting President, Professor
Yemi Osinbajo, did so well by engaging different
sections of Nigeria in peaceful dialogue and we
were happy that the ticking bomb was carefully
detonated. Just imagine what would have
happened if he invaded parts of the North or East
with soldiers blazing with guns and bayonets. He
would have been accused of all sorts, including
ethnic cleansing.

Our President should be told in very clear terms
that the world has changed drastically in the last
three decades. No leader can order his troops
out in the streets to kill and destroy wantonly.

We should not over-stretch our luck. Nigeria
cannot afford a second civil war. Our economy is
already in shambles. We should prosecute how
to return to economic recovery urgently and resist
the temptation of wasting our scarce resources
on persecuting our fellow citizens. The videos in
circulation tend to portray us as barbarians who
belong in the prehistoric age. We’ve suffered
enough negativity and should not invite the wrath
of the world upon ourselves. Believe it or not,
Nigeria may find itself in the bad book of War
Crimes Tribunal. It is not impossible, no matter
how long it takes. Mass graves have been
reported in some parts of Nigeria with concrete
proofs. Nigerians have been detained indefinitely
in near solitary confinements without trial. This
are not the best examples to lay for our future.
Many of those who should speak up against
tyranny are too squeamish for obvious reasons.
But it should not be so.

I’m not a supporter of Biafra. I don’t have to be.
I love and prefer a bigger, stronger and more
prosperous Nigeria. But there are reasons for
many Nigerians to detest Nigeria, today. They
feel they have been horribly marginalised and
treated like second class citizens in their own
country. Their perception is that they believe all
or most of the following things. Their children no
longer attend the good schools for which the
Igbos have become well known. The goods,
some of which they even make themselves in
Aba, have become only available for the rich.

Infrastructure is sorely lacking for the most part.
Where they exist, they are decaying and nobody
is really attending to them. There are no new
jobs and the few old jobs are being lost in
droves. The state of healthcare is almost
hopeless. Federal character has become a total
charade. We can go on, ad infinitum, reeling out
the litany of woes that our brothers and sisters in
the South East believe is responsible for the
unusually strident agitation that we are now
witnessing. To be fair and charitable they do
have cause to be aggrieved in many respects.

Our government should address these issues
instead of attacking those who disagree with
them. One of the surest ways to do this is by
education, information and public enlightenment
to demonstrate that the position is not as bad as
they feel. The social media is awash with facts
and figures for and against the depth and
seriousness of the so-called marginalisation of
the South East. The next step would be to
identify those issues which are of critical
concern, proffer solutions to resolve them and
then act on these solutions. The third and equally
important duty of the government is to ensure an
equitable distribution of resources and positions.
Indeed, this is the major reason for the clamour
for restructuring. Whilst we still operate in a
system where government provides practically
everything, it is only just that people must have a
sense of belonging and participation. However,
the best form of restructuring that Nigeria needs
now is not merely to decentralise power but to
cede power completely to the private sector
whilst government contributes its quota by
providing the enabling environment for the much
needed industrialisation and technological
advancement that will take us out of our present
doldrums..

In the name of God, the omnipotent and merciful,
everyone should beg our Federal Government to
end this self-immolating war of attrition. We have
nothing to gain. In fact, we have more to lose.

See more: https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2017/09/16/our-dear-army-please-cool-temper/