Tunde Leye: In the military’s best interest (Y! FrontPage)

by Tunde Leye

tunde-leye1

The irony of it all is this – whilst we support our military, we must continue to remind them that these generals that they are brutalizing the press for are the very ones all fingers are pointing to as responsible for the mismanagement of funds meant to kit and equip them in the war against Boko Haram. 

Since the 6th of June, 2014, the military has stepped up its war against terrorism in Nigeria. The new offensive has lasted for two straight days and it is yet to show signs of abating.

You will be forgiven for thinking that the statements above refer to the war on Boko Haram terrorists in the North East, perhaps to #BringBackOurGirls who have been gone for two months now. But you will be very wrong. The enemies the Nigerian military has deployed against is the press. In a sustained assault that has lasted two days, the military intercepted newspaper shipments to the north and launched assaults on some newspaper houses. There are reports that some of the vendors were manhandled and “dealt with” in military fashion when the interceptions happened. When this kind of news comes out, it becomes hard to distinguish if we are in a civilian led democracy or still under a military dictatorship. Perhaps the correct nomenclature would be a mix of this – a civilian dictatorship in the offing. The president then must be prepared. Democratic government which morphs into dictatorships are judged a lot more harshly than governments which were dictatorships from the get go.

Reports have it that the newspapers attacked are those that reported the alleged land sharing amongst serving and retired generals of land allocated for building a barracks annex in Abuja. In other words, these unexplainable actions of military officers were expected to be unreported. As usual, our military sees itself above what applies within this sovereign country.

One wonders how a military that desperately needs the cooperation of the press to garner support in the battle against Boko Haram plans to achieve this by alienating the same press by such actions. It is similar to what has been said about the manner the military has conducted itself in the North East. You cannot expect the people in that region to line up behind the military and offer support when they see the same military committing human rights abuses on a daily bases that sometimes rivals that of the terrorists.

The irony of it all is this – whilst we support our military, we must continue to remind them that these generals that they are brutalizing the press for are the very ones all fingers are pointing to as responsible for the mismanagement of funds meant to kit and equip them in the war against Boko Haram. It is the press that is exposing these generals so that something will be done to stop the unacceptable deaths of our soldiers in Boko Haram attacks that the soldiers are attacking. Yet the very ones the press is defending attack it.

As is usual, the reactions to these happenings from the presidency have left one wondering if they understand what it means to be the government of the day. I can never understand this attitude of throwing hands in the air and trumpeting “it wasn’t me” in knee jerk reaction.

Doyin Okupe, the president’s Senior Special Adviser, came out to say that the president has nothing to do with the attacks and interception. The gravity of such a statement seems to be lost on the presidency. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is clear on the fact that all military action, domestic or foreign, must be authorized by the president and commander in chief of the armed forces. Hence, any action, by any military formation, that contravenes this in unconstitutional. Therefore there are only two possibilities here. Either this attack has presidential sanction or it doesn’t. Attempts at press censorship aren’t alien to this government and its agencies as exemplified by the NCC recently requesting that media houses must supply the names of political commentators 48hours before they go on air. However, if the recent actions of our military did not get the presidential nod, then it is unconstitutional and those in contravention must be punished and it is the responsibility of the president to ensure this is done. Except the military is above the constitution. We therefore wait to see what will happen.

Having said these, it is often said that most African democratically elected governments still allow their militaries to act as they will due to the fear of coups. They employ a strategy of underfunding the military, or in collusion with the generals, ensuring that funds never get utilized to make the military into an effective fighting force so that they will not threaten the government. Attitudes of “you bloody civilians don’t know I am above the law” is rife in our military even today. A military man once told my neighbor confidently that he could kill a civilian and nothing would happen to him as long as the civilian wasn’t connected to a senior military man or political patron. This kind of attitudes run all the way to the top of our military and sometimes justifies why politicians act the way they do towards the military and why rather than support, citizens fear and feel repulsed by the military. This is counterproductive and will not help the military and the country at large.

The Jonathan administration can begin to take the right steps using this attack on the press as a lever to right these wrongs in our civilian-military relations. We are at a stage where we desperately need our military to be effective without fearfully looking over our shoulders that making them effective would lead us to a military dictatorship. The threats we currently face necessitate this and the earlier the military realizes that it is in their own best interest, the better.

They should also realize that we are in the internet age. The information in the newspapers they have burnt will still get out there, because it is readily available on the internet.

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It is rare for people to go into public service in Nigeria and come out with their integrity intact. Dora Akunyili did this and in the process saved many lives from fake drug dealers, many of whom were her kinsmen, inspiring a generation. And for this we celebrate her, even in her death. RIP Ma’am

 

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

 

 

 

 

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