By Chidozie Egbuna<\/p>\n
The lesson we take from the Boko Haram menace is that we are now a country
\nwith out
\na legitimate effective military. What we have is a situation where the
\nemperor is
\nwithout clothes and the subjects are running scared and vulnerable. The
\ncorrupt and
\nineffective Nigerian generals have disintegrated our military into an
\norganized boys
\nscout that is ill equipped, untrained, mismanaged and unprepared to defend
\nthe
\ncountry. I support the Nigerian soldiers who are trying to defend our
\ncountry under
\nthese difficult circumstances but I denounce our thieving generals who are
\nmaking
\nthe task of these troops impossible to carry out.<\/p>\n
Since the end of the Biafra war, Nigeria has been ruled by kleptocratic
\nsystem of
\ngovernment that was heavily military sponsored and abetted by corrupt
\ngenerals of
\nthe Nigerian army. At the conquest of Biafra these military men, beginning
\nwith
\nGowon established themselves in the corridors of power and ran the country
\nas if it
\nwas their personal bank accounts. Without accountability or a system put
\nin place to
\nhold these men accountable, we have now a military that is ill equipped
\nand unfit to
\ndefend the country. We have these debased generals to thank for the
\npresent state of
\nour military.<\/p>\n
To understand this present problem, we must look at history and the role that
\nmilitary generals have played in the destruction of the Nigerian army in
\nparticular
\nand our society as a whole. After independence, the world had high hopes
\nfor Nigeria
\nas the giant of Africa. This hope was shortly dashed when we started
\nhaving military
\ncoups one after the other and thus the emergence of these generals and the
\ndisintegration of the Nigerian army.<\/p>\n
General Ironsi and later Gowon was a product or benefactor of the first
\nmilitary
\ncoup before him and after several years in power, Gowon was in 1975
\noverthrown by
\nGeneral Murtala Mohammed. Subsequently, Murtala was murdered few months
\nlater and
\nhis deputy General Obasanjo rose to power and ruled until 1979. To his
\ncredit,
\nObasanjo had a military sponsored election to hand government over to a
\ncivilian
\ngovernment. The damages of our decadent generals had already taken root
\nduring this
\nperiod.<\/p>\n
The first military government of a civilian Shagari administration came to
\npower.
\nThis period also was characterized by violence, divisive and ethnic
\npolitics and
\nunbridled corruption. In 1983 General Muhammadu Buhari another military man
\noverthrew the Shagari administration. General Buhari during his reign had
\nzero
\ntolerance for corruption especially by the Nigerian political elite.
\nGeneral Buhari
\ntried to end this menace but in 1985 General Ibrahim Babangida with the
\nsupport of
\nthe corrupt elite, overthrew the government of Buhari. The Nigerian military
\nestablishment and the rakish generals could not allow a renegade like
\nBuhari to come
\nand try to stamp out corruption. The Babangida gang took over and
\ncontinued to
\nsquander the country\u2019s fortunes with impunity. Babangida\u2019s military coup
\ncame to
\nget rid of Buhari who truly attempted to fight this evil. They eliminated
\nBuhari and
\nreinstalled their kleptocratic system within a short period. The economy
\ncontinued
\nto decline as Babangida initiated many senseless economic policies that
\nstifled the
\neconomy and created a huge international debt.<\/p>\n
Rampant corruption and the looting of the nation\u2019s resources also
\ncharacterized
\nGeneral Babangida\u2019s era. During this period, Nigeria witnessed an
\nuncontrolled abuse
\nof human rights and restriction of freedom of the press and other civil
\nliberties of
\ncitizens especially the opposition were grossly violated. The disssolute
\ngenerals
\napproved of Babangida\u2019s regime because it was comforting to their cronies
\nthat they
\ncan now rape and pillage Nigeria once again having eliminated Buhari from
\nthe scene.
\nNigerians became unease about Babaginda\u2019s leadership and with pressure
\nfrom the
\ninternational community; in 1993 he initiated an election, which even his
\nenemies
\ndescribed as the best election in Nigeria\u2019s short political history.<\/p>\n
When Moshood K. O. Abiola won this supposedly fair election, the nefarious
\ngenerals
\nonce again grew apprehensive. The military establishment put enormous
\npressure on
\nBabangida to reject the results. Consequently, he annulled the election
\nand put in
\nErnest Shonekan as an interim leader of the country. Abiola later died under
\nmysterious circumstances. Once again, another military leader General Sani
\nAbacha
\npushed Shonekan away a few weeks later. Abacha also grew his network of
\niniquitous
\ngenerals as the condition of the military further deteriorated.<\/p>\n
Abacha\u2019s era was a period of great abuse of human rights and political
\nkillings.
\nThis period saw the increase in the number of thieving generals in the
\nmilitary as
\nAbacha himself spearheaded the growth of his fellow unscrupulous generals
\nand the
\nenormous increase in their wealth and political power. An example of this
\nwas the
\nkilling of Ken Saro-Wiwa a writer and an advocate for the Niger Delta
\ncause. The
\ngross abuse and kleptocracy of Abacha\u2019s era was to be the end of the
\nmilitary rule
\nin Nigeria and the thirst for democracy. Once again we see the military
\ngeneral’s
\ninsatiable hunger for power in their quest to loot and destroy the nation\u2019s
\nresources. The rakehell general\u2019s wealth and power continued to grow
\nduring this
\nperiod but Nigerians have had enough. The general military\u2019s might
\ncontinued to
\ndecline as these enemies of the state continued to loot and destroy their own
\ninstitution by neglect and corruption.<\/p>\n
The thieving generals laid the foundation for the destruction of Nigerian
\neconomy
\nwith their brutal force and insatiable lust for power, money, and the
\nestablishment
\nof a corrupt and unaccountable system of government that we have to this
\npresent
\nday. The thieving military generals answered to no one except their fellow
\nthieving
\nmembers who rewarded themselves well as their circle of powerful members
\nand network
\ngrew. The thieving generals made the rules as they went along in
\nestablishing an
\nenvironment in which corruption and kleptocracy flourished. They grew
\nbusinesses and
\nused their stolen loot to finance and reward their friends while the
\nmasses suffered
\nultimate deprivation of the most common amenities of sustenance. The
\nthieving
\nmilitary generals did not come to restore or participate in nation
\nbuilding but
\nrather they came to grab the oil money and to build their networks of
\ninfluence that
\nrewarded their friends and punished their enemies.<\/p>\n
I highlight this brief history of Nigeria\u2019s thieving generals as the main
\nsource of
\nsome of the problems we are facing as a country today. We know that some
\nof these
\nthieving generals are currently financing the activities of Boko Haram
\nwith the very
\nmoney they stole from the country. The average Nigerian is no longer safe
\nas a
\nconsequence of the type of country that the thieving generals have
\nestablished for
\nthe rest of us.<\/p>\n
As we look at Nigeria\u2019s thieving generals, we would try to show how they
\nhave stolen
\nfrom the country and used that money to consolidate their powerful
\nnetworks which
\nhas been running the country since Gowon\u2019s era. The military oligarchy is
\nsolely
\nresponsible for the chaos and the ineffectiveness that we see today in the
\nNigerian
\nmilitary. The thieving generals have in essence, to use a common
\nexpression, eaten
\ntheir own children. The thieving generals have destroyed the Nigerian army
\nand other
\nvital institutions of our country and now we are all vulnerable to the
\nmenace of
\nBoko Haram. We have a military that lacks even the basic equipments or
\nweapons to
\nfight a vicious enemy who is motivated by fanaticism and abhorrence of all
\nNigerians.<\/p>\n
The information that is being reported by several newspapers is that the
\nNigerian
\narmy is so poorly trained and equipped that they are actually avoiding a
\nconfrontation with the Boko Haram. The Boko Haram is invading villages and
\nslaughtering innocent civilians while the Nigerian army tries to stay out
\nof their
\nway because they do not have the fortitude, training or equipment to
\nconfront or
\nengage Boko Haram. The soldiers cannot function because of the thieving
\ngenerals
\nhave created a dysfunctional and impotent armed force. The chicken has now
\ncome to
\nroost.<\/p>\n
The soldiers do not trust their generals who have betrayed them by their
\ncorrupt
\npractices and ineffectiveness. The recent mutiny in the 7th Division will
\nsupport
\nthis premise that our military is in complete decay from years of abuse from
\nthieving generals and their cronies.<\/p>\n
Our thieving generals in most western countries would be imprisoned or
\nface various
\ncharges of corruption and ineptitude. Not in Nigeria where corruption is an
\nestablished institution. This monster is feed and encouraged and now it
\nhas created
\nan environment where the country is unsafe and cannot defend itself from
\nenemies.<\/p>\n
Do not blame President Jonathan for the Nigerian menace that started and was
\nestablished long before he came into power. The Nigerian institutions
\nincluding the
\nmilitary are rotten to the core and the military\u2019s failure is greater than
\nPresident
\nJonathan or any other Nigerian leader for that matter. We need to put the
\nfocus on
\nour thieving generals and hold them accountable for squandering the resources
\ndesignated for our nation\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n
Finally, our military needs a complete overhaul. This refurbishing must
\nstart by
\ncourt marshaling any known thieving general. These corrupt thieving
\ngenerals must be
\ntried by military tribunals if found guilty of embezzlement sentenced to
\nprison or
\ndismissed from the military without pension. This is how it is done in most
\ndeveloped countries of which Nigeria aspires to be part of. These men have
\nestablished themselves as criminals of the state who have stolen money
\nthat was
\nmeant for training, equipment, and salary. Nigeria must expunge all thieving
\ngenerals if the military is to have a chance of confronting the enemies of
\nNigeria
\nlike Boko Haram. The thieving generals must be replaced by a younger, highly
\ntrained, nonpolitical junior officers promoted to positions of leadership
\nfor the
\nfuture Nigerian army that will be based on intelligence gathering and
\nmodern warfare
\ntechniques.<\/p>\n
The future Nigerian army should be made up of men and women who are
\ntrained to
\ncombat terrorism and defend our country. The current army is not trained
\nin that
\ntype of combat and the enemy that they are currently facing is more
\nvicious than
\nanything imaginable. We cannot win the war on terrorism by blaming the
\npresident or
\nthe finance minister and calling them names. Removing and reorganizing our
\nmilitary
\nleadership and removing the scourge of thieving generals can only win the
\nwar on
\nterror. The old cronies who benefited from coups must be replaced with a
\nbetter
\ntrained, highly paid, corruption free professionals who want to serve and
\ndefend
\ntheir country from any foreign or domestic treats. The president can move
\nquickly in
\nthis direction to investigate those who have rendered our military
\nimpotent and
\nbring them to book. Until we do that, I will use the words of Jibrin
\nIbrahim, the
\neminent political scientist, \u201c Now we know that our military does not
\nfunction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Chidozie Egbuna The lesson we take from the Boko Haram menace is that we are now a country with out a legitimate effective military. What we have is a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n