The cross of the military

The history of our military, though checkered, started evolving and producing gratifying results over the years, especially with the rising tide of insurgency in the northern part of the country. It is a fact that the abysmal failure of the Nigeria Police to handle the emergence of the dangerous Islamic sect, Boko Haram, fuelled the rise of terrorism that eventually enveloped the northern part of the country, which became the cross the military had to carry.

It was a war they never envisaged nor were they prepared under the then Commander-in-Chief, President Goodluck Jonathan, and his Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike lhejirika. Before our eyes, the terrorists made inroads to many local governments in Borno State, capturing 17 local governments and kidnapping over 200 female students of  Girls Secondary School, Chibok, while the police that was constitutionally mandated to  handle internal security reneged on their responsibility. It was the same with the Department of State Security (DSS). The police and the DSS were embroiled in media supremacy, instead of working in the overall interest of the country. The word “synergy” was alien to both security agencies. The military could not afford to fold its arms as the terrorist group waxed stronger and occupied territories and engaged in kidnap for ransom around the country. Despite the recapturing of all these local governments and Sambisa forest headquarters of the insurgents by Gen. Tukur Buratai and his team, under a new civilian administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Suddenly, the victory card changed and the cross of the military grew in size and it seemed overwhelming as the load was more weighty with the collaboration of ISWAP terrorists and the sudden incursion of invading herdsmen who were nicknamed bandits. These new groups of terrorists up their game by infiltrating the states  and extended their evil tentacles into  Katsina, Yobe, Zamfara, Bauchi, Kaduna,Plateau  and Niger states. They changed the vicious game of killing farmers to outright kidnapping. Record shows that over 3,000 people have so far been kidnapped and dragged into impenetrable forests. Some of these forests were left  undeveloped by the federal and state governments over the years thereby allowing criminals of every shade to inhabit these forests instead of  establishing forest guards  to monitor and police them. No wonder, virtually every kidnap victim is conveyed into these forests before ransom is demanded. Wouldn’t it have been profitable had unemployed youths been recruited into an established forest guard  squad for every state with forests? Apart from the  Kaduna train kidnap victims who are yet to regain freedom after three months in captivity, unfortunately, Abia State recorded another kidnap of a religious leader, Bishop  Samuel Kalu, of the Methodist Church along with two other clerics, and their abductors placed a ransom of N100 million  on their head before they could be released. It is not their abduction that is the issue, but the controversy that erupted after his media statement, alleging that there were armed military personnel manning a security checkpoint around the point of their abduction.

In a press statement, the Army had asked some pertinent questions when its spokesman, Brigadier Onyema Nwachukwu, noted that the ransom was paid in less than 24 hours. Was the ransom paid to troops? The insinuation that troops were complicit in the kidnap was not entirely premised on any findings of investigations and, therefore, cannot be swallowed hook, line and sinker. This allegation raises some pertinent  questions, which are still unanswered.

The abduction has raised many questions after also listening to the account of the bishop on video.

Many  religious leaders had been kidnapped while a few of them were unfortunately killed. So, for the Methodist bishop to have regained his freedom is a thing of joy, not only to his brethren, friends and family members but to religious groups in the state.

However, one would have thought that the only chant that would consistently be in the mouth of the bishop would have been, “Praise the lord, I am free. I was abducted by armed hoodlums, but now I am free.”

Instead, he jumped into the pond of politics and went viral saying what he was not asked by probing reporters. No wonder people are enjoined to seek wisdom in all they utter. Should we assume that the bishop was emotionally tense and that was the reason for all that he said? Listening to him, it is easy to separate facts from fiction and concoction. He alledged that he was abducted at a location near a military checkpoint. Truly, there used to be a military checkpoint along Lopanta, near Isuichi. It is known fact that soldiers hardly stop every vehicle like the police and their checking is more direct based on information and specific directive, unlike the police whose constitutional assignment is to save life and property. By trying to drag the military into the mud of politics as being complicit in the abduction is rather unfortunate. Yes, there could be bad eggs in the military,  does that then suggest that because the soldiers posted to that road, they are aware of happenings along that stretch of the road? Were soldiers posted to the road on that day? Are we now arrogatimg omnipotent powers to the soldiers, that because they are soldiers and were posted to a location along a highway, then they should know about everything there? Record shows that two other passengers in the same vehicle that escaped from the vehicle, reported the incident to the nearest police station, excluding the military. No wonder the police were quick to issue a statement to deploy all their tactical squads to ensure their release. The question is, why did the escaped clerics not report the issue to the military, if truly they saw military men along the road?

The Army was correct to have questioned why it was not carried along in the negotiation process.

Many times, kidnappers and highway robbers have disguised as military personnel to perpetrate dastardly acts against unsuspecting Nigerians, all in their bid to cast hateful aspertions against the military, thereby encouraging the people to believe a lie that the military as an institution could be encouraging evil. It is only a proactive institution that would sound the clarion call when there is danger ahead. Only recently, the military issued a press statement that several fake military uniforms were in the market and had warned politicians against using them to recruit political thugs.

The Nigerian military is on record as one of the best security institutions in Africa and this is why its personnel are usually invited by the United Nations for peacekeeping operations around the world. That the military has been obligated to assist the Nigeria Police to carry its cross of securing the nation should be the more reason people should not only encourage them but also help them succeed in this arduous task to carry Nigeria’s cross.