I am not impressed with some critics or “activists.” It is not enough to think, we have the liberty of expression and endowed with skills of the pen and so, can wake up any day to push all manner gibberish into public domain.
The article by Samuel Omachi titled, “Military Promotion, Retirement and Religious Politics” has the tapestry of what some Nigerians describe as armchair criticisms. I perused the entire gamut of the article and found nothing convincing. It is speculative, assumptive and very fluid. Its infantile reasoning to push the argument that some officers have been retired from military service and from a particular region of the country without any striking example.
It sounds exciting only to the extent it fulfils the inner yearnings of the critic to fuel public incitement or anger against the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, the current leadership of the Nigerian military and presiding officials of the Federal Character Commission (FCC). There is no modicum of credibility in anything the critic has rendered his reading fans.
It’s just like I would pick a pen and scribble that Samuel is not the son of his father. And I will not explain anything to justify this claim. But feel contented I have questioned his paternity. Mr. Samuel, let me correct certain impressions first.
It may please Samuel to know that President Buhari is an impartial leader. It is the immutable truth. Buhari’s honesty, integrity and passion of perceiving every Nigerian like a member of his nuclear family is legendary. No Nigerian leader I know has exhibited his leadership traits. We cannot doubt it.
Buhari has no affinity to any religion, tribe or region. It is evident in the manner he dispensed his first term in office by patronizing every section of Nigeria regardless of whether they supported his presidential aspiration in 2015 or backed out of it.
The President sees Nigeria and Nigerians as one huge united and indivisible community of people destined to be together. It is not his Presidency that would break this cord of communality. He is not the kind of President a Samuel would gleefully seek to destroy simply because he is excited with an idle pen.
The retired or promoted military officers, Samuel glowingly alludes in his narration are shielded by this narration. I don’t believe in those who claim to be fighting injustice with fearfully or masked. Those who genuinely stand for the cause of injustice and truth do it boldly. King Martin Luther Jr died fighting it boldly; Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison for fighting apartheid and a lot more.
What about our own Gani Fawehinmi? They are human beings and also value the air they breath and the freedom savoured by the rest of us. So, hiding to claim fighting injustice is absolute mischief.
Now Samuel, let’s break your piece to shreds to establish the extent you goofed. Happily, Samuel elaborately quoted the Federal Character Commission (FCC) in his narrative. And assuming, he could vouch for whatever propaganda contained in this irritating piece, we expected him to have quoted correspondences he had with the FCC over this alleged injustice.
It smacks of barefaced mischief and ridiculous posturing to the institution of the Military for Samuel or anyone else to think he can remote control the routine internal postings, retirement or appointments. We have marketed ourselves as sticklers to religion or tribe in handling national issues and it has cost us grave retardations in the past. Some leaders adhered to such principles over merit and the 57-year old Nigeria has remained tethered to retrogression we see today.
Samuel, do you expect, for instance, that if the first seven airforce pilots in seniority are Christians or all Muslims or from the same geo-political zone, you expect their junior should be catapulted from the back to head them in order to balance the sentiments espoused by you? Is it normal and if Samuel heads a place, would he consent to such anomaly?
The day any Nigerian is appointed into any position, he knows there would come a day of retirement. And retirement is not same as termination of appointment. So, if all those due for retirement are from one tribe, religion or region, they should hang on for the absurd reasons advocated by Samuel?
One could secretly replace names in the public civil service or other public institutions. But it doesn’t sound plausible to me that the military could “secretly” replace retired personnel, ignoring the rigours of military training. It’s not possible even in the para-military. I task Samuel to conduct his research properly and serve us verifiable and undeniable facts or respect himself with silence.
We must recognise that there are certain liberties we must concede to President Buhari. If Nigeria is rated a failed or successful nation now, only Buhari takes the blame or credit. Nigerians will not blame any religion, tribe or region, but President Buhari. When insecurity rages in the country, we blame Buhari and not the ethnic champions or religious bigots who canvass for such sentiments in appointments.
So, what is wrong if President Buhari in the last presidential campaigns told Ndi’gbo that none of their sons met the criteria to be appointed any of the Security Chiefs? Was it not just yesterday Gen. Ihejirika was there as COAS? What impact did he make on the war against Boko Haram insurgency? It rather festered under his watch. Perhaps, he was not even qualified, but the then President appointed him in response to such unproductive sermons of Nigerians like Samuel.
I advise Samuel to always stoop to conquer. It’s wrong to stoke public anxiety baselessly and unnecessarily only to push the burden of proof to someone else. I repeat, nothing in Samuel’s piece alerts me to the submissions of a serious mind or critic or activist. It’s unfortunate that Military authorities stooped so low to dignify him with a response.
But let it be known to the likes of Samuel that the military under President Buhari is no respecter of tribe, religion or regionality. It’s insulated from such regressive sentiments. Samuel can utilise his idleness by scavenging elsewhere. An African adage says, “Idle hands scratch the anus,” and Samuel’s piece is a perfect illustration.
The Armed Forces of any nation is a sensitive national institution and everyone is its owner. All military personnel lose their tribe, region or religion from the first day of enlistment and garb the coat of national tribe for their country. The logic of the sentiments and bogus assertions spewed by Samuel are not derivable in the Nigerian military. Nigerians must therefore see the need for national cohesion, national unity and national peace above every other consideration.
Johnson writes from Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos.
