| Feedback ID: | 6 | Status: | Open | | Product: | General | Implemented? | No | | Created On: | 11/16/2008 | Created By: | nifabuk | | Details: |
Author: Dr. Adebisi Adewole PhD
Dr Bisi adewole is Senior Lecturer at London Metropolitan University
He is also the Leader of Nigerian Forum Abroad (NIFAB) UK
AUTHORITY KILLING – Our Navy has gone mad again
The on-going horrific behaviour of our Officers and Men of the Nigerian Navy is a matter for grave concern. These criminal acts started on 3 November when six, listen, six naval ratings attached to Real Admiral Harry Arogundade carried out a barbaric attack on a defenceless woman, Miss Uzoma Okere, on the streets of Lagos. Little did the real Admiral realise that the young woman being assaulted by his bodyguards was the daughter of his senior army colleague of his, Col. Emmanuel Okere, who is also the Sergeant-at-Arms at the National Assembly. This obnoxious act is astounding, disgraceful and criminal in nature.
Just barely two weeks later, in a scuffle over a waitress in a hotel in Otta, Ogun state, two naval ratings used knives on two plain clothes policemen, killing one in cold blood and leaving the other in a critical condition as a result of injuries inflicted on him. And just a week before the naval ratings act of murder, a number of security operatives attached to a Federal Republic of Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Bagudu Hirse, in Mararaban Foron, near Jos, decended on, manhandled and tortured a driver of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) for reasons not given.
This wave of criminal acts by our own military, whose duty is to protect the citizens of our country, is really very worrying. How many more would these ‘mad dogs’ have to kill or maim before someone acts and bring these criminal to justice in order to deter future occurrences.
Is it not time for our military to wake up to the reality that Nigeria is no longer under military rule and that they must submit to the supremacy of our laws? For many years, the military had ruled Nigeria and had bastardised our society and destroyed our socio-political systems. They, throughout the long stretch of military regimes spanning from the time of General Olusegun Obasanjo as military head of state, to the regime of Buhari/Idiagbon through to the corruptible period of Ibrahim Babangida to the forceful and fearful time of Sanni Abacha and lastly to General Abdulsalam, dehumanised and terrorised ordinary Nigerians at will.
Is it not time for the, to understand that this type of uncivil behaviour is no longer tolerated not only in Nigeria but all around the world? Nigeria has come this far in our democracy, and it is time the military retired permanently into their formations. Nigerians have had enough, the experience of years of woes is enough. Nigerians are not animals to be tortured and whipped on the street like horses at racecourse.
For over 40 years, the military constituted to be the worse enemy of our democracy. They planned and carried out incursions into state power under the pretence that they had the interest of the nation at heart, when in reality, they seized state power for their own selfish interest. Each occasion they come with their barrels of guns and took over government, they had turned out to be far more corrupt, more indiscipline, with far little knowledge of rulership. They had been a bane indeed. They had misruled, they had terrorised the nations and they had murdered hundreds of oppositions (remember the Babangida and Abacha dracula regimes when hundreds of protesters were murdered in cold blood, not ones, not twice but several times). They had left behind unenviable legacies of poor economy; perpetual seizure of electricity resulting to static production centres and uninterrupted darkness in our homes and on our streets; they gifted the nation with a high sense of fear and insecurity on our roads both in the broad daylight and at night. They destroyed our education and health care delivery sectors; they left our roads riddled with potholes and unmotorable; they left empty food baskets and a very hostile and corrupt society with a young generation that is always very desperate to check-out of the country to find greener pasture in another country. The dark days of military rule in Nigeria was the period of neo-colonialists nationals who deliberately visited both physical and social torture and dominance on helpless Nigerian citizens. They were indeed far more atrocious than the pre-military colonialists who came from far away Europe to rule us.
The kind gesture of Lagos State Governor, Mr Babtunde Fashola, offering free medical treatment and legal services to Uzoma is welcome. That he banned the use of sirens on the street of Lagos by the so called VIPs is gratifying a step that should be replicated in other states in Nigeria. However, it is important to note that Uzoma Okere could be said to be fortunate and privileged to get this offer because she was able to gain access to the governor. How many Okeres had suffered worse humiliation in the hands of the military and the Nigerian Police but did not have the same privilege as her. Had Navy Harry known that Uzoma was parented by a military Colonel and Sergeant-at-Arms at the Nation’s National Assembly when his ratings descended on her the situation could have been different. The questions in many minds therefore are – What if Uzoma was just an ordinary poor girl from poor parents? What if her father was not a senior officer in the military? What if her father was not a senior staff (Sergeant-at-Arms) of the National Assembly? What if her father was not even the Real admiral’s senior in the military? If Uzoma was the daughter of a poor trader, a teacher, a medical doctor, a nurse, or a handyman, etc your guess is as good as mine. Clearly the occurrence would have passed unnoticed and would not have generated much controversy. The Navy would even have called for a reinforcement and matched to Mr Okere’s residence, arrested him and his wife for having the audacity to allow their daughter to challenge a Naval rating on the street.
It a shameful matter that, in the 21st century Nigeria, a democratic society, ruled by elected representatives (not minding the level of electoral gerrymandering that occurred), our military still travel around blustering sirens, jumping traffic and causing chaos on our roads.
I am the one Nigerian who is always very proud to be a Nigerian, because Nigeria is full of good and intelligent people, but I must say, I am not proud of this type of behaviour of from military. It is abhorrence.
The presidency has so far been quiet, or should I say insensitive to this matter. President Yar adua must know that it is too dangerous to leave these issues in the hands of Naval authorities alone. We call on the Mr president to use his executive capacity and act. The naval authorities summoning Real Admiral Arogundade to Abuja for questioning may be part of the answer but it is not the whole answer. Nigerian do not anticipate justice to be delivered to this murdered policeman and this Uzoma, and many other Uzomas who had, or might in the future, suffer the same fate in the hands of our Navy. The Navy cannot be the wrongdoer and at the same time, the judge. Fairness, through the rule of law is what all Nigerians demand, and it is believed that this justice can come down only through an independent enquiry.
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