Reasons Citizens Should No Longer Enlist Into The Nigerian Army

Reasons Citizens Should No Longer Enlist Into The Nigerian Army S erving one's nation at the capacity of a soldier is such an honourable...

Reasons Citizens Should No Longer Enlist Into The Nigerian Army

Serving one's nation at the capacity of a soldier is such an honourable thing. Infact, the one time United States Army General, George S. Patton Junior, said in one of his quotes that “It is a proud privilege to be a soldier-A good soldier with discipline, self-respect, pride in his unit and his country, a high sense of duty and obligation to comrades and to his superiors and self-confidence born of demonstrated ability." But as unfortunately as we have it today in Nigeria, the reverse has rather been the case. This very noble field of service has been turned into one of the most defiled and corrupted institutions in Nigeria. 

Officers in the service are now of less value and respect than touts. They earn no regards anymore from both the citizens and their employers. While the government sees them as mere tools of harassment and intimidation against the innocent citizens, the citizens on the other hand, see them as threats to their lives and peace. Most of them likewise, have had their psychologies deeply damaged that they shamelessly follow street urchins in smoking and drinking around, thereby ending up in miserable. 

Furthermore, Many people that take up this profession, do so because of the frustrations of unemployment and hunger in the country, not actually because they want to serve. Others do so because they want to be feared and respected. Are these the class of people any reasonable citizen would like to identify with? These are humans, walking outside their God given purposes in life without decorum and rationality. Again, when one eventually joins the Nigerian military from the Southern or Eastern part of the country, such has automatically become one that his/her family should write off. 

This is because such an individual will be sent unequipped to the den of government sponsored terrorists, comprising of either Fulani killer herdsmen or Boko Haram, where the soldier will ingloriously meet his/her waterloo. At death, nobody will talk about him/her, not even to the person's family. While the soldiers eventually serve, they are not  properly taken care of. 

Their salaries are withheld for months before peanuts are handed to them with disdain. What a mess! They completely have nothing to be proud of. The guns and ammunition they are given to face the terrorists are all outdated, while the same government has unreservedly equipped the terrorists with modern equipment and ammunition. What then could be the motivating factor behind any Nigerian youth getting enlisted into a conscienceless, unprofessional, indecent and rag-tag army of this nature?

Like George S. Patton Junior further said, "The highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for ones country". The military job is a profession of those who are passionate about the security of their nation. And it has not really been a little frustration for all those sincere and well meaning crop of individuals that are in the present Nigeria army. They never expected to be instruments of terror to their own land and fellow citizens. 

Nor did they ever envisage that the leaders they so much trusted, would willingly be sacrificing them to the Islamic terrorists for no just cause. As a result of this shameful anomaly, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in his magnanimity, has repeatedly asked such soldiers to resign and get enlisted into the unfolding freedom armies from each of the indigenous ethnic groups caged in the contraption. The courageous formation and launching of Eastern Security Network (ESN) for the South-Easterners and Amotekun for the South-Westerners, are encouraging bold steps. These are best security outfits floated to absorb such well meaning soldiers to fully/proudly identify with and get the best care, payment, respect and regard they earnestly deserve.

As a true soldier that joined the army with the intent to bear the honour of protecting his/her nation's territorial integrity, why not proudly resign from the Nigerian army now with your being intact than continuing to serve a country that has no future for her citizens?

Written by Obulose Chidiebere

Edited by Ogah C.S. Maduabuchi

For Family Writers Press International.

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