Nigerian Armed Forces at 61: A Metaphor For A Declining Country

Nigerian Armed Forces at 61: A Metaphor For A Declining Country Life is not meant for the confused but the brave! This is because it is only...

Nigerian Armed Forces at 61: A Metaphor For A Declining Country

Life is not meant for the confused but the brave! This is because it is only the brave that has the guts to face life at all cost.

The confused politicians have recruited the soldiers and other security forces to help them to oversee Nigeria from its previous heyday with optimism and good economy to its current comatose state. One can conclude that the armed forces' involvement in politics combined with their record of brutal dictatorship, drafting of the current constitution and their constant deployment by serving governments during elections, are just as complicit in the decline of the country as well as its policy makers

The Nigerian security agencies have been the bravest on paper as well as against civilians. Their paper bravery got them a reputation in Africa while their ill manners against unarmed civilians paint them as terrorists, enemies and threats to every civilian. But is the Nigerian security really all that brave? If bravery is courage and fearlessness in front of the enemies and capable threats, then Nigerian forces may never ever qualify as being brave. 

In hindsight, Nigerians highly rated their security forces high but slowly, have disappointedly lost confidence in them and everything about them! With each bad government that comes in, their ratings plunged till the current terror tainted government opened the floodgates of tyranny and terror from the armed forces of Nigeria. 

First, I must state it clearly about their operations viz a viz the attack on the home of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemi also known as Sunday Igboho, in 2017 and 2021 respectively. The manner and mode of the operations are condemnable and do not even look like security operations but rather, like terrorists operations. The subsequent denial of the security forces of their involvements in such raids while contrary evidence was already broadcasted to the general public, only brought them more ridicule than insulation.The security that broke into the peaceful homes of the two activists and the level of carnage, destruction of private property and killings, clearly show that the operations of the Nigerian securities are never far from that of Boko Haram, ISWAP and many other terrorists. 

The #Endsars protest taught the masses many things about the Nigerian securities, their cowardice and modus operandi. During the protest, I personally saw monsters who do not have conscience nor respect for the Nigerian nation they claim to be defending. The use of high caliber bullets on protesters who chanted the Nigerian anthem and holding the Nigerian flag, cemented their reputation among the millennial population. Meanwhile, it did not bring festival of praises to them but a festival of tears to the people of different climes. 

The weakness and the lost of war by the Nigerian security agencies against Boko Haram, ISWAP, Fulani killer herdsmen, so-called bandits etcetera, have definitely much to say about cowardise attitudes than bravery, based on expenses and results. Eyewitnesses have attested that the soldiers always run for their safety each time they see those terrorists. There have been so many attacks on army bases in the Northern part of Nigeria where tens, hundreds and thousands of soldiers have lost their lives and have equally deserted the army bases as they ran for safety. The recent attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy and the abduction of some officers by bandits speak volumes. 

While the attacks are on in North-East and  North-West regions, more security agents are being deployed to the South-East to extort from motorists, massacre innocent civilians and burn down houses.

They terrorize citizens of the region, arrest and abduct many in the name of stopping peaceful Indigenious People Of Biafra (IPOB), from their quest for Biafra or restoring peace in areas with lowest crime rates in the country. Just last week, it was revealed in a video, how the Nigerian soldiers burned down over seventy (70) homes including a king's palace and killing many youths in Izombe, in Imo State, after taking sides between warring oil bunkerers. A commander of the Nigerian soldiers in Izombe was also caught directing soldiers to "kill anybody you see".

The involvement of the Department of State Services (DSS) officer in the unknown gunmen operations after a shoot out with policemen, is also an evidence that in disguise, many outrageous attacks on record could be traced to government forces.

Then, their running away from unknown gunmen, whom they have been searching for, has judged that the Nigerian securities are rather cowards and not brave!

Never forget, that "beating, intimidating or killing those hapless residents you swore to serve is never bravery but cowardice !" 

Written by

Onyemachi Gabriel

Edited by

Emmanuel Iwuchukwu

For Family Writers Press International.

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