Uncommon panacea for uncommon malady 

                     By Dele Olaitan

The world over, military personnel and other security agents are accorded due recognition in the course of their duties. They are respected, cooperated with and hero worshipped for obvious reasons. They are largely seen as epitomes of peerless and incomparable selflessness. Military personnel and other like agents are seen as the strength and pride of the nation. They are also seen and looked at as the bedrock of unity and defense of the country. Above all, average rational and reasonable citizens see military folks as dependable, reliable and faithful compatriots that can be looked up to perpetually as friendly professionals no matter the circumstances. There is thus no need for such slogans as “The Police is your friend”. Friendly status and disposition of military personnel and other law enforcement agents is a given in orderly and sane climes. It is therefore quite unnatural, unusual and uncommon for soldiers and other law enforcement agents  becoming targets of attack in their own land and by their fellow compatriots. But this unheard of phenomenon is prevalent in Nigeria and fast becoming the absurd norm. It is now common place to hear of soldiers being attacked, harassed and sometimes mobbed, waylaid and killed in cold blood. The most confounding aspect of this insidious development is when and where supposedly law enforcement agents ‘wage war’ against each other. It has happened in many instances whereby face-off between individual agents of State escalated into inter agency dispute and conflict. And at other times, it could be an inter-agency misunderstanding getting out of hand and out rightly resulting into crisis. In all these, one basic fact is indisputable. All involved are citizens and compatriots of same nation and are supposedly law enforcers. Does this not clearly show the levels of our regard and respect for law and order as a collective?

What is very common and rampant has been disputes between two different agents or agencies. Sometimes, there are cases of in house bickering and fighting among agents of same body. Hence there had been staccato of reports whereby officers are gunned down by fellow comrades in arms for one reason or the other. Instances of this nature is most common to the military where dispute is often between subordinates and their superiors.  There has never been any situation or occurrence of an Army formation or Unit attacking another.

So also do other agencies not involve in inter unit or formation shoot outs and invasions. Rather, attacks and invasions is meted unto “rival’ agencies only. It is pertinent to note that civilians who were bold and had the temerity to accost, beat and even kill clearly identified soldiers and other law enforcement agents. Are worse. Were they to be law enforcers themselves, they would be much more atrocious.

And how did we get here? Historically, there was a semblance of law and order to a large extent during the colonial era. After their departure and in the early 60s, there was law and order to an extent. But what with the advent of the military as rulers? According to a Yoruba proverb, “Toad says whenever discussions get to where tail is an issue, let’s skip it”! The military started off with a killing orgy of which like was never seen before. It upped this gruesomely devastating act with a three years of avoidable and unnecessary war. And the era was when the whole world was told that “Money isn’t Nigeria’s problem but how to spend it”. That was exactly how the ‘wealthy without working’ (www) syndrome crept into our culture.

Apparently, no soothsayer is needed to acknowledge and accept that a very fundamental misnomer exists. If misunderstandings or misconceptions and infractions are often allowed to degenerate into disputes and crisis, it shows that the parties involved clearly have little or no understanding of crisis resolution mechanisms on one hand and utter disregard for decency, decorum, law and order on the other. Otherwise, two parties cannot be at fault and act blindly all the times. Is there any basis for rivalry among our security agencies? Or could these be as a result of class and superiority complexities?

No conflict or crisis is ever a spontaneous thing. It usually starts as a simmering fire that gathers momentum. When the embers of a fire is fanned instead of being tempered and allowed to burn out, it blossoms into a conflagration that is most often uncontrollable. Ego, pride, vanity and the likes are the factors often responsible for hard stances and hell bent attitudes belligerents are wanton of taking. If not, why would party A be angry for whatever reason and party B seeing him fuming, roaring and implacable would equally be blinded by anger at the same time? If party A loses his sense of reasoning and refuses to be persuaded otherwise, must party B toe same line? A third party that is independent and impartial is required for amicable resolution and settlement. The onus is on either of the parties in conflict to seek the intervention of such third party in order that there could be peace. Actually, a win – win resolution can be arrived at if disputes are allowed for amicable settlement.

Therefore, the only panacea for this ailment is making Nigerians in general and law enforcement agents in particular recognize the supreme place and importance of law and order in the society. That’s how common and simple the remedy is. Nigeria is not a jungle. Might cannot be right where there is rule of law. Or is there any other way decent and sane climes the world over manage their internal affairs? Nigerians must understand the underlying factors responsible for conflict and crisis, acknowledge and accept the fact that two wrongs do not make a right, that two people with different views cannot be right at the same time. Above all, intervention of a third party who is both independent and impartial must be sought for conflicts, disputes, crisis or misunderstandings to be amicably settled and not allowed to degenerate uncontrollably. Law and order must prevail always.

And this is where the ‘Renewed Hope’ project comes in. It can only succeed to the extent it has a very solid foundation laid upon principles and philosophies of egalitarianism. As long as disorder, impunity and lawlessness reign supreme over the land, there can only be peace of the graveyard. Nigerians clamor and desire for democracy as against military rule was for arbitrariness and impunity to give room to law and order. That is all the CHANGE Nigerians wanted from General M Buhari and the APC in 2015. And it is still the same as now. Do President Tinubu and co not know this?

The only hope that need be renewed is Nigerians’ dream of a land where the kite will perch and the eagle will perch while the wings of whoever says no to the other shall break (apologies to late Chinua Achebe). For this state of affairs to materialize, there are processes and procedures which we seem to ignore oftentimes to the shameless peril of our nation. Hence it is necessary to re awaken the National Orientation Agency to its task in this particular regard. The entire nation must be involved and actively engaged in this onerous exercise of re orientation and enlightenment. All MDAs, the OPS and NGOs including educational institutions at all levels must be involved in this new reawakening and re orientation. The NOA should not hesitate to seek the collaboration and cooperation of such bodies as the NBA, NUT, NUJ, NYSC etc in this new national challenge and duty. All hands must be on deck to bring about a virile land standing in brotherhood where no man is oppressed. With application of ICT taking the center stage, NOA should ensure that public places are awash and saturated with billboards, leaflets and other publicity items screaming this message of law and order.

The military establishment in particular and all other security and or law enforcement agencies must have NOA Cells in all formations and units for this purpose. Basic principles driving and governing cordial, smooth and efficiently effective inter agency relationships must be taught in cadre classes. So also must adequate attention be applied and devoted to seamless civil – military relations that is cordially robust and foolproof.  The military must be divorced of “We versus them”, “We must show them” and “Bloody civilians being bloodied” mentalities. Instead, all avenues for making the military more useful and likeable to the civil society must be explored and exploited vigorously. In this, we cannot afford to fail and must not fail. Capable, diligent and qualified veterans can be contracted to help in this regard.

When there is law and order, when impunity and high handedness is tamed and when what is good for the goose is considered as equally good for the gander, hopes would have been renewed truthfully. This is simply because all other ‘desirables’ would follow naturally. Nigerians would heave a very big sigh of relief. This is the (un)common panacea for our uncommon malady. Our leaders know this quite well. But would they do it and allow common Nigerians heave sighs of relief therefrom?

Major Dele Olaitan (Rtd) lives in Shao near Ilorin.