The
Military, ‘Zaria Massacre’ and a Defective Federation
By
Chido Onumah
conumah@hotmail.com
The recent violent
confrontation between soldiers and members of the Islamic Movement of
Nigeria (IMN) should not come as a surprise to anyone who understands the
Nigerian state. It was bound to happen.
In a country where
truth is a scarce commodity and where impunity (whether by state or
non-state actors) is the norm, it will be difficult to know exactly what
happened in Zaria on December 12, 2015. Since nobody takes responsibility for
anything in Nigeria, that egregious crime – committed by both parties –
will go unpunished. Of course, there will be an enquiry, perhaps a white
paper, and that will be the end of the story; well, until the next crisis.
It is not for nothing
that events like the “Zaria Massacre” have become a dominant feature of our
socio-political life. To understand that event, we must understand the
psychology of the Nigerian military which explains its actions since 1999 –
whether in Odi, Zaki Biam, Gbaramatu or other
internal theatres of war it has been pre-occupied with in the last 16
years.
So, how did we get
here? The Nigerian state has been essentially a military state since 1966.
Nothing has changed; never mind the fact that the country returned to
civilian rule in 1999. The 1999 constitution that passes for the supreme
law of the federal republic – just like that of 1989 and 1979 before it –
is a military decree writ large! The inheritors of the military-induced
transition of 1999 didn’t see – neither were they interested in seeing –
the constitution they were inheriting. They were too eager to move the
country forward, to borrow their clichéd expression, to see that the road
to their inheritance was laden with booby-traps. Even when it was clear,
the desire not to be left out of the gravy train of national despoliation
was too much of a temptation to resist.
Even though the
president is commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the federal
republic, there is no effective civilian control over the military enshrined
in the constitution or any other law of the country. For almost five
decades since it first emerged on the national scene, the military with the
support of its civilian collaborators has managed to contrive a nation in
its own image and it doesn’t want to let go. One glaring example of this is
the continuous ugly spectacle of military officers still featuring as ADCs,
standing like zombies behind our elected presidents at every public
function. This can only happen in the kind sham democracy that Nigeria and
some other African countries practice.
Unfortunately, ours is
not a political but a deeply politicized military, often reserving loyalty
not to the Nigerian state but to the ruling party. It was the late military
leader of Burkina Faso, Thomas Sankara, who once
remarked that, “A soldier without any political or ideological training is
a potential criminal.” If Nigeria had a political or ideological military,
the country would not be in the sorry state it is today. With all due
respect to our gallant men and women of the armed forces, the Nigerian
military, as an institution, has done more than any other group to destroy
the social fabric of this country. Whether we are talking about the
desecration of our democracy, undermining the rule of law, making
corruption the national ethos or creating structures that weaken the
principle of federalism on which this country was founded, our military is
complicit in what Nigeria, a country full of potential, has become.
Yet, it is ironic that
the military has put itself in a position that it has become the bastion of
our unity, the perfector of our national dreams
and aspirations. We may not like it,
but that is the reality. Clearly, that is why the military gets away with
murder every time it assaults our national psyche by its overbearing
presence. Evidently, the only way the military can sustain the defective
structural template it has created which is set to consume all of us is
through force.
The action of the IMN
and the attendant “massacre” is, therefore, understandable if not
excusable. The IMN has been described as an “armed” group that sees itself
as being above the laws of the land; the military says the attack on the
group was carried out according to “rules of engagement” (rules of
engagement in a war or civil disturbance?) and the president described the
tragedy as a “military affair”. He is right. It is in the character of the
Nigerian state, a state that has lost the capacity to self-correct.
But it didn’t start
today. This phenomenon is rooted in corruption which has weakened the
social fabric of the country; but more important, it is the fallout of the
structural dysfunction engineered and sustained by the military. For
Nigeria, the chickens have come home to roost. After five decades of military-inspired
malfeasance, including the orchestrated destruction of the principles of
federalism, it is clear that we need to go back to the drawing board.
The impunity that is
on display in Nigeria today, whether by the IMN and similar organisations or the military, can’t simply be wished
away. The Nigerian state has long abdicated its responsibilities to
citizens. Of course, with that abdication comes
utter contempt for everything the state stands for. Quality public
education, health, basic infrastructure and security of life have all
disappeared. It is only natural, therefore, that
Nigerians have shifted their allegiance from the state to religious groups
and all manner of contrivances that have provided them succor.
The Nigerian state has
all but collapsed, often inducing violent self-help and pockets of states
within the state. Much of this is attributable to corruption, the erosion
of the productive relationship between the central government and the
federating units in a federation and of course the unholy alliance between
the state and religion manifested, for example, in the state’s support for
pilgrims, building of religious institutions, patronizing so-called imams
and pastors for special
prayers and
affiliation to religious groupings, undermining the secularity of the
Nigerian state.
Expectedly, this
alliance finds expression in politics since whoever controls power,
particularly at the centre, also controls how the
asymmetric relationship between various religious groups in the country is
defined. Prayers have become central to state functions in Nigeria. Public
offices have become extensions of worship centres.
If the president/governor is a Muslim, the vice president/deputy governor
necessarily has to be a Christian and vice versa.
In May 2013, Premium
Times reported that Niger State “subsidized” pilgrims to Mecca and
Jerusalem in six years to the tune of N5.1 billion. Add another billion to
cover the fraud that will trail the process, that
would amount to an average of N1 billion a year. In defence
of that mindless waste of public fund, the then governor, the chief
servant, Babangida Aliyu,
noted that, “it was the only benefit residents were getting from
government.” According to figures by the National Bureau of Statistics
(NBS), the internally generated revenue (IGR) for Niger State in 2014 was
N5.7 billion. Imagine that Niger State has to depend on its IGR to sustain
the state, chances are that it wouldn’t spend N1
billion a year to “subsidize” pilgrims. It would be interesting to know how
much the state spends a year on primary education and primary healthcare.
Today, religious
institutions and groups of every hue hold us hostage and there is no
recourse. I agree with the notion that violent religious extremism of any
kind is the greatest existential threat not just to Nigeria but to the rest
of the world. While it is true, in some cases, that the
internal schism within religious groups can lead to violence that threatens
us all, the lethal cocktail of state and religion in Nigeria has ensured
that this schism plays out in the political arena.
For me, the carnage
notwithstanding, the most troubling aspect of the “Zaria Massacre” was
listening to our military high command pontificate about its commitment to
keep Nigeria united; “one Nigeria; one destiny,” as they described it. By
its admission, the military is saying Nigeria is a country at war with
itself if every civil disturbance must warrant military intervention. But
let us not forget for once that the military brought us to this sad end.
So, how do we build a
nation not held together by military force? Nigeria is sleepwalking to
disaster. Now is the time to reclaim the country and the starting point
would be to put in place a people’s constitution that not only serves the
interest of the mass of our people but advances the principles of
federalism.
That is the only way
to save Nigeria and put an end to the messiah complex of the Nigerian
military.
conumah@hotmail.com;
Follow me on Twitter @conumah
This piece is
excerpted from a forthcoming book: We are all Biafrans:
A participant-observers interventions in a country sleep-walking to
disaster.
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