Men of the Nigeria army
The
Nigerian Army has been lambasted following a clash with civilians while
parading a new armoured carrier and passed through Nnamdi Kanu's
residence.
A Professor of English at Carleton University and social
commentator, Pius Adesanmi has condemned the invasion of Nnamdi Kanu's house by men of the Nigerian army resulting in a serious confrontation.
He made his thoughts known on Facebook as he blasted the military for
encroaching on civilian spaces.
He wrote:
"Umuahia. They said. We said.
Who is right? Who is wrong?
That has never been and will never be the issue for me. The
issue for me is this utterly reprehensible idea of the military and
their tanks in civilian spaces.
I have written about it in English. I have written about it in
Pidgin. I have used every conceivable Nigerian way and manner of
communication to get people to understand that it is not normal. You
cannot use soldiers and their tanks for routine law enforcement. Even in
Iraq and Afghanistan, there is still law enforcement by police.
How can the Nigerian military issue a statement and claim that
she was conducting a routine “show of force” in a civilian street?
I am sorry for those who continue to find every excuse – Kanu
is a very tempting excuse I admit – to countenance, tolerate, justify,
explain, and rationalize the continuous occupation and violation of
civilian spaces by the military nearly 20 years into democracy. You
belong in a confederacy of aberration that is preventing Nigeria from
coming into the 21st century.
Sadly, our compatriots of this persuasion have the support of
some very obstreperous diaspora enablers who have never seen a military
uniform in civilian space in decades but continue to find reasons to
justify such assaults on civilian spaces in their Fatherland.
Even the regularity with which one reads statements from the
Nigerian military would be a very serious issue if we had close to 15%
civic consciousness in our society. They are always injecting themselves
into symbolic civilian spaces of meaning. Two danfo conductors will
fight in Lagos, the army will issue a statement. Five market women will
fight in Ibadan, the army will issue a statement. Secondary school boys
will riot in Sokoto, the army will issue a statement.
There is always a statement from the army urging Nigerians to
ignore this and that and go about their normal business. Are you law
enforcement? Here is how the Abia Police Commissioner explained the
incident to Premium Times:
“What happened was that the military was parading a new armoured carrier and passed through Nnamdi Kanu’s residence.”
The military was parading a new armoured carrier in Umuahia?
When did the streets of Umuahia become an Army training range? Even the
police commissioner has functioned in this aberrant, bastardized
environment for so long that he doesn’t even know that his men ought to
be enabled – via better training, better equipment, etc – to carry out
the duties he is reporting to Premium Times.
The National War College used to invite Political Science
Professors and other social scientists in our Universities to teach
classes. I remember many UI Professors used to go and teach yonder. Have
they stopped the practice?
In a situation where the majority of the people can be relied
upon to continue to justify the aberration of the military in civilian
spaces because they have been battered psychologically for too long, the
only other option is to take the disciplines of the Humanities and the
social sciences to the soldiers.
Education is still the only solution."
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