Malu's Murkiness

Erstwhile Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Victor Malu's statement yesterday at the Arewa Consultative Forum (AFC) meeting is unfortunate, and to say the least shameful. It only goes to show the level of depravity, decadence and arcane sense of entitlement that permeates the Nigerian military, borne of years of their illegitimate usurpation of power. Victor Malu should know that had he forcibly taken over from a democratically elected government, not only would he have committed a treasonable felony, but he would have constituted an illegitimate government. Nigeria clearly deserves a more discerning mind at the helm. If Malu wants power, he should vie for it at the polls and not seize it like the other rogue military misadventurists before him.

Just because a soldier is given the opportunity to serve his country does not mean that he has the right to bully everybody with the military resources at his disposal and seize power to lord it over the same people he has sworn to protect. Military governments are not only a gross betrayal of trust and duty; they are anachronistic and have no place in the present global political landscape.

The many years of military incursion into governance in Nigeria undoubtedly is the bane of the country's present socio-economic, cultural and political predicament. The military is trained in the art of violence and war, not governance. They have done a woeful job at governance each time they have expropriated power from the people. All the despotism and the greater portion of the corrupt acts of graft, human rights abuses and embezzlement of public funds have been perpetrated by and during military regimes. The intermittent interferrence of the Nigerian military in governance has been the reason why Nigeria is politically immature and economically inept. But this notion is probably too abstract and complex to grasp, and lost on a bitter mind such as Malu's.

It is no wonder that President Obasanjo relieved him of his post. He was obviously drunk on the power that he had been bestowed as the Chief of Army Staff, and now that he is bereft of it, he is a bitter sulking sod. The Nigerian Army and indeed the entire Nigerian polity would be better off if people like Malu were not given audience. Gunk bleeds from a broken mind. And we should be spared the grief of listenning to it. We can only hope he has not succeeded in tainting the minds of the younger men and women of the Nigerian military. He should be thankful that he made this base statement in democratic times. I doubt that he would have dared to make such an unguarded statement under a military regime (Abacha would have skinned him alive). It is ironic that he regrets not snuffing out the very same freedom he currently enjoys just because he disapproves of the president's style.

Malu, what would you have done, had you succeeded in taking over from OBJ and some bitter ex-COAS uttered the very same statement you made at the ACF meeting? I bet you would have charged the sorry sod for treason. Should the same fate apply to you under the present dispensation?