The Nigerian State and National Security
by
Definitions
The Nigerian State is a confluence of nationalities made up of unreasonable people associating involuntarily in the pursuit of uncommon interests. It is characterized by the absence of justice and is held together with impunity by its armed forces, which are controlled by elements from two principal nationalities, bound together by a common agreement., sharing the national cake on certain unwritten principles. It lacks the essential ingredient of legitimacy i.e. certain nationalities have not consented to the association and the country is being ruled unjustly with elements within the three most populous nationalities showing an unbridled state of libido dominandi.
Secure means unable to escape, Security means the assurance of future well being and freedom from threat. It could be individual as in Nigeria where you put iron bars across your windows which prevents you from escaping in case of a fire outbreak, and, the non functioning national pension fund system set up for the future well being of citizens. It could be international, when the actions or inactions of a foreign state e.g. Cameroon, constitutes a threat to the well being of Nigeria as in the Backassey Peninsula. It could be national where the effects are internal, and in the case of Nigeria where they are numerous nations within the state, threat is often amplified as an expression of dominant nationality.
Nigeria national security has two meanings, in a military regime-it means the maintenance and protection of the person of the current despot from harm or embarrassment be it physical, sexual, spiritual, verbal or written. This makes Al Mustapha, the former Abacha’s chief security officer a failure. During a civilian regime as we now have, it is defined as the assurance and maintenance of the political and economic power of the ruling class within the two most dominant nationalities. National security should ideally be defined as the ability of the Nigerian State to successfully pursue her national interests, being able to protect the core values of the State and be able to maintain same through victory in case of a war. It should view individual, national and international security from a holistic perspective as there are interplays between all three. If the individual is not secure the State cannot be secure, and if the State is under attack from an external source the State and the individual cannot be secure. The dilemma in Nigeria is that, the State has become so powerful as to become a threat to the individual and nationalities. The deportation of Shugaba, the frequent arrests of Fawehimi as a societal risk, the assassination of Rewane, and the assault on Odi, has created ambiguities and confused the perception of our security operatives as to the need to see the State as made up a collection of citizens instead of dominant groups. These elements within State organs jostling for power, position and advantages have created a state of instability through their action or inactions e.g. the Bamaiyi and Diya’s coup plot.
The paradox of Nigeria’s security is that instead of the State being the framework of lawful order and the highest source of governing authority, it is now constituting the greatest threat to herself. The political and historical development of Nigeria since her inception could explain, yet not excuse, the virtual abandonment of sovereignty to a military and political cabal within the State. It is this usurpation of sovereignty by this group and the exercise of the authority it confers without legal recourse to the populace in lieu of an acceptable referendum and constitution, that makes an overview of the Nigerian State and its national security perspective a nightmare., because the State has become the greatest source of threat to its own survival as there are no core values to defend except corruption.
The Nigerian State should be viewed as an imperial state in which two of the nationalities the Habe/Fulbe hegemony, Yoruba’s and to a lesser extent the Ibos dominate, in that order. These dominant nations try to overpower the rest and themselves through regular massacres, cultural and ethnic absorptions using the machinery of State and the cultivation of non national ideology like Islam and Christianity in order to achieve their objective. This has made it impossible to foist a Nigerian character on the Nigerian State as the third most populous group had to be forcefully coerced to remain in the union. Therefore, an appeal to nationalism is a waste of time, instead there is a recourse by the major political actors to appeal to mundane reasons as the importance of remaining in Nigeria, like the economy of scale involved, the cost of breaking up and the threat to the minority nations in going it alone. A state of vulnerability has thus been created in the Nigerian polity which poses a constant source of insecurity for the Nigerian State. This state of insecurity is influenced by military, political, economic, social and environmental factors.
Contending Factors
Military security which involves the interplay of offensive and defensive capabilities of the Nigerian Armed forces to defend the State and prevent coup de etats or carry out same, depending on the ruling elites definition of self interest. This has been exemplified by the June 12 saga against Abiola, a member of the ruling military and political class. This would have been the last straw for Nigeria but for the quick recognition of enlightened self interest amongst the ruling elites. The possibility of a well defined conflict as in the case of Biafra is remote, what would most likely happen is a near state of anarchy that would obtain in certain areas of the country or even an unacknowledged guerrilla war which the Nigerian authorities would not be able to cope as there would be no defined enemy.
The fallout here will be the lack of loyalty to the State by the armed forces, and since they [armed forces] constitute the greatest source of instability to the Nigerian State, they are constantly deployed to outside theatres like Liberia and Sierra Leone with its attendant financial toll on the country’s purse. Another security headache, is the distrust generated within the military and national security organs itself, like the total breakdown of policing efforts due to lack of recruitment, denial of equipments and, even the seizure of already provided ones as happened after the overthrow of Shagari. The total emasculation of the Nigeria Air Force by the Babangida’s regime that occurred after Vatsa’s [mens rea] coup. The sad side effect of this, was the incapacity through the lack of an helicopter for Nigeria to rescue over 400 of her officers that had crashed in a C-130 transport carrier close to an air force base. Today, any arm of the armed forces that is canvassing for budgetary allocation and equipments invoke the potential threat of the Niger Delta youths to the State, and her ability in putting down such a threat. e.g. the Nigerian Navy and her surface boats. Forgetting that this area is part and parcel of the Nigerian entity. No thinker within the military hierarchy sees Cameroon or France as a threat to Nigeria.
The most profound and confounding aspect of the Nigerian military is that it suffers from a suicidal complex and this puts them apart from any military in the history of man, States and warfare. Most members of the armed forces have been killed by their brother in arms starting from the Nzeogwu/Ifeajuna coup, through the civil war till date. It has reached a stage that, at the Nigerian Defense Academy, the first lesson that should be advisedly taught to new cadets is; to beware of your fellow officer first, and the foreign enemy second. I repeat, most Nigerian military men have died at the hands of their comrades in arms than at the hands of a foreigner, and their motto should read: Beware of your comrades, your enemies God would take care of. In Latin and Arabic, of course.
Political security, this involves the organizational stability, systems and ideology that gives the Nigerian State her legitimacy. The Nigerian State lacks an organized system and ideology which makes for a certain level of illegitimacy. This poses a dilemma for the political actors when they try to justify the use of force in settling domestic conflicts as in the ultimatum to the Niger Delta States. As at now, federal troops have been reinforced in the Niger Delta States. A brilliant preemptive thrust by Obasanjo, Danjuma and the American government. Operation Hakuri [111] has gone into effect., but history has warned that: ‘Peace without justice is nothing but the absence of war.’
The State is thus unable to enforce law and order, allowing vigilante groups to hijack the criminal justice system. There is deliberate fomentation of political disorder through the struggles of the dominant nationalities for control of State institutions e.g. APC and OPC., and an imperfect or non existent mechanism for the transfer of political power. Attempts by some citizens to participate in the political process have resulted in imprisonment e.g. Awolowo; death e.g. Yar Adua and even innocent bystanders like Obasanjo have been roped in. The aim of the politico military elites is to execute a low level of political violence to achieve political ends. Political terrorism is a frequent tool of this group, as the spate of bombings that occurred in Nigeria starting from the Dele Giwa assassination, the Abuja airport bombing to the Ilorin stadium bombing is carried out by the State or her opponents, the end result is a feeling of insecurity amongst the populace.
It is the lack of a rational and national idea embracing all Nigerians, that forces the State’s agents to corner a huge amount of Nigeria’s resources in form of security votes. In other words, what we have in Nigeria are institutions without ideas to hold them together, and herein lies the seeds of the State’s vulnerability because all a coup maker has to do is seize a couple of radio stations and he is in power. Attempts to call a national conference though a brilliant concept in nation building and the restructuring of Nigeria as a federation, constitutes a threat to the current institutions of the State. The fear of the executive and legislative arm of government is in the erosion of legitimacy a sovereign national conference will entail. In Nigeria, the saying ‘No condition is permanent’ has been interpreted as - any position should be exploited as there might be no tomorrow.
Economic security, which covers access of the State to resources and finance to provide welfare and sustain State power. The irony of the Nigerian economy is that it is mono cultural and based on oil, and this commodity happens to be found in commercial quantities in land and sea areas occupied by the minority nationalities. This is a blessing to the Nigerian State as it can easily suppress the yearnings of the people of this areas through the time tested divide and rule principle, via the location or creation of local governments and their capitals. Dangling of government largesse in form of development councils or bodies, eliminating their leaders e.g. Saro Wiwa and the actual threat and use of military force. Unfortunately for the State, there is no way to kill the spirit of freedom and justice in a people and here in lies the seed of distrust within the polity, because if oil was found amongst the major dominant groups, Nigeria would have long ceased to exist.
The Nigerian State needless to say, does not provide any form of welfare to the people. The citizens are always informed of how, so and so member of the elite group has been taken abroad for medical treatment, there is no long term perspective in national planning and implementation, each new government preferring to start its program anew with the concomitant loss of continuity and corruption. The State’s assets and resources are viewed as personal properties of the elites with its attendant looting and misappropriation. In Nigeria, the few and the wealthy pursue their happiness with wretched excess to the exclusion of the actual wretched, the envy and concomitant crime this generates, deprives the wealthy and the State of an iota of peace and semblance of security. Nigeria is the most corrupt country on earth and naturally the most insecure. Nigeria gives truism to the saying ‘wealth is wasted on the wealthy’.
Societal security, this covers the guarantee within acceptable limits of the expression of each indigenous culture, language, religion, custom and ethnic identity of each nationality. There is no Nigerian symbol named after a non member of the three most dominant group. This ranges from currencies to airports to buildings. The fatuous attempt to force citizens to wear agbada, the stamping of images of individuals of the major nationalities on the national currency, the use of Arabic language on the national currency and as a motto of the Nigeria Army, the yan Arewa phenomenon in northern Nigeria, the foisting of emirate council on southern Kaduna. The Ijebu menace of the old western region and the fears of the minorities as enunciated at the Willinks Commission of Inquiry, have been identified as attempts by one dominant group to lord it over and assimilate lesser nationalities. This phenomenon tend to succeed for a time, but, therein also lies the root for its failure, because the protagonist tend to lose any sense of balance and restraint., thereby fostering a sense of secondary citizenship in the victims and the creation of a residual resistant spirit to throw off the yoke of oppression. e.g. Tiv riots.
Environmental security, this entails the maintenance of the local and surrounding biosphere from harm or contamination so as to support the Nigerian populace. There have been several cases of other nations dumping toxic waste in the Nigerian backyard e.g. Italy., but the greatest havoc has been caused by the oil industry. This sole source of Nigeria’s foreign earnings has caused the destabilization of the fishing and farming economy of the Niger Delta, thereby creating a ready pool of jobless young who have become restive for their demands at restitution. Other industries like the paper mill at Oku Iboku has devastated a large bank of the Cross River, through the effusion of mercuric waste into the river. The South Eastern areas are renowned for erosions, the Ogunpa stream overflows regularly and Lagos drowns anytime it rains. In terms of planetary biosphere Nigeria is hampered by the lack of technical know how so this should not even be considered. There are no institutions and precepts to enforce standards effectively, you have fuel contamination, drug contamination, pollution of airspace and waterways and even the Nigerian soul [if we have any] is contaminated. We urinate and defecate on our roadsides and gutters. Cars, trains, planes, buildings, roads and bridges are not properly maintained. We do not cover our foods in the market and public hygiene is a bygone word. Little wonder the average life expectancy rate is a little under 50. Yes, say it, it is the will of God.
Conclusion
It is the frequent invocation of the term national security as an excuse for the illegitimate action and inactions of the political and military elites of the Nigerian State, to exert unfair leverage in national intercourse and disguise sinister intentions that constitute the powder keg to the Nigerian State. There is even the inane excuse for not discussing a problem e.g. Concerned Citizens and Shari’ah, the dread of funeral ceremony for the Igbos killed in 1967, as these constitute a threat to national security. The problem with Nigeria is, try as she might, after 85 years of being patched together, the idea of the Nigerian State has not been firmly planted in the MINDS of her citizens, this then constitute the greatest threat to her national security. An old hand of the Nigerian national security apparatus, M.D. Yusuf was asked recently: What would you want Nigeria to be? He answered: ‘I want Nigeria to be great’. Mr. Yusuf, Nigeria is already great, we pray that she would become lucky, for what you think had been resolved in 1970 was not done to everybody’s satisfaction. Winning a war against one nationality is different from managing the peaceful coexistence of multiple nationalities. Why? because the nationalities that have been forcefully ‘cobbled’ to make up Nigeria, have not been given reasonable reasons to stay together and pursue common interests. Nigeria lacks the communal intelligence to do the right thing at the right time, unlike the ants in the anthills that dots our savannah landscape. We are sincere in our love for the country yet stupid about her well being, and the wise ones say ‘a fool at forty is a fool forever’.
For those who are enjoying the present dispensation, we wish you good luck.
October 2000