FORCES OF ORDER AND DISORDER: THE NIGERIAN MILITARY EXAMPLE
Abstract
The Nigerian military over time has played significant roles since independence in stabilizing and ensuring that the ship of the Nigerian state does not disintegrate. They achieved these by constantly intervening and sacrificing their lives whenever they were called upon in serious internal and external threats to keep Nigeria as an indivisible entity. These were evidenced in the Western Regional electoral crisis of 1964, the Nigerian civil war, the Tiv Riots, the Maitatsine uprising, the militancy in the Niger Delta, and the Boko Haram insurgency that’s currently ravaging the North East region of Nigeria. The military has also made Nigeria proud in various international missions due to their patriotism, commitment, and sense of purpose. This was witnessed in the peace mission to Congo, Yugoslavia, and the Darfur region of Sudan, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Over time, the military remained the rallying point for national integration and development. But some actions of Nigerian soldiers have portrayed the military in bad light thereby casting aspersion on the integrity of the military authorities and eroding civil-military relationship. These negative attributes of soldiers were exhibited in Odi in Bayelsa, Zaki-Biam in Benue State, and the North Eastern part of Nigeria. Thus, this paper argues with findings from written evidence that there is a need for military hierarchies to inculcate a culture of discipline in its members, and train and retrain them to comply with modern-day reality rules of engagement in the theatre of operations.