The military, politics and leadership

Of course we know that the era of random coups or military intervention in Africa is gone for good and we say good riddance to bad rubbish. We however contend that in Africa, the role of the military in government and politics has not diminished. This is because while politicians in elective offices run governments in Africa’s democracies, most of the politicians in flowing gowns are no more than wolves in sheep’s clothing. They have simply exchanged their braided caps and military fatigues, for flowing gowns and long caps as in Nigeria and Sudan. Of political leadership in these nations you can safely say like the deceived Patriarch Abraham in the bible, that ‘the hand may be that of Esau but the voice is that of Jacob. The effect of this type of political leadership metamorphosis, in the nature of the politics and democracy we practice now, as well as its repercussion for the security of African nations involved in this political regurgitation, is the focus of our attention today.Today, Egypt is under the democratic rule of Mubarak’s former Intelligence Chief President Abdul Fattah Sisi, who won a presidential election after the unfortunate Mohammed Morsi was accused of treason and removed from power. You can say easily that all is calm and peaceful in Egypt. This is because all those young rioters for democracy in the 2011 Arab Spring, encouraged to come out by the Obama Regime in the US and Sarkozy’s France, have been abandoned by the West and are either jailed or killed by the Egyptian army which played ball to avoid Mubarak being killed by the Mobocracy of the Arab Spring and get political power back for the military establishment in Egypt.This trend of power regeneration and capture in the chameleonic pursuit of democracy is quite familiar in many nations in Africa today. We shall look at Nigeria and Sudan for obvious reasons. Both nations have been ruled by leaders who were former military officers before.Nigeria’s case of military dominance of our democracy is quite glaring and very much in plain sight. Former Generals Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari were military presidents who were later elected to two presidential terms of office in subsequent democratic presidential elections. In the case of President Buhari he lost elections before being elected in 2015. And although there are powerful non military politicians in our democracy like the Jagaban, only a fool will say that the two former military presidents are not the dominant factors in our political system today. Indeed the senior former military president has never allowed his successors to run the nation with a free hand since his two terms of office expired.In addition to this, Nigeria’s legislature is filled with former military officers of various ranks who still see themselves and their roles as that of an elite military officer cadre, bound together by their ethos of spirit de corps that notes again, like in Egypt that dog does not eat dog. Here is why the issue of security comes in with regard to the Boko Haram menace. This is because it is my honest view that until Boko Haram is destroyed, the Nigerian military both past and present, in uniform or out of it, in Aso Villa or in the legislature, cannot boldly claim to have done its duty of protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nigeria . According to reports, even the Nigerian Information Minister this week admitted that Boko Haram is trying to start a religious war in Nigeria by killing Christians. This is alarming but not new, as CAN has always made that tragic allegation. Indeed some Nigerians who recently escaped being killed by Boko Haram have said the terrorists were asking for their names and looking for IDs with Christian names as well as being on the look out for civil servants who are believed to be rich to be kidnapped for huge ransoms.With Nigeria’s brand of democracy in which politicians have immense military and security background as in Egypt, Boko Haram should be history by now. Just like the Egyptian Army has literally neutralized the Islamic Brotherhood that killed Anwar Sadat and which Mubarak held under lock and key as it were, to make life and property safe in Egypt until he was removed in the Arab Spring streets riots of 2011. Our leaders with military background should be our best assets and main deterrence in defeating Boko Haram. It should not be otherwise. Surely a word is enough for the wise.

This is because it is my honest view that until Boko Haram is destroyed, the Nigerian military both past and present, in uniform or out of it, in Aso Villa or in the legislature, cannot boldly claim to have done its duty of protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nigeria

In Sudan’s case the former military president Omar Al Bashir who ruled for almost the same 30 years like Mubarak has not been so lucky. The rioters in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, last year, were unyielding in asking that he must go and eventually he was brought to trial again in a cage. His successors, fellow former military officers tried to give him a soft landing but could not and he is still in jail. Worse still, the International Criminal Court which has a warrant on him for genocide in Darfur, has been assured by the new rulers in Sudan that he would be released to face trial for genocide at the World Court in the Hague. Which really is a lesson to all world leaders, especially in Africa, that they hold power in trust to protect the people that elected them. If the Sudanese former president eventually faces his nemesis on trial for genocide, then one can very well say that ‘ the mills of justice may grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine. Once again, long live the federal Republic of Nigeria.