18 Apr 2009 |
|
LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT – PART 1 OF 4
THE SHAME OF OUR MILITARY INSTITUTIONS BY ELVIS DUKE – LONDON
Your Excellency As much as I am one of the very few Nigerians who think that your are indeed a very DECENT person, I wish to assure you that these open letters I am writing to you are not designed to place me in your good books – as is common in our society. I will be bold enough to even tell you openly that I have never supported you politically. Rather, I have, and will continue to rigorously support Abubarkar Atiku because he strongly exemplifies what your brother – the late Great Shehu Musa YarAdua stood for, that is a decent Nigeria society, where “no man is oppressed”. As President of the Nigeria, you are also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, amongst many other things associated with your high office. This in every sense, gives you the unchallengeable power to Order and Discipline any officer of the Nigerian armed forces, all of them inclusive. Please remember that it is you that history will hold accountable for the good and bad things that happened during your presidency. As the academic intellectual we all know you are, I will strongly recommend that you do not allow history to rubbish you and your family’ name. I will also advise you to always bear in mind, that no matter what direction the Nigerian politics takes, your are one out of the approximately one hundred and fifty million Nigerians that ascended the highest office in the land, the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There is nothing else for you to aspire to, except to write your name in Gold. This you can achieve easily by doing what is right. Any commander-in-chief of the armed forces of a nation, should be visibly concerned when these forces start behaving irresponsibly. The dynamic President Obama, will take immediate actions to neutralize or dislodge any issue that is both criminal and morally offensive to the goals and aspiration of his nation. Nigerian politically direction is copied from what obtains in the United States of America. So why is it that our nation is sliding into the pits of hell, and your presidency has kept alarmingly quiet? Consistent with the democratic practices all over the civilized world, where every citizen has a right to be ‘Served and Protected’ by the law, I wish to appropriately advise you that our country Nigeria is fast becoming the ‘worst democratic joke’ on earth. The glory and shame of our nation rest squarely on your shoulders. Like I mentioned earlier, history will not be kind to your name if you fail to act now. On the 12th of April 2009, the SUN newspaper published a story about the gruesome brutality and massive RAPE of our fellow citizens at the ‘suspected’ crime island of Takwar Bay in Lagos. I can recall that the same SUN newspaper elaborately described the indecency that was going-on at the island. Like other readers, I was shocked and ashamed of what I read. However, following the publication of the 12th April 2009, where the paper reported how over three hundred heavily armed soldiers stormed the island and mercilessly RAPED, BEAT, STOLE, and TERRORIZED the island’ occupant, and arrested a sizeable number of them, I feel compelled to write to you to put to and immediate end to this barbaric practice of our young women being continuously RAPED AND TRAUMATIZED for whatsoever reason. Alleged crime or not, they are our fellow citizens, and human beings. It may be true that our armed forces are fast becoming an army of “anything goes” as was eloquently put by a then senior army officer. As a responsible president, you owe your citizens a massive ‘duty of care’ which is to ensure that our armed forces only ‘protect and serve’ our country, and not to RAPE, BEAT, KILL, STEAL or TRAUMATIZE our fellow citizens. Whatsoever the alleged offences committed by any citizen in Nigeria, you as our president should not allow them to be so inhumanly treated. If you fail to take immediate action to STOP this culture, you may become an even bigger laughing stock in history Former president Obasanjo, who enthusiastically ordered the genocide in Odi, Zaki Biam, and some other communities in Rivers State, is today being hounded every where he goes because of this. The human spirit can withstand any pain inflicted upon it, but humanity can never forget crimes against it. Under your watch, a very confused Admiral, allowed his boys to beat and terrorize an innocent young girl in full view of the public. Where this event not a very public affair, with the culture of violence in our armed forces, one will be tempted to wonder if there were no witnesses, the young woman could have been repeatedly raped by these military men. So many such examples exist in our country today. It is now deemed the expectant culture of our armed forces today. Even the police and other paramilitary outfits, consistently Rape and Abuse our fellow citizens. A woman arrested for any alleged offence, including petty ones, is very likely to be Raped in custody. Most are afraid and ashamed to speak up. But it is very true. Mr. President, it is now clearly up to you to weed out this culture in our armed forces. You can commence the cleansing process by Ordering an immediate comprehensive investigation into the Takwar Bay affair. These soldiers did not appear from thin air. They must be identified, investigated and severely punished and Dismissed for bringing shame and dishonour to the proud uniform they are privileged to wear. These measures should be now applied across the entire armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, of which you are the President. Please act now to save another innocent citizen.
|
|||||||||
# 
Your Comments
Please make The Square an enjoyable experience for everyone by refraining from gratuitous ad-hominem contributions, defamatory comments and off-topic posting. Such posts will be removed.