29 Jun 2009 |
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By the time you read this some 27 Nigerian soldiers – someone’s child, sister, mother, brother or father – would have spent over 9 months in prison. It is 9 months out of what may end up being a whole lifetime if mercy is not shown to them – and early enough. For, of what use is mercy that comes too late!
And what is their offence? If you ask me, it is being soldiers – joining the Army at all. In normal circumstances, by normal societal mores, what these 27 soldiers did was nothing to lose life or freedom for – protesting injustice being done to them; injustices: theft of their entitlements and insensitivity to the sacrifices they bore for their fatherland. But the Army isn’t a normal place, and, sadly, by the story of these 27 fellows, perhaps (within the context of the total picture of what transpired) not even as noble an institution as may have been imagined. And that is worrisome. There is a context in which the Army is noble – I mean, what could be nobler than someone choosing to defend his country even with his own life? And for this they command our love and respect – or, they should. And to preserve its sanctity, the Army adheres to very strict rules of behaviour, and to laws whose draconian qualities are outside of civil temperament. Consequently, the Army is not for the likes of me – questioning and rebelling of authority at the slightest hint of injustice or disrespect to my individuality. And so we have the Akure-27; soldiers who have come to be known as that for forgetting that their chosen life demands that they are “zombies”, as the inimitable Fela characterized them in one of his popular songs. Theirs is to obey ‘orrderr’! In a nutshell, these soldiers were part of 850 of them who had just returned from some six months peacekeeping operations in Liberia, as part of Nigeria’s contribution to the United Nations (UN). For their sacrifices, some allowance (peanuts by Authority’s standard – remember Fela again, “Authority Stealing”) was supposed to be waiting for them to collect, already provided by the UN. Akure was where they were to report to collect their entitlements – their “thank you for serving your country well”. All told, about $7,000. After weeks of agonizing wait in Akure, the poor soldiers learnt that all they could be paid was half what they were owed because some officers in charge of the accounts had helped themselves to their money! The Army would look for how to pay them the balance sometime in future. The 27 soldiers, singled out of the lot, would have none of that. Enraged, they protested in the manner many cheated and angry workers would – hit the streets, made bonfire, chanted the “we no go gree o, we no go gree” workers’ protest song, and created some scene. In Army parlance, this was tantamount to mutiny; an outrage unbecoming of disciplined and honourable officers. Of course, in any disciplined and honourable Army mutiny is perhaps the most grievous crime a soldier could be accused of. And grievously these 27 soldiers are to answer for it – with imprisonment for life! But we are talking of Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Army of the Danjumas, the Murtala Mohammeds, the Buharis, the Babangidas and the rest of them who lived by mutiny against the Army and against their country, turned themselves to head of state, and remain in the “hall of fame” of the very Army whose cardinal rule of loyalty and obedience they tore to shreds – with barracks, streets, and other monuments still named after them! However, unlike these “big ones” who have come to define the face and character of the Nigerian Army, the Akure-27 did not “mutiny” against the Army structure or institution, they did not mutiny against their country, they did not carry arms, they killed no one. They are poor and unsung. What has brought a sadistic irony to the punishment meted out to the Akure-27 is what the officers found responsible for stealing their allowance were given as punishment. What? Dismissed from the Army, hands cut a la sharia, made to face firing squad? Right? Wrong! They were reduced in rank and told to ‘get back to work and sin no more’! The story of the Akure-27 is now in public – nay, international – domain. The import of this on the Nigerian Army – on morale, on recruitment – is best imagined. But, perhaps, again like in all things Nigerian, who cares? But let no one miss the point, the action of the Akure-27 – regardless of what they were denied – was silly and ill-advised. It was indiscipline of the highest order and does not augur well for the Army. There are other, more decent, ways to have achieved the result they desired, even if there was nothing decent in the way they have been treated after serving their country abroad meritoriously and risking their lives. Yes, these Akure-27, in joining the Army, signed off their lives to their country, believing their country was good enough to look after them. Even as we speak, it is probable that their dependants are yet to receive the monies due these unfortunate soldiers. I am adding my humble voice to those who have been begging for mercy for these poor folks. In the words of Portia in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice: “The quality of mercy is not strained…it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes…” The Akure-27 have suffered enough, their relatives and friends have suffered enough. It would not be too much to reabsorb them and make them lose just rank too; but the least they deserve is freedom to go home. I beg, let my people go!
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