Essentially, my thoughts are on the killings of the military officers in the Okuama/Okoloba conflict. The crux of the matter is that on March 12, 2024, four officers and 13 soldiers were killed allegedly by irate youth in the Okuama community in Delta State Nigeria. Okuama and Okoloba communities in Ughelli South Local Government of the state have been at loggerheads over a parcel of land that they both claim. Reportedly, there were efforts at settlement of the matter at the instance of the state government.
Also, the officers and soldiers killed were on a ‘peace mission’ when the ill-fated incident happened. This was the dominant narrative that was hyped. The counter-narrative to the effect that the soldiers had killed some of the members of the community and were partisan in the dispute being used by a powerful militant in Delta was silenced. The soldiers, God bless their souls, have been laid to rest while the search for the culprits is continuing.

Mr. President, your reaction to the killings was infantile, least expected from a Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Nigerian state. Your statement read in parts that: “The Defence Headquarters and Chief of Defence Staff have been granted full authority to bring to justice anybody found to have been responsible for this unconscionable crime against the Nigerian people”. This was a carte blanche as it was it was an appeasement. A commander-in-chief conscious of his constitutional obligation would commiserate and order thorough investigation following due process. Your statement translates into granting complete freedom to act to the armed forces. You would have been briefed by now of the viral video of a burning Okuma Community. Even now there are allegations of killings of members of the community and harassment of other communities in the ostensible search for the perpetrators.

Regardless of the shortcomings in our system, the training of the Nigerian intelligence community is such that they can unravel any crime in the country without the meddlesomeness of politics that is the bane of the rule of law in the country. The military approach as it has so far turned out, has become one of putting the cart before the horse. Civil-military relations, that complex relationship between the military and the rest of society, that sometimes borders on collateral functions, is based on the subordination of the military to civil authorities, not the other way around. Also, it is about professionalism, not illegal duties, and not manipulation of postings to places of high monetary returns.

Military professionalism is implicated in the statement credited to Retired Air Force officer, Wing Commander P.Y. Biakpara, one of the leaders of the Niger Delta, to the effect of misuse of the military. He was quoted to have said, “I am a military man and there are rules of engagement. Things start from the police and it is only when the situation goes beyond the police that the army is rarely called upon. If there is any small issue, one person will run to the army checkpoint and soldiers will go there, nonsense! That means our army has nothing to do!”

He noted furthermore that “The government should be well advised that they should not use the military in this wrong way, they are using the military very, very carelessly. The military is not made to make peace, and even if they make peace, they will kill people to make that peace…They do not negotiate to make peace. To negotiate, they call in other people, so the military is misused, and we are paying the price for misusing the military.”

Mr President, the Niger Delta is a crime scene. The wheel on which the crime turns is oil bunkering. All sister forces are involved as well as big men in the Niger Delta. It took the guts of Nyesom Wike, the former Governor of Rivers State and current Minster of Federal Capital Territory to scold openly a senior officer who possibly would have ended up as the army chief. For your information, Nigeria is a currently tinderbox ready to burn. If by mistake, you wake up the sleeping dog in the Niger Delta by tactless handling of the Okuama Affairs, as I like to call it, you will run into the inferno that you are desperately trying to avoid.

It should be noted, Mr. President, that the guarantors of any government in power are the people, the boss of democracy. Even kings and military juntas rule ostensibly in their name. Recall the statement of Special Forces Commander, Mamady Doumbouya, who deposed President Alpha Condé of Guinea Conakry in September 2021. He said the Guineans had been raped for too long, it was time to love Them. In his words, “Guinea is beautiful. We don’t need to rape Guinea anymore, we just need to make love to her.”