As a fighting force, the Nigeria Army's rap sheet is formidable. Since the formation of the Royal West African Frontier Force, which later metamorphosed into the Nigeria Army, the statistics read: three wars, won three, drawn none, lost none, and numerous battles the only defeat coming to mind would be the one inflicted by the Biafrans at Abagana during the Nigerian Civil War, a war the Nigerian Army went on to win despite the no victor, no vanquished mantra brandished after hostilities had ceased.
In this proud history of battle we can include a few military coups brought about when this proud fighting force was left to idle away in the barracks with nothing to do.
We can also include numerous episodes when silly policemen were called to order each time they tried to step over their god-given limits.
Then there are those campaigns in Liberia and Sierra Leone when the Nigeria Army restored democracy to those democracy starved countries with such efficiency and alacrity that no less a personality than Larry King, had cause to utter his astonishment about Nigeria exporting what she did not have (democracy) and importing what she had (oil).
Then there are the numerous victories against the misguided elements within the Nigerian state that have over the years shown that they are too stupid to learn the lessons brutally dished out to others, and as a result have had to be taught the lessons time and again.
I was left a little bemused recently when one of the resident Biafrans that inhabit the far flung corners of the internet claimed that the Nigeria Army has never brought its own crude form of justice to places located either North or West of the rivers Niger and Benue.
The fellow went on to try and equate the current travails of people in the Delta region of the country to the travails of the people of Igbo extraction who suffered under the Nigeria Army's jackboot a little over forty years ago.
Within living memory the Nigeria Army rolled out its big guns to crush the Maitatsine uprising and in the process levelled sections of Kano. Zaki Biam happened only eight years ago, just after Odi, and sometime during the administration of former President Obasanjo, brutal measures were taken to crush the Taliban uprising in Borno and Yobe States.
The Western part of the country has also seen some action as well. We must remember those unfortunate people in Maroko who were victims of extreme brutality simply because powerful interests wanted to build a new and exclusive playground for the rich. No, the Nigeria Army is not an ethnic force.
As a matter of fact, the Nigerian military is the government organisation where you are likeliest to advance to the top of your career purely on merit.
With respect to its treatment of the bloody civilians who inhabit the geographical space called Nigeria (West Africa actually), the Nigeria Army is an equal opportunities brutaliser.
This is why I find the current conflict in the Niger Delta very troubling. From a purely military viewpoint in my opinion, there is only going to be one outcome to this conflict.
The Army would deal with the rebels in such a fashion that for at least a decade to come people in the Delta would think twice before taking up arms.
Perhaps it is with this knowledge that the so called leaders of the region began playing the ‘humanity' card even before hostilities began properly.
I must at this point make it quite clear that I feel a genuine sympathy for the poor people of the Niger Delta who through no fault of their own are caught between two groups of animals, one being the Army, and the other being the ‘militants' who claim to be serving the interests of the Niger Delta.
They are truly between a rock and a very hard place, and in one of those classical cases of cruel irony, a lot of residents of Port Harcourt with whom I have spoken have vehemently stated that they prefer the military to the militants. That is a stunning indictment of the insurgency which has been going on in the Delta for a few years now.
Looking at this conflict purely from a detached point of view, the only innocents are the everyday, regular Taris who are caught in this vicious cycle.
The Army blames them for harbouring militants who kill soldiers, then carry out acts of reprisals such as burning their houses and rendering them homeless.
Thankfully we are yet to hear of any case of maiming and rape as happened in Odi ten years ago. Now when the Army is done with Tari and has moved to the next settlement, the militants return, collect tributes from Tari's meagre earnings, force Tari to provide them food and shelter, and as in the case of Okuru Ama, kill some of Tari's relatives.
A few weeks later, the Army comes in again, the militants take to their heels, and the whole cycle repeats itself. What kind of existence is that?
The sad thing about this conflict is this: the Nigeria Army, the ‘militant' boys who are on the run as we speak, and the unfortunate people who have been turned into refugees in their own country are pawns in an avaricious game of chess being played by the very people who owe these people everything, the political class.
People like the Vice President as an example owes a responsibility to these very people who are suffering so much, but in between ensuring that he is permanently connected to the wealth flowing from beneath the earth by way of Abuja, and also ensuring the futures of his great grandchildren, he really could not be bothered.
The same goes for all of the men who masquerade as Ijaw leaders, and practically stab their people each day in the back by their duplicitous actions. The politicians it is that armed these militants in the run in to the 2003 elections.
The politicians it is, that abandoned these armed youths after they had temporarily ceased to be of any use when the elections were over. The politicians it is (and some top military commanders) that used these armed (and idle) youths to commit crimes such as illegal oil bunkering. The youths learned from their elders and when it became convenient for them used a legitimate struggle as a cloak to cover their activities. The politicians looked the other way. Now they scream about humanitarian catastrophes and want the world to come to clean up the mess that they created!
In any event, the avarice of the Niger Delta political class is one that is reflected in the political class all over Nigeria. As a people, we have to realise that the problem of the Niger Delta is a problem of all Nigerians. Everywhere in this ‘ere country, from Nembe to Nguru, from Seme to Gakem, the story is the same, one of massive neglect of the masses by the very people who ought to be looking out for them.
That neglect can and will only create more embittered people who will over the course of time find methods of seeking some form of redress no matter how temporary. The Nigeria Army may at the behest of the political class win this battle, but the long term war is one that is unwinnable by all sides in this conflict unless genuinely honest efforts are made at redressing the problems that brought this conflict about in the first place.
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