Topic:Nigerian Army Not Yet a National Army
Author: Joseph Aimienmwena
Full Text of Article:
'Citing several instances and names of prominent Igbo officers caught in the
web of marginalisation, the association reeled out names of such Igbo
officers that were marginalised as Cols Onyekweli, Ihenacho Nebo Oparaji,
Njoku and Nwobu, who they alleged, were all prematurely retired.
Others, according to the association, were Group Captain Ikpeazu, Brigadiers
Obi, Idegwuoha and Commodore Emeka Omeruah.
In the opinion of the association, the premature retirement of igbo
military officers was to prevent them from rising to the rank of senior
officers, thereby denying them the opportunity of holding strategic and
command appointments."
MILITARY historians agree that the Nigerian civil war brought in its wake a
number of problems for the Nigerian armed forces, which was relatively young
when the civil war broke out in 1967.
Prominent among the problems was the rapid expansion and indigenisation of
the military to ensure its combat-readiness against the background of the
exigencies at the time when the nation was drifting towards anarchy and
chaos occasioned by the political unrest in the old "wild west."
Perhaps, the greatest problem which occurred at the end of the war was the
gradual and systematic marginalisation of Igbo officers, many of whom had
fought on the side of the defunct Biafran Republic under the leadership of
Colonel Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
Before the outbreak of hostilities on July 6, 1967, following the breakdown
of dialogue between the Federal Military Government led by General Yakubu
Gowon and Col. Ojukwu, statistics indicated clearly that the Igbos were
adequately represented in sensitive units within the armed forces.
For instance, when the Nigerian Army assumed a new status from the Royal
Nigerian Army following the attainment of a Republican status in 1963, the
most senior officer in the armed forces was the late Major-General Johnson
Umunnakwe Aguiyi Ironsi. This was attested to by the eagle and a cross bar
insignia which adorned the shoulders of Aguiyi Ironsi, a veteran of the
Congo crisis.
Apart from Ironsi, other senior Igbo officers in the army included Col.
Hilary Njoku, Col. Alexander Madiebo, Col. Ude as well as Col. Emeka Ojukwu,
who was appointed military governor of Eastern Region.
There were also many other Igbo military officers of the rank of major or
its equivalent in the other arms of the armed forces. But at the end of the
war, these officers were prematurely retired, including some captains and
lieutenants. This trend of retiring Igbo officers who have not reached the
peak of their military careers has continued ever since. Even those who
enlisted into the force and were reabsorbed at the end of hostilities were
equally marked down and never got promoted.
For instance, the erstwhile Chief of General Staff, Ebitu Ukiwe, who was
enlisted into the force in 1961 was only a Commodore (equivalent of
Brigadier) in 1985, whereas the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, who
was commissioned into the army in 1963 as second lieutenant was already a
Major General at the same period, when General Ibrahim Babangida seized
power from Major General Muhammadu Buhari on August 27, 1985. In what was
believed to be a reconciliatory gesture to the Igbos, General Babangida
appointed Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, a naval officer, Chief of General Staff.
But there was perhaps a serious error of omission with regard to the
appointment of Commodore Ukiwe to that exalted position. There were senior
major-generals or its equivalents in the other two arms including the then
Major General Sani Abacha, who reportedly had bluntly refused to recognise
the status of Commodore Ukiwe.
In spite of his position as Chief of General Staff, Ukiwe was perceived by
the late General Abacha as a junior and could not bring himself to submit to
someone he considered as his junior but who ironically enlisted into the
force before him, although he lost his seniority due to the war. But Abacha
in his lust for power, failed to realise the fact that appointment is
generally higher than rank. The unceremonious exit of Commodore Ukiwe
therefore, has raised more questions than answers with regard to the
marginalisation of the Igbos from the mainstream of military politicking.
Is it not astonishing that 28 years after the end of the civil war, Rear
Admiral Alison Madueke has become the only Igbo man to command an arm of the
military services, the Navy, no matter how brief it was.
Recently, a pan Igbo cultural organisation, Izu Umunna Cultural Association
of Nigeria (IUCAN), an affiliate of Ndigbo, rose from the meeting of its
delegates assembly from 19 northern states and Abuja and demanded that the
marginalisation of the Igbos in the armed forces by promotion and
appointment should be re-addressed by the present military government.
Citing several instances and names of prominent Igbo officers caught in the
web of marginalisation, the association reeled out names of such Igbo
officers that were marginalised as Cols Onyekweli, Ihenacho Nebo Oparaji,
Njoku and Nwobu, who they alleged, were all prematurely retired.
Others, according to the association, were Group Captain Ikpeazu, Brigadiers
Obi, Idegwuoha and Commodore Emeka Omeruah.
In the opinion of the association, the premature retirement of Ndigbo
military officers was to prevent them from rising to the rank of senior
officers, thereby denying them the opportunity of holding strategic and
command appointments.
The association debunked the statement from the Defence Headquarters that
there were no senior Igbo officers to occupy key positions in the military
arguing that it was a deliberate effort to hold them back.
The chief of army staff, which unarguably is the highest position in the
army has been elusive to the Igbos, whereas Major-General Ike Nwachukwu was
the only Igboman who occupied the position of General Officer Commanding
(GOC) of the Nigerian Army.
The main ground for arguing that the non-appointment of Igbo military
officers into command positions was deliberate is that many other military
officers had in the past been elevated to positions which their office
responsibilities had entailed. For example, then Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon was
catapulted to full General during the civil war; Murtala Mohammed had risen
from Brigadier to General when he staged his coup in 1975 while his
comrades-in-arm, Olusegun Obasanjo and Theophilus Danjuma, became Lt.
Generals from their previous rank of Brigadier.
Similarly, Yar'Adua was made a Brigadier from Lieutenant Colonel, while the
present Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, attained his rank from
Major General, so there is nothing wrong in promoting Igbo officers to
assume command structures in the Army, Navy or Air Force. It is unfortunate
that Major-General Sam Momah and Air Vice -Marshal Canice Umeniwaliri remain
the highest ranking Igbo military officers, even though they are holding
political appointments as ministers.
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