Military In Nierian Politics Is A Curse

Firstly, the failure of military rulers to wipe out corruption, indiscipline and misgovernance as they had frequently promised is a serious indictment  of military rule.The military's numerous broken promises to Nigerians constituted a betrayal of military honour and duty. Military intervention in politics itself  manifests a high degree of lawlessness that has corroded the soul of Nigeria in the past four decades . In addition, military rule in Nigeria created  criminalized economic. Virtually all segment  of the national economy were rendered comatose by corruption, shady deals and gross fraudulent  practices. Fraud and corruption escalated as a direct result of the state policy and lack of accountablity. Military rule legitimized  the notion  that  the essence of political power lies in its use  as an instrument for the private plunder of public resources.  General Sani Abacha was accused of stealing billions of dollars during his five years of leadership of Nigeria.
        Secondly, one of the pernicious legacies of military rule in Nigeria is the culture of violence it created. Military rule placed a premium on force and violence. Dialogue, bargaining, compromises, all essential elements of the effective government style were de-emphasized by officers . Instead Nigerians were compelled to submit  to the senseless military  commands. Successive military regimes displayed increasing autocracy and mindless acquisition of  wealth at the expense of national treasure.
     Obara Ikime(1998) observed that  the ceaseless use state power for private capital  accumulation by the military officer and their civilian supporters  has generated deep political apathy and synical attitude to public  affairs by the vast majority of Nigerians. Military rule was also a  detrimental to the corporate existence of the military because it created two sets of military personnel : officers who held political appointments and used their political positions as a route to enrich themselves, and others who continued to perform purely military duties.Without access to the state power, this latter category did not  get much opportunity to enrich themselves. This bred a deep resentment with dire consequences for military discipline. Thus, military rule created  wide polarization and deep factionalisation  in the  Nigerian armed  forces. Senior officers constantly dread junior officers for fear that  the latter may one day  carry out their along -expected blood coup.On their part, Junior officers live in constant fear of  their Senior officers. They are apprehensive  that they could become a victims of witch -hunt designed to wipe out potential  coup plotters. This fear and apprehension was captured in one  of  the speeches by General Ibrahim Babangida in 1991. "There seams to be lack of commitment on the parts our officers and NCOs to the military profession ...Many of us as senior officers hardly relate to our juniors.Often the gap between senior and junior officers has widened, thus making it dangerous to manifest generational cleavages. I expected that the military  involvement  in politics has had a hand in this. Also I think that the threat of witch-hunting  under the guise of plotting to overthrow government is responsible for this."(Babangida,1991)