New levels of low

“We ought never do wrong when people are looking.” Mark Twain.

There is certainly a case to be made for a national dialogue over major issues which represent threats to national security and major inhibitors to real development, but not the ones which are being advanced by President Jonathan. The nation is responding to a programmed diversion, but there cannot be an end to the argument over the nature and efficacy of our federal system; the manner we generate and distribute national wealth; the manner we allocate resources around governance institutions and leaders; and the manner we prioritize the goals of the Nigerian state. We will always argue over the manner our leaders emerge; the source and damage of impunity and corruption; and the failures or weaknesses of vital institutions of state. We will always argue over faith and secular values in governance; over ethnicity and citizenship; and over what our nation means to us.

While these questions will not find lasting answers, or answers that enjoy such consensus that only fringe interests will question them, the fact is they will continue to challenge the task of building a nation whose basic characters are essentially settled. The solutions lie in a cumulative and conscious attempt to add value to the positives which improve cohesion, trust and confidence, and in reducing negative signals, tendencies or trends which deepen the doubts over our abilities and capacities to put together a nation out of millions of doubts and hopes. Although no leadership starts on a clean slate, this does not provide it with excuses that it cannot resolve problems.

In the specific case of the administration of President Jonathan, it is a case of inheriting a flawed nation, and then running it aground. The controversy over the religious faith of new cadets being admitted into the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA) represents a clear and present danger that the rot in the nation’s most hallowed institutions is so deep that we should worry whether the nation can fix its most basic problems. True, this is a problem which grew over the years – long before President Jonathan came anywhere near power. It was initially whispered around in religious circles, as people who saw themselves as custodians of our ethno-religious fortunes poured over published lists of admitted cadets into military and police academies, and counted off Muslims and Christians. Protests over inequity and deliberate distortions to bestow advantages to one faith over the other have been made for more than a decade now.

Voices were louder among Muslims who felt that selections particularly into NDA were being made deliberately to marginalize them. If the authorities paid any heed to these complaints, successive admission patters did not show it. With every new admission, voices were raised higher in protest over the admission of few Muslims against many Christians in States where populations have large percentages of both. Some raised voices against assignments of non-indigenes to certain states; or made claims of cadets changing names to find spaces in states other than their own; and from those who policed the recruitment process all the way to final selection there were allegations of corruption and efforts to discourage intakes of Muslims using all sorts of tactics.

This year’s admission into the NDA has raised more passion than any other time. From the release of the list, the nature of reactions to it ought to have attracted attention of the President. It was not the type of issue you simply note and shake your head at, and then dismiss as a typical Nigerian problem. In the last few years, our armed forces have been exposed and extended beyond the call of duty. Their extensive deployments in internal security operations in the North and Niger Delta, and the unavoidable manner in which their relationship with the civil population will be critically scrutinized should have alerted the Presidency to the fact that this controversy over the ethno-religious character of the armed forces was going to be another major problem.

That was a point at which the President needed to get directly involved. As Commander-In-Chief, it is his direct responsibility to inquire into ways in which some damage control measures can be taken. If indeed, admission patterns offended the basic requirements of merit and equity, he should have ordered a review and other measures that should prevent recurrence. If they were fair and justifiable, he should have used his extensive bureaucracy and avenues for engaging the public to assure the nation that there is no cause for alarm. If a review highlights reasons which account for existing patterns of admission that need to be addressed, he could order steps to be taken in that direction.

Military institutions and academies represent starting points in careers which are covered by federal character requirements. As President, he has a duty to ensure that the armed forces are not exposed to accusations that they violate provisions of federal character. As President of a complex nation in which religion and ethnicity are playing increasingly influential roles in the allocation of power and economic resources, the President should know that compliance with state of origin in admission patterns alone is insufficient. He ought to have demanded answers to all the queries being raised around the list, even if they came from what appear to be his traditional opposition.

Perhaps the President did all that, and merely ignored to inform a nation polarised by a list which is at the heart of his capacity to be equitable or just. For this and other reasons, the House of Representatives, that institution with a very sensitive political antenna and a highly developed skill for exposing the President’s weaknesses, has now decided to inquire into the quarrels over the admissions list. Tragically, while this may be a good thing in terms of the exercise of oversight responsibilities of the legislature, it will only compound an already messy situation. The inquiry by the federal legislature will further politicise a very sensitive institution which ought to have shielded itself from politicization in the first instance. There is no conclusion which the Representatives will arrive at that will satisfy even a limited spectrum of opinion. If it concludes that religion and ethnicity have been major factors in this and earlier years’ admission into NDA, it will cast serious doubts over the integrity of a premier institution in our security system which should give every Nigerian the same level of comfort and confidence. If it dismisses the complaints of gross and deliberate marginalization of Muslims, it will provide one more platform for sustaining the allegation that virtually all critical federal institutions are now being manipulated to reduce the presence of Muslims in them. The House of Representatives can also quite conceivably fall victim of the same divisions, and become itself, dangerously divided over the issues. Whatever happens, it now has to say something to a nation waiting for difficult answers.

The controversy over admissions into military, police and security training institutions underlie a basic and persistent distrust over the capacity of leaders to lead a nation in which all citizens should expect to be treated as equals. There is of course the additional, important consideration that careers in armed forces, police and security agencies represent rare elite recruitment opportunities in a nation where opportunities shrink literally on a daily basis. But the most worrying sentiment behind these quarrels is that many critical stakeholders in the political process feel unsafe and insecure without people of their faith in important positions in the national security system. There many be a hard core among those stakeholders who will not be assured no matter how the system responds to their causes. But there are also many who are genuinely concerned that our armed forces are being swallowed by narrow and divisive tendencies which have crippled our political systems. The announced plans of the armed forces to recruit another 9000 personnel will now be subjected to even closer scrutiny, using faith and ethnic identity. People recruited on the basis of their faith or ethnicity alone are hardly ever going to defend national interests or security.

The danger of politicizing our armed forces beyond their current levels is very serious. Recruitment and career progression will be determined by faith. Operational issues will have major ethno-religious imprints. The nation will be deprived of the service of a professional, disciplined and cohesive armed forces which should operate substantially above much of the muck that attaches to much of our politics. Perhaps we have crossed that threshold already. But in the desperate hope that we have not, it will be a supreme act of statesmanship if President Jonathan can personally and directly look into the current list of admission into the NDA, and address the nation over it.