And those who made us proud

In my adult age, I have regrettably come to know eulogies are hard to extend to the Armed Forces or armed men in uniform nowadays. Though the Nigerian Army is indubitably the most prominent among the three arms of Nigerian military, it is one such institution which suffers public ignominy.

Nigerian soldiers, hitherto revered, in my days of youth, became derided and hardly appreciated by the same people it serves at a minutely risk of their lives. No one was ready to sympathize with them at moment of trials or even think positively of their salvation roles in nationhood.

I quite agree with Nigerians who felt disappointed with the Nigerian Army and extended hostility, instead of gratitude to soldiers. I still recollect vividly the perception as a growing up boy, about soldiers as potential millionaires’ once someone conscripted into the Nigerian Army. The likelihood of his growing up to become a MILAD or appointed into any other political office was quit high.

Even among peers, we could giggle and hail friends who joined the Army by flattering them with the appellation “potential MILAD.” This feeling completely extinguished the spirit of professionalism, discipline, loyalty and patriotism among soldiers.

I saw the incompetence of the Nigerian Army manifest at the return of Nigeria’s democracy in 1999. Soldiers displayed very confounding helplessness in quelling internal insurrections or armed local conflicts that surpassed the competence of regular security. They faltered badly at combat fronts.

So, militancy thrived unabated; lethal separatism movements’ choked Nigerians; religious extremists and fanatical sects punctured the serenity of Nigeria unchallenged; armed banditry and cattle rustling became a vocation and the most urbane of them all was the deadly progression of Boko haram terrorism. Indeed, from officers to other personnel, Nigerian Army displayed a shameful incompetence that attracted widespread public mockery.

We lost the soul and integrity of a once cherished armed force because they could not perform their professional and Constitutional duties. Meanwhile, soldiers became astute backdoor electoral kingpins and election riggers for politicians. They effortlessly and with the smallest bait, unprofessionally and unlawfully obstructed the electoral process for pecuniary benefits.

The Nigerian Army was indisputably one of the public institutions most abused by politicians. Soldiers were almost destroyed by politicians as officers and personnel abandoned their core military training for politics and unhealthy indulgence into petty national issues that had no correlation with their professional oath of service. The public spite of soldiers understandably accentuated and they courted more haters, than lovers; failed woefully in the execution of professional assignments as they shined more in partisanship.

This was the Nigerian Army President Muhammadu Buhari inherited in 2015. Mr. President knew a nation without an Army was endangered by its own whimsical and self-inflicted pitfalls. He wasted no time in searching inwards and fished out a competent, tested and core professional soldier, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai, as the Chief of Army Staff. Gen. Buratai doubled as the henchman of the counter-insurgency operations in Nigeria.

Today, like in the olden days, Gen. Buratai has re-fixed and rejigged the narrative of the Nigerian Army within the last two years. From the tales of doom, it is now unrestrained applauses of the progress and prosperity of the Nigerian soldier from the same Nigerians who derided them.

Myself, like any other Nigerian, now see or encounter a Nigerian Army which is the epitome of courage, discipline, gallantry and strength. Professionalism and adherence to international best practices on Rules of Engagement (ROE) while on special assignments has attracted nationwide applauses and beyond. Like footballers, we can proudly say, our soldiers are back to “form,” strewing the path of the winnings or victories.

I get pleasantly baffled now, when I see Nigerian soldiers faze and subdue terrorists smartly. I see soldiers, who intellectually confront other agents of darkness, which have tormented us and breathlessly trail them on their tracks. An Army which anchors both physical and cyberspace terrorism warfare so elegantly and effectively, striving centuries ahead of the fake propaganda contrivances of insurgents.

Our country, Nigeria is now a proud nation where terrorists can no longer intimidate our troops or the people. Rather, insurgents cringe at the sight of our soldiers; hundreds, including top commanders, even surrender to Nigerian Army and renounce Boko Haram terrorism.

Soldiers now capture terrorists alive and seize their cache of arms and ammunitions. This is the new spirit in the re-oriented, reenergized, reinvigorated and reprofessionalized Nigerian soldier.

It is a new era and a new dawn for the Nigerian Army in the country now, which is a clear indication that the real Nigerian Army was on sabbaticals. But it has bounced back with vigour. So, in Northern Nigeria, the repressed militant sect, Boko Haram, which once held the people at the jugular, the freed people are jubilantly saying, welcome back Nigerian Army. Angula wrote this piece from the United Kingdom.