Armed forces loyalty is to constitution, not Mr President
Imagine these headlines: “Buratai warns soldiers on loyalty to President Buhari”, “Be loyal to President Buhari and constitution, Buratai charges soldiers”, “Absolute loyalty to President, non-negotiable – Buratai tells soldiers”, “Soldiers must be loyal to President Buhari – Buratai”, “Nigeria: Buratai to officers – You must be loyal to President, constitution”. These were some of the headlines splashed across the media last Thursday, August 1. What conclusion might the ordinary citizen draw from this “Riot Act” issued last week, to the men and women in uniform by their boss? A call for army vigilance? Discipline? Obedience? What? You could say it is probably a combination of all three, but it is much more than that, and we should all be alarmed by it. It is brazen as it is reckless from a man, the Chief of Army Staff, no less, who should know better. It is effectively a call for a pledge of personal loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari. It is at variance with all universal democratic norms, and it has no basis in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Frankly, it is a crass effort at placing Mr. President beyond the reach of the constitution itself. What is even more alarming is the fact that no one in political power has found it necessary to condemn it. No high-level public outrage, or significant voices of dissent either.
The clarion call from the super-loyal Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai might, of course, be music to the ears of President Buhari, who has yet to assign portfolios to his (now confirmed) ministerial nominees. Nonetheless, in the absence of a minister of defence, the Senate Armed services committee chairman, or President of the Senate himself ought to step up and give the boisterous General a lesson in civics; no one in uniform, indeed, no citizen ought to pledge personal loyalty to any here-today-gone-tomorrow politician – ever, Buhari, Joe Blogg, whoever however.
In case the army press officer happens
to stumble on this piece today, he would do well to inform the boss that
his only loyalty is to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. His duty, however, is to serve the country by diligently
obeying the orders of the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed
Forces, the President, whoever that happens to be. There is a world of
difference between obedience and loyalty. While obedience is a duty,
loyalty is a moral obligation; a higher calling. It is one that may
require a citizen to pay the ultimate price. While a country should
always be worth dying for, could that be said of a politician? Do we
owe any politician moral obligation for which we should be prepared to
pay the ultimate price? Because that is what being in army uniform calls
for, and that is what Buratai was alluding to in his directive. The
General tried to mask his ill-advised warning to the men and women in
uniform by conflating Buhari and the constitution. The two are separate
and independent of each other. Loyalty is and must only be to the
constitution, no “and”, no “ifs” and no “buts”. If your blind loyalty
is to the President, then, it becomes easy or easier for you to act in
defiance of the constitution. Whereas, loyalty to the constitution is,
ipso-facto, loyalty to Nigeria, her President, and Commander-in-Chief.
It is all encompassing, and so it should. So, primarily, loyalty is to
the constitution and everything that flows from it.
Having said that, could a question of
obedience to the Commander-in-Chief become, at some point, a test of
loyalty? Absolutely, it could. Let us say, for instance, that a clear
and unambiguous order came from Mr. President to take over the National
Assembly by force at dawn, and shoot at sight any legislator of any rank
standing in the way. A blind loyalty to the President would ensure the
execution of the order to the letter, but, it would be a disservice to
the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That is precisely
where a good soldier would draw the line between obedience to the
Commander-in-Chief, and loyalty to the constitution. Buratai must either
have acted in blissful ignorance of this logic, or something else must
be at play, this is Nigeria after all. So, let us dig a little deeper.
If, and it is a BIG if, President Buhari
were to proceed on an extended medical leave to London or someplace
else in the near future, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would naturally
step in to the position of acting President, supposedly with full
powers. Now, General Buratai’s call for loyalty from his men and women
in uniform was to President Buhari by name, not to the President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria per se, but to the person of Buhari himself.
On this footing, the army would be free to withhold their loyalty to
the acting President, discounting his constitutional power to command
them if the worst were to happen. This is the Umaru Yar’Adua scenario
that nearly boiled over the last time. He was in hospital in Saudi
Arabia, reportedly incapacitated for some time before he was
surreptitiously flown back home in the dead of night. Lt. Gen.
Abdulrahman Bello Dambazzau, the then Chief of Army Staff, has neither
confirmed nor denied the widespread belief that he refused to take
orders from the then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, despite being
fully aware of the condition of the substantive Commander-in-Chief.
Dambazzau’s reward later was promotion into Buhari’s administration as
minister of the interior in 2015. Is Buratai laying the ground in
anticipation of history possibly repeating itself? Does the army have
such short memory? Have we, as a country, not learned anything from that
ugly scenario? If, however, there is no substance to any of this, and
it is just a figment of the writer’s imagination, then, let it be.
Another possible conjecture might be
that the country may soon witness a more iron-fisted approach to
governance from an insecure administration. The social media has been
awash with ominous predictions about simmering discontent amongst
sections of the civilian population, from which the General may have
thought wise to insulate the army. That notwithstanding, disregard for
court orders and the administration’s penchant for extra-constitutional
and extrajudicial acts are already legendary. A lot more of that habit
may be called for in the coming months, all in the name of “national
security”, and to “uphold the country’s unity” from those bent on
“breaking it up”, especially those advancing the cause of
“restructuring”. More so, judgement will soon be rendered in the ongoing
Abubakar Atiku’s challenge of the result of the 2019 presidential
election. The President’s legal team have not gone out of their way to
present a compelling rebuttal of Atiku’s allegations. In what appears to
be a cavalier attitude to the whole process, they have simply rested
their case without further ado. They probably feel they have the case
sewn up already. What if, against all expectations, the judgement goes
against Buhari?
There is no doubt on whose side Buratai
wants the army to be if push comes to shove in any of the scenarios
painted above. Either way, the General’s love and admiration for
President Buhari are to be commended, but, he has allowed those factors
to cloud his professional judgement as an apolitical soldier. He should
know, if he needs reminding, that the President is answerable and
accountable to the people of this country, and not the other way around.
So, please General, hang your sonorous call for loyalty to Buhari; the
electorate voted for a President, not a king.
Written by Tayo Oke
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