The true and real
heroes of the Nigerian Army are not the few unethical gung-ho soldiers
who like armed robbers (to quote a former Colonel turned rebel General)
shoot their way into seizing undeserved power as Heads of State.
The hunger of a
bought-over section of the Nigerian press and media and, their
continued role as paid ‘misinformers’, has tried to entrench the hype
that these unprofessional armed usurpers were brave nation-savers and
builders. Rather, the true motives of this small band of ambitious
opportunists are now common knowledge, but unfortunately, their many
successes at hijacking governance has given the Nigerian Army an
undeserved bad name and image.
There have been
many fine officers and gentlemen in the Nigerian Army and, luckily,
there is now more evidence that these respectable corps of officers and
the enlisted men and women they led, have gradually earned the Nigerian
Army much-deserved respect and praise at the highest level of global
military engagements. It has taken time, effort and goodwill from the
Nigerian Armed Forces itself, to identify these truly brave and
patriotic men and women who have now been ‘enshrined’ as role models
and professional soldiers in the real sense.
Book
A new book, ‘Fifty
Years of Nigeria’s Peacekeeping Experience’; published by the Defence
Headquarters and appropriately released to coincide with Nigeria’s 50th
Independence celebrations is a welcome document of achievement which
should make Nigerians proud of their Armed Forces. The Armed Forces
couldn’t have wished for better image-boosting evidence at such a
critical time in Nigeria’s history. That both Nigeria and its Armed
Forces went into the international arena simultaneously was a political
strategy masterminded by Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, Abubakar
Tafawa Balewa, who, in his maiden speech after independence, declared
thus: “Having been accepted as an independent state, we must at once
play an active part in maintaining the peace of the world and
preserving civilisation. I promise you we shall not fail for want of
determination.”
Thus Nigeria’s
peacekeeping experience under the United Nations began and, on November
9, 1960, the first contingent of 26 officers, 640 soldiers and 4
British non-commissioned officers of the Fifth Queens Own Nigeria
Regiment under the command of Lt. Col. J.T.U. Aguiyi-Ironsi was
airlifted from Kaduna to Kivu province in the Congo. There were there
until 1964.
Bully and liberator
Since 1966, the
Nigerian Army in particular has had ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ faces; one for
the international community and the other for the home front. Its face
on the home front has been one of a bully, oppressor and definitely
citizen-unfriendly; tainted by an arrogant mindset that regarded
millions of Nigerians as “bloody civilians!” There have been 38
Nigerian Armed Forces contributions to the United Nation’s Peace
Keeping Operations so far in places like West New Guinea, Tanzania,
Lebanon, Syria, Iran/Iraq, Angola, Namibia, Rwanda, Western Sahara,
Iraq/Kuwait, Cambodia, Somalia, Mozambique, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia
Herzegovina, Libya/Chad, Tajikistan, Macedonia, Slovenia, Baranja and
Sirmiium, Sierra Leone, Congo, East Timor, Liberia, Chad, Kosovo,
Sudan, Georgia and Central African Republic.
No wonder the
former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike CFR, in his
foreword says, “In her [intereaction] with other nations, nothing
projects Nigeria more, as a responsible and responsive member of the
international community, than her commitment to global peace and
security.” The mammoth crowds at the Lagos port that cheered the
arrival home of Nigeria’s troops after ‘liberating’ Liberia remains a
measure of the citizens’ response whenever our Armed Forces do us
proud!‘Fifty Years of Nigeria’s Peacekeeping Experience’ is a marvel in
its depth of information and the superb quality of the photographs that
illustrate the theme. It is another very good example and, combination
of what professor of History E.J.Alagoa describes as “photography as
art and also historical document.”
Lyrical photographer
These successful
components of the book are no surprise in that they are the work of
Jide Adeniyi-Jones who, for my money, is currently one of Nigeria’s
finest-ever and most lyrical photographers.
What might be a bit
surprising is the excellent journalistic skills exhibited by
Adeniyi-Jones; bringing to the fore a talent for research and informed
descriptive narrative that had hitherto taken second place to his
photography. Except for the foreword and an address by Defence Minister
Adetokunbo Kayode, all other editorial material in the 44-page book is
by the phototographer.
His interest in
military conflicts and their attendant social upheavals date back to
the early eighties when he was Photo Editor of the African Guardian
magazine. At some risk he covered the war in Chad. His recent revived
interest in the peacekeeping roles of the Nigerian Armed Forces and his
earlier independent documentary coverage of these activities dovetailed
into this specially-commissioned book by the Nigerian Defence
Headquarters.
Nearly all the
photographs are by Adeniyi-Jones on location in Darfur, Sudan, Liberia
and Sierra Leone between 2009 and 2010. His 42-odd photographs bear his
trademark touch of creative documentary photography in which subtlety
and, detailed emphasis on the critical parts of images, strongly
project the full visual message and impact.
Fine examples
A chest-to-knee
composition showing a Nigerian flag and name on the shoulder of a
camouflage-uniform and an arm clutching a rifle with a trademark curved
magazine; a name tag and Nigerian Army identification tag below it, is
a case in point. It is a side shot showing the Nigerian flag on the
shoulder and the red cross of medical personnel on the arm. There is
another image of two boys on a donkey-cart loaded with hay framed with
blue helmets and a rifle in the foreground and. A classic shot of a row
of well-polished black boots with the long reflected shadows of a row
of soldiers on the ground in front of them, is one of the outstanding
examples of Jide Adeniyi-Jones’ photographs.
There are
photographs that show the humanitarian face of Nigerian soldiers as
peacekeepers as well as their brothers’ and sisters’ keepers! These
include soldiers with guns watching over women as they gather firewood,
titled ‘Firewood Patrols’, a Nigerian matron and Liberian nurse, troops
and Sheiks in a mosque, a pilot by his jet fighter, teachers in
classrooms; and a collage of the men and women of the various units of
Nigerian peacekeeping troops.
The book begins
with an Honour Roll of 17 senior officers who have been Nigerian Peace
Mission Force Commanders and, at the back there is a mention of
Nigeria’s Lt. General C.I. Obiakor the United Nations Military Advisor
on Peacekeeping (2008-2010).
Surely, after 50 exemplary years of praiseworthy international
peacekeeping duties, the Nigerian Armed Forces must now be very aware
of the need to permanently curb the indiscipline of coups within its
ranks and, the attendant brutality and death of both its personnel
trained at high cost to the nation and unfortunate civilians caught in
the cross-fire.
