PERISH THE IDEA OF A MILITARY GOVERNMENT

  Military government is a terrible government. Fela’s house was burnt down, his mother beaten and thrown down the stairs and in the end the federal military government claimed they were unknown soldiers. In the military era, media houses were closed arbitrarily and Journalists targeted and threatened for doing their Job.

 The civil service was terribly damaged and the military arbitrariness brought a culture of corruption to the civil service. There are stories of children who lived in well- manicured lawns in GRA homes and by 6pm their lives changed for the worse when the sack of their parents was announced on NTA and they were told to vacate their  property with immediate effect. I believe as citizens we must keep calling out our civilian government and hold them accountable but a military government is a return to anarchy.

Also let’s stop lying, things were terrible under the military. During the time of Sani Abacha inflation was extremely high and life was very austere for people. Our government must be accountable. I once had an older friend that a military leader once summoned because his newspaper put a picture of the boss not smiling.

 if you think things are bad remember our seat of power was once a place for all sorts of exotic orgies during the military era and the scale of corruption was brazen.

The people must never stop believing in Nigeria, the last elections showed that Nigerians can actually coalesce efforts. Nigerians must also hold the institutions accountable and see how to make democracy work.  Also politicians must be careful, their brazen lawlessness and destabilising tendencies will definitely not end well. The governors must not turn local governments into their fiefdom like they are doing now. We must let the local governments breathe! Shame on all past governors that never held local government elections at the right time.

The politicians must also cease the use of violence, as violence begets violence and the people will stand up to remove the vestiges of evil from our electoral process. I believe that Nigeria will survive but we must do right.

Rufai Oseni, rufaioseni@gmail.com