Militarism as an Ethnic Tool to Gaining Political Power in Nigeria

In 1914, the British imperialist, consummated an unholy marriage between the Southern and Northern Protectorate, the union became the Nation of Nigeria. Prior to the amalgamation, the two Protectorates have been ruled apart, and thus were not fully prepared for the long term political, economic and social relationship being imposed on them by the imperialists in 1960 when Nigeria gained independence. At that time, the colonial officials tended to favour the extension of the European education and modern services first. In the North, such was forbidden because of very strong Islamic culture of the people. In effect, when the colonial office decided to amalgamate the Northern and Southern Protectorates into a single political unit, the two regions were already on very different Paths. The bad blood generated by the forced amalgamation has continued to hunt the Nation in every strata of her development. Until recently the Nigerian Political landscape has been ravaged by constant military intervention .On each occasion, the military boys have often hinged their intervention on the need to root the country of bad and corrupt leaders without recourse to the effect of cultural differences of the people. Moreover, since the first military coup of January 15, 1966 some ethnic groups in the country have observed military enrollments as means of consolidating Political power both in and out of Power. The subsequent ones have proved clear evidence to this assertion. The military is now polarized around ethnic and political blocks, ethnic consideration has diminished professionalism. As a result, the admission into military services is no longer on merit. In that sense, the professionalism has been compromised. We now have military that is ill prepared psychologically to protect the territorial boundary of the country. Nigeria as a Nation is still groping through the process of Nationhood, and at the same time faced with insecurity challenges that the military could not contend. Morale is low even as Sense of patriotism is lacking among the military. In this paper, attempt has been made to highlight the reasons why the military has failed in her responsibilities in Nigeria, and solution proffered on how best to reposition the Military for effective National service.