A former Provost Marshal of the Nigeria Army, Brig. Gen. Idada Ikponmwen (rtd), has proffered a reason why the military has not interfered in the Nigerian political system despite the challenges facing the nation.
He gave the explanation in an interview with New Telegraph published on Sunday.
Nigeria was under military rule for 29 years between 1966 – 1979 and 1983 – 1999.
Ikponmwen said that the military had not interfered because military regimes had become globally unpopular not because everything was right with the nation.
Assessing Nigeria’s performance 19 years after the last military regime and three years into the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The retired general said, “We thank God that after successive military regimes, we have since returned to civil democratic rule and we have marked the 19th year of this democratic dispensation. I must hasten to say that it is not that everything has gone too well and that is why we haven’t heard the martial music again. The simple truth is that military regimes have become unfashionable for many years. I remember telling the Gen. Sani Abacha regime at its inception that military regimes had gone out of fashion and that if I had my way, I would have dissuaded the regime from coming at the time it did in November 1993.”
Ikponmwen called on Buhari, also a retired general, to revamp the insecurity architecture in Nigeria to combat the menace of herdsmen-farmers clashes, Boko Haram insurgency and other security challenges bedevilling the nation.