The Spirit Of The Camouflage By Tega Taire Lucky (2)

caption: Tega Taire Lucky

A great number of the Nigerian people were deeply entrenched in fear of the men in green camouflage. And this fear somehow grew into love. Of how fear turns into love, I do not know. Honestly I do not need to. I live in a country where I saw fear turning into love.

Very few people have the rare ability to describe graphically the way men feel towards the things they love so dearly. I do not think I possess such gift. So I shall save myself of the pain of describing how the Nigerian people have fallen so deeply in love with the spirits in gun boots. The slightest imitation of these spirits never eludes a true Nigerian.

I had loosely described how some state Governors in Nigeria displays this love. Their imitation and love for the barrack soldier’s life was made manifest in recent times. The zeal the state Governors craved and demanded for State Police drew my suspicion. Nigeria would have long left the league of poor Nations if such zeal was applied to the fight against corruption and good governance. They desperately yearned for a battalion under their command. And state policing presented this huge opportunity. As the debate rage, many thoughts flashed through my mind. State Police in Nigeria was to be the introduction of 36 military camps. Military men and 5 star Generals from our universities unavoidably becoming Police Chiefs!  Anarchy has never been well presented.   

In Nigeria, It is either you are in gun boots or worship the one who wears it. To be honest, we have very brave deviants here. They neither accepted to wear nor to worship. This group of people has very slim chances of survival in Nigeria. The land owners and the green field therein are owned by either worshippers or the spirits themselves. From the executive to the Judiciary, the spirit roams. Possessing the not-possessed and smashing violently aside those who refused to be possessed. This is the true story of the tragedy of a Nation. A nation with a nonexistent civil society.

Do not be tempted to compare this scenario with what entails in Mali. In Mali the soldiers controlled the ruling class. In Nigeria the ruling class and the so called civil society are possessed and in love with the soldier’s way of life.   

I made a certain promise in the write-up preceding this. To tell how I became a traitor to a military cabal. I am not particularly sure if all my readers know what it means to ‘beat ones chest’. Those in Nigeria know too well. It is an arrogant and proud way of showing your bravery and achievements. The following narration has very close resemblance to ‘beating my chest’. If I am not laced up in the gun boot anymore and like DANIEL I have refused to worship these evil spirits, then kindly permit me to ‘beat my chest’. It is not a common feat here in Nigeria.

I was held in utter disbelief with what confronted me shortly after I became a member of the campus military junta known as the ‘secret cult’. One situation in particular paralyzed me. I am talking of real paralyses here and not a metaphorical speech! I also discovered the monumental lies in the media. I came face to face with the true picture of the challenges and helplessness of the Nigerian student. I remember on many occasions how this picture brought tears to my eyes.

These tears in turn became courage. It was this courage that transformed me into a traitor!

The Nigeria elite in connivance with the ruling class painted the picture of young boys and girls sent to school by their good and upright parents only to become cult members! And another still is the recent large framed painting of the unsuitability of the Nigerian graduate in the labor market. All these and many more paintings by the Nigerian elites defy logic and common sense. A desert scrub will not produce apples!

 A friend of mine posted the following remarks on my facebook wall shortly after the first entry of this article; ’Tega remember how you saved and prevented bloodshed. You put your own life at risk to ensure peace on campus knowing the ultimate consequences of your actions. You won my respect long ago. You fought just battles in the mist of vultures and lions’

This remark was among the numerous comments I received from friends. It is still hanging on my facebook wall. Nothing I have ever heard in my life has made me so proud. And my response proved it. The commentator is my very good friend. He now lives in London. He was a military man too. He set his green camouflage and gun boot ablaze in a public square.

Rousseau in his Social Contract remarked, ’to yield to force is an act of necessity and not of will. It is at best an act of prudence’ It is this philosophy that has compelled millions of Nigerian youths into becoming members of campus cult. The campus cult was waiting for you as a youth entering the university in Nigeria. The few who were not members of these warring gangs on campus paid dues. They are the worshippers.

The spirit of the green camouflage is on the match in Nigeria today. It has long spread from the universities into the crevices of our neighborhoods, fast possessing teenagers and adolescents, rich and poor. A generation of ‘super predators’ are in the making. The weakness of our various institutions has greatly facilitated this spread. Open your eyes. Take a very good look, you will see these spirits roving in the air!