By Kene Obiezu
SIR: Nigerians have veered sharply off the tracks over the case of Lance Corporal Martins, the Nigerian soldier who sensationally named and shamed the Nigerian Army over its many omissions and commissions in the long running war against insurgency and banditry.
An unanswered question however hovers large and it is whether Corporal Martins` concerns which approximate the concerns of many Nigerians would have seen the light of the day if they were lodged only within the army.
Because the right to freedom of expression is such a powerful weapon in the building of virile societies and in holding accountable those who draw power from the pain of others, those countries who desire a better life for everyone hold it in explicably in high esteem.
In the same measures, outright dictators and the more dangerous dictator-democrats stay up at night, seeking new and inventive ways to curtail and castrate this right.
It has been a long and exhausting battle, one that has consumed many lives and hours. As long as every society continues to have those who would rather the world is made only in their own image, this battle must continue.
As Boko Haram has charged at the forefront of many other insidious campaigns by terrorist and anarchists to take over the country, the Nigerian Army has shown remarkable courage in confronting Nigeria`s most dangerous enemies.
At the cost of the lives of many of its men and women, the territorial integrity of the country has held fast and firm.
Nigerians have watched the unfolding events, many with mixed feelings given their love-hate relationship with the army which truncated many a democratic dispensation in Nigeria, and largely laid the foundation for the simmering chaos we have today. But a common wish is for the ruthless insurgents to be defeated.
This common wish is what inspires the genuine concerns Nigerians have continued to raise over the operations of their army. Corporal Lance Martins is only one of the more recent voices to do so. From recent experiences, Nigerians are well within their rights to raise such concerns.
As soldier after soldier has been cut down by the sometimes reportedly superior weapons of the terrorists and insurgents, these whispers have continued to build into a crescendo of criticisms and concerns raised against and towards the Nigerian Army and the government which enables them.
It would seem that the action of the army authorities in so swiftly silencing Lance Corporal Martins is a boisterous indicator that something is gravely amiss.
Nigerians must continue to rally around Lance Corporal Martins and all those whose only crime was that they raised concerns.
More and more concerns and constructive criticisms must issue from the exalted office of the citizen until Nigeria becomes a safe and secure place for all, including the unborn and those who defend them, the living and the dead.
- Kene Obiezu, Abuja
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