THE Chief of the Army Staff, Lt. General Martin Luther Agwai, has taken on those who seek the exclusion from politics, military bigwigs, especially those who are retired and angling to have a shot at elective offices under the on-going political dispensation, saying the mind of such people violates democratic norms.
The army chief spoke at the weekend against the backdrop of criticism by some Nigerians of the speculated ambition of some retired military Generals to succeed President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007 when his maximum tenure of eight years expires.
At least two retired military bigwigs - General Ibrahim Babangida and Brigadier-General Buba Marwa - are speculated to be preparing for the 2007 presidential race.
Obasanjo himself, a former military head of state, succeeded another military leader, General Abdulsalamii Abubakar, after about seventeen years of interregnum.
The major plank of the critics argument is that the nation’s number one seat would have been left in the hands of military men out of uniform if another retired military bigwig succeeds the president, hence the campaign against their (Generals) visibility in politics.
But Agwai disagreed.
“We are all political animals. There is no way you will not want to know what is going on in your country. I have seen lawyers, doctors and other professionals who are politicians. I don’t know why Nigerians frown at military in politics especially in a democratic setting like this”, the army chief of staff told Sunday Vanguard in Abuja.
He went on: “It is a choice of the people. If the people think and decide that they want a particular person, so be it. Besides, how many military generals are in politics? They are very few”.
“You must understand whether I am in politics or not, there is no way you can write me off that I become inconsequential at least in my local government. Because of my position, people will naturally seek my views on issues, particularly those ones that relate to them. By the time you acquire certain status in the society, whether you are in politics or not, people will identify with you”, Agwai pointed out.
He also spoke on some of his challenges as the Chief of the Army Staff which, according to him, frighten him.
His words: “There are a lot of challenges in this job. It is one thing to get the position of the chief of the army staff but what footprint do you want to leave behind when you have left office?”
“That is the greatest challenge to me and which, of course, frightens me. In the Nigerian Army today, to the last soldier who I may not know, if he does anything wrong in the society, it is not him that would be castigated, it is the office of the chief of the army staff that would get the blame and that is why I try everyday to look at the last soldier, what can I do to touch his life, to motivate him, to provide the leadership he needs to perform to make the Nigerian Army and the country proud of him”, Agwai stated.
