Essence of discipline in the military

“Please maintain your loyalty and defend the country. Whatever happens, a military, no matter how equipped or how well-led, without discipline is of no use to the country.” So said President Muhammadu Buhari in an address at the 2018 Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference in Maiduguri on November 28, 2018. Buhari was in Maiduguri, […]

“Please maintain your loyalty and defend the country. Whatever happens, a military, no matter how equipped or how well-led, without discipline is of no use to the country.” So said President Muhammadu Buhari in an address at the 2018 Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference in Maiduguri on November 28, 2018.

Buhari was in Maiduguri, Borno State, where he addressed troops at Maimalari Cantonment in an inspirational tone, visited and boosted the morale of soldiers on admission at the Military Medical Centre who were injured during attack on the base of 157 Task Force Battalion by Boko Haram and delivered a moving speech to the Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference.

The key words in the opening paragraph of this article are loyalty and discipline. Both are some of the vital characteristics of any standing army, from the first one, which historians said was founded by Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria who ruled from 745-727 BC, to all the existing militaries across the world.

Indeed, without discipline, no army can be cohesive and retain the essential spirit de corps to operate as a unit with a common purpose in the all-important responsibility of protecting the territorial integrity and safety of the citizens of any given jurisdiction.

As the Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces, and a retired general of the Nigerian Army with considerable combat experience, President Muhammadu Buhari is in a position to appreciate the importance of both loyalty and discipline in the military service.  Indeed, beyond the military, he will be happy to see discipline widely spread among the citizens of Nigeria.  He is discipline personified.

His senior colleagues in the Nigerian Army have always acknowledged Muhammadu Buhari, as a highly disciplined soldier who distinguished himself in the defence of Nigeria and the promotion of its best interests.  For example, former Chief of Army Staff, retired Lieutenant-General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma described him thus: “In the course of his brilliant military career, Muhammadu (Buhari) earned a reputation as an officer of great personal discipline, competence and valour, driven by a deep sense of patriotism and an abiding concern for the welfare of his troops.”

There is no doubt that he is in the position of a role model, well-suited to remind serving Military officers and troops to maintain their loyalty, discipline and patriotism to serve and defend the country.  He did that and more prior to the Maiduguri outing in a speech at the 65th graduation ceremony of Nigeria Air Force cadets at the Military Training Centre, Kaduna.

On that occasion he cautioned cadets against succumbing to any inducement or acts that would cause disaffection among members of the Armed Forces: “You should be vigilant and guard your utterances at all times. You must therefore guard against over zealousness and resist the temptation to brutalise the civil population.”

“Please maintain your loyalty and defend the country,” these words uttered by the President continue to ring in my ears as their import and impact stir a special feeling of affinity and love for our country in me.  The impact of this singular sentence on the military will definitely reverberate in their ranks with special meaning and value unique to those who voluntarily signed to protect us and defend the country with their lives.

Besides, the Law establishing the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1994 was explicit and emphatic on the matter of discipline. Sections 45-114 have provisions defining activities and actions that constitute misconduct or indiscipline and clear their punishments.

This, the Law envisaged, should be amply demonstrated by cooperation, coordination, gathering, sharing and utilizing information in the task of defending the country from external aggression and internal strife. The Armed Forces Council provided for in Part II, Section 4 of the Armed Forces Establishment Act 1994, which is chaired by the President, plays a coordination role, among its several functions. Additionally, there is a Joint Services Department in the Ministry of Defence to ensure coordination, synergy and harmony among the three services.  There is also the Chief of Defence Staff, whose coordination role among the services is obvious.

The most evident sign of discipline in the military is when there is no intra and inter-service rivalry, discord and refusal to share vital intelligence at critical junctures before, and especially, during operations.  Attachment of personnel of one service to sister services is part of the cooperation provided for at Section 20 of the Act.

This type of harmony has always been key to the success of militaries in modern warfare. The different arms of the forces complement each other to deliver heavy, powerful and destructive punches on the enemy to obliterate it. It is in order to achieve that final victory against the terrorist Boko Haram that the President urged for more cooperation at inter-service and inter-agency levels.

“To this end,” the President directed, “the Chief of Defence Staff and Service Chiefs must work closely together as well as with other security agencies to improve on strategies that will defeat terrorism, militancy, and other forms of criminal activities in our country.”  Working together, without being at cross purposes, will definitely yield the desired result of wiping out Boko Haram, ending banditry in parts of the North-West and protecting oil industry installations in the Niger Delta.

“The war (against the Boko Haram insurgency) is a must-win,” he declared.

This declaration by the President underlines the value of the five-nation Joint Military Task Force, comprising troops from Chad, Niger, Cameroon, Nigeria and Republic of Benin.  These countries, with the exception of Chad, have been consistently vigilant and firm in pre-empting or repelling attacks by the insurgents in the North East. Chad, which has for decades suffered from incessant instability by political rebels, found it hard to control its border with Nigeria. Chad needs to step up its surveillance to ensure that the insurgents do not continuously exploit its weakness to cause mayhem in our country.

Dambatta wrote in from Abuja.