The Dasukigate and peace building: hangover of military professionalism or corruption incarnate

Abstract

Election is an important component of democracy because it avails the citizenry the opportunity to choose the best among candidates that presented themselves for election. For the electioneering process to be free and fair, liberal democracy gives room for the circulation of elites from all fields of endeavor to politics. This is what informed the dominance of serving and retired military officers in Nigerian government and politics. These are men trained to manage violence and restore peace. They achieve this peace because military organizations and military regimes possess certain characteristics that differentiate them from the civil society. Such notable characteristics are professionalism, hierarchy of command, discipline, solidarity and cohesion (esprit de corps). These are the attributes that retired military men are expected to exhibit in their new status and responsibilities in the civil society by fair distribution of the wealth of the nation in order to meet the yeaning and aspirations of Nigerians. It is against this backdrop, that this paper analyzed the Dasuki gate and its effect on peace building and democratic consolidation in Nigeria. The paper concluded that Dasuki’s military professional training and discipline has been jettisoned for corrupt primitive accumulation which consequently breach the peace of the nation by escalating Boko Haram insurgency. The paper recommended that the money recovered from Dasukigate be used prudently in providing succor for the less privileged Nigerians.

Keywords: Corruption, Electoral Fraud, Insurgency, Poverty