"We want the elite ethnic groups," says the Nigerian Armed Forces

Former Nigerian military leaders and Retired Senior Military Officers today threw their weight behind the Nigerian Armed Forces (NAF) to campaign against the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) joining forces with four popular militia (vigilante) groups, namely, OPC, Arewa Boys, Bakassi Boys and Egbesu. The Nigerian Armed Forces is highly regarded in the world's military community as Africa's largest, best-organised militia group.

More than half a million retired military officers matched alongside NAF campaigners in a peaceful protest to the presidential villa, Aso Rock in Abuja to register their protest. Prominent among the matchers are immediate past Nigerian Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar; long past its sell-by date, General Buhari rtd; Nigeria's past social engineer, General Babangida; Chief (Dr.) This; and Alhaji (Prof.) That etc..

Their protest banners read: "Nigerian Police should keep out of Politics", " We don’t want the police to join militia groups", "Nigerian Police and the Militia are like night and day", "The NPF should concentrate on their domestic duties".

Speaking to reporters, a spokesperson said: " We'll do everything within our power to stop that kind of marriage. The NPF should be left as they are, serving an effective purpose in mounting roadblocks, apprehending and escorting petty thieves to their dens and serving as aides, bodyguards and servants to millions of retired military and civilian government officials. That's what they are good for."

The campaigners want the four prominent militia groups merged with the NAF, Nigeria's largest ethnic militia instead. Said the spokesperson: "This country deserves an amalgamation of strong forces, like the militia groups, that have been created along ethnic lines to join forces with the Nigerian Armed Forces (NAF) that have for long been known to be made up of one ethnic group. All we are saying is that, it is the NAF that these elite ethnic groups should be merged with."

A top retired military officer who wants to remain anonymous said further: "Look at the amount of progress these militia groups have made in just two years, it's amazing! It took the NAF, with all its military might, over thirty years of hard work to achieve the same. You can imagine how much more effective the NAF will become with all those groups in its camp. The art of overthrowing a legitimate government will simply become a thing of the future! "
A prominent pro-democracy activist and lawyer gave a surprising support for the idea. Said he: "I am definitely for the merger - for one good reason that there will be no more coup d'etats. You want to know why? Well…, it is tough enough for the NAF made up of one ethnic pirate group to stage a successful coup. You can imagine five ethnic pirate groups in the same boat. They'll be too busy fighting amongst themselves and plotting against rival groups for internal control. And that kind of dissension can go on forever. In the meantime, the State ship will cruise by in one piece!"