Lawyer and public commentator, Dr. Ope Banwo, has called on the Nigerian military to offer a formal apology to the nation for what he described as decades of political interventions that derailed Nigeria’s destiny.
Banwo made the call in a recently released statement issued to mark the 2026 Armed Forces Remembrance Day.
In the self-signed statement, the Mayor of Fadeyi questioned the celebratory tone that often accompanies the annual event, noting that Nigerians are routinely encouraged to applaud the military as though its relationship with the country has been one of uninterrupted progress.
“While we clap for the military, who claps for the destinies they interrupted?” Banwo asked.
He argued that Nigeria’s history reveals a toxic and repetitive pattern in its civil-military relations, where civilian governments stumble, the military intervenes under the guise of rescue, and the country emerges worse off.
“Civilians mess up, soldiers watch our tears and jump in ‘to save the day’… only to make things worse. Then we cry for decades. That is our history. And no celebratory Armed Forces Day should be allowed to whitewash it,” he stated.
Clarifying his position, Banwo acknowledged that Nigeria’s early civilian politicians contributed significantly to the nation’s instability through electoral fraud, regional rivalries, political violence, and riots that pushed the country to the brink.
However, he insisted that the military’s response compounded the crisis rather than resolving it.
“The military did not come in as a surgeon and leave as a doctor. They came in as ‘saviors’ and left as landlords,” he said.
According to Banwo, the first military coup of 1966 marked the beginning of a destructive cycle that became deeply embedded in Nigeria’s political culture.
“Barely six years after independence, the military entered politics like the ‘Savior Association of Nigeria.’ And what did they save exactly? They saved Nigeria into a deeper pit. One coup begat another, until the country slid into a civil war that consumed lives, futures, and generations.”
He described the period as a “destiny detour,” arguing that millions of Nigerians lost opportunities because “power-drunk adults in uniform decided the nation was a toy that could be seized, suspended, and rearranged at will.”
Banwo further blamed prolonged military rule for entrenching an over-centralized governance structure that continues to strain the country decades later.
After years in power, he said, the military handed over a fragile democracy in 1979 “like a cracked plate” and returned to power again in 1983, barely four years later, without allowing civilian institutions to mature.
“The moral argument collapses completely when you realize the military always returns with the same press release in different uniforms,” Banwo said, listing familiar justifications such as fighting corruption, restoring discipline, and saving the nation.
Reviewing the regimes of Generals Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha, and Abdulsalami Abubakar, Banwo argued that military rulers left Nigeria weaker and more institutionally damaged than they met it.
“They did not cure corruption. They professionalized it. They did not end impunity. They dressed it in ranks, influence, and retirement benefits,” he said.
He also accused military rule of creating a powerful elite class that accumulated wealth and influence while ordinary Nigerians struggled with poverty, insecurity, and fear.
“The most inconvenient truth is this: the military never truly left. They simply changed uniform to agbada,” Banwo added, arguing that retired officers still wield disproportionate influence in civilian governance.
Drawing a comparison with established democracies, Banwo stressed that the military must remain subordinate to civilian and constitutional authority.
“In sane countries, the military answers to the constitution whether it likes it or not. That is the point of a republic. In Nigeria, too often, we treat the constitution like a WhatsApp status—nice to read, not compulsory to obey.”
He insisted that Armed Forces Remembrance Day should not be used to romanticize political interventions, but to refocus the military on its core responsibility.
“The job of the military is not to be Nigeria’s emergency boyfriend—showing up whenever democracy is misbehaving, slapping everybody, and then moving into the house as landlord,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria’s real security challenges lie in rising banditry, terrorism, and mass killings in rural communities, not in “saving Nigeria” through political power grabs.
“Democracy is messy. Civilian leaders can disappoint. But it is not the military’s assignment to fix politics. Citizens must fix politics through elections, courts, reforms, activism, accountability, and civic pressure,” Banwo stressed.
He concluded by reiterating his demand for a national apology from the military, not as symbolism, but as an act of accountability.
“An admission that their interventions repeatedly destabilized institutions, militarized our politics, and normalized the idea that force can interrupt constitutional order,” he said.