Featured, Security

Despite the persistent call by Nigerians for the sack of Service Chiefs, they have again been assured that change of tactics and the deployment of modern military hardware will go a long way in defeating the insurgency in the North East and other states in the country that are troubled by the rising wave of banditry, kidnapping, rape among others

By Goddy Ikeh

ON July 29, the convoy of the Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, was attacked and he raised alarm and alleged sabotage in the system that would not allow the insurgency to end in the North East of the country. Gov. Zulum insisted that there was sabotage in the system.

Speaking on Sunday, August 2, 2020, when he received the Governors of Kebbi and Jigawa States, Atiku Bagudu and Badaru Abubakar, who paid him a solidarity visit over the second attack on his convoy, this time in Baga in Borno State.

According to Gov. Zulum, some people are trying to frustrate the efforts of the government in ending the insurgency and President Muhammadu Buhari needs to know the truth. “Let me also re-echo my previous position with respect to the level of insurgency in Borno State, I earlier said that the gravity of the insurgency cannot be compared with what has happened between 2011 and 2015, and 2015 to date.

“Yes, it’s true. The President has done well. But there’s sabotage in the system that will not allow the insurgency to end; the President has to know this very important point.”

“When he came to Maiduguri two months ago, I said so because between 2011 and 2015, at a time, almost about 22 local government areas were under the insurgents.

“Out of the four main roads that lead to Maiduguri, only one was functional,” Channels Television report quoted the governor as saying. The governor, therefore, called on President Buhari to examine the security situation in the region critically, to ensure the effort of his administration was not in vain.

Recounting his experience during his recent trip to Baga town, Gov. Zulum said it was a terrible one. He insisted that there was no justification for what he described as preventing residents displaced by insurgency from returning to their ancestral homes.

“There’s one very important question that we need to ask, why is the insurgency not ending? There’s sabotage in the system and there’s a need for the president to examine the current situation with a view to resolving it.

But reacting to the claim of sabotage by Gov. Zulum, the Defence Headquarters, DHQ, said that the attack was not in any way, military sabotage. The coordinator of Defence Media Operations, Maj-Gen. John Enenche absolved the military of sabotage as claimed by the governor.

Speaking on Wednesday, August 5, during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, the spokesman of the Defence Headquarters, John Enenche, absolved the military of any complacency.

Enenche disclosed that investigations and findings showed that the governor’s claims were false. “We investigated it immediately and the strategic level is cleared of that, operational level cleared of that, the tactical level is cleared of that.

“We analysed the video. Even from the gunshot, the way it all played out, you will discover from the sound of the gunshot that it is not conventional weapons that we use.

“From the habit from that analysis, it was purely that of the enemy in that area – Boko Haram (BHTs). From the tactics, from the maneuvers exhibited, it was theirs. From the search conducted, it was purely theirs,” he said.

According to Enenche, the fears of the military high command were allayed after 48 hours. While insisting that the attack on Governor Zulum was not sabotaged on any of the troops in the theatre of operation, Enenche said the issue would be handled by whom he described as stakeholders. He also reiterated the commitment of the Armed Forces in ridding the nation of the myriads of security challenges.

Despite the denial of the Defence Headquarters that there was no sabotage in the attack of the convoy of the Governor of Borno State, the Nigeria Governors Forum endorsed the position of Gov. Zulum. In a letter to the Governor of Borno State, the Chairman of the NGF and Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, criticised the “worsening security situation” in the country as the epitome of “our collective vulnerability and the fragility of the country’s security architecture”.

Fayemi expressed the readiness of the governors to meet with the president and service chiefs to discuss “this worrisome and rapidly degenerating situation”.

While expecting the reaction of the Presidency to the plight of their colleague, the North East Governors met and called for the deployment of more state of the art military hardware to the troops fighting the Boko Haram insurgents.

In a communique issued after its second meeting to discuss the challenges facing the North East, the governors commended the efforts of the federal government in fighting insurgency and urged the armed forces to intensify efforts to secure hard-to-reach areas in the region and ensure safe access to farmlands.

“The Forum recommends that the manpower deficit in the Nigerian Armed Forces should be bridged by allowing the police to carry state of the art weapons where necessary and be provided with strategic equipment like high-velocity tear gas, trackers and Armoured Personnel Carriers, APC,” the communique said.

They also called on the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to ensure that attention was given to recharging the Lake Chad from national water bodies and strengthening the river basins in the sub-region.

The communique said that the six governors pledged to work together to foster regional integration, growth, and development, especially in exploitation of its oil and gas potential, mineral resources, agriculture, and industrialisation.

The communique further urged the Federal Government to ensure local content in the execution of the Mambila Hydroelectric power project and other programmes of the North East Development Commission, NEDC, to ensure synergy with state governments.

It expressed the support of the governors for the management and board of NEDC and their determination to work together in producing a comprehensive strategic master plan for the region that would ensure sustainable development.

In addition, the Chairman Senate Committee on Army, Sen. Ali Ndume, has drummed support for the military and went ahead to call on community and political leaders in the North East to support the military in the counter-insurgency campaign.

Ndume, who had been very vocal on how the counter-insurgency campaign is being executed, told journalists during his visit to the Special Army Super Camp in Faskari, in Katsina State to ascertain the level of success of the recently launched Operation Sahel Sanity in the fight against banditry, lamented that the communities and the political class had failed to provide the needed support to the military and other security agencies to end the war against insurgency in the region.

According to the senator, the fight against Boko Haram is a notorious one and it is an unconventional war and normally in wars like this where you have people believing ideology, their resilience is very high.

“There is a need to get the people to realise that this is not an army war, this is not a North East War, but a Nigerian war and everybody has to play his part.

“The role of the political class is what is lagging behind and you cannot be expecting somebody to play his role while you are not playing your role.

“As politicians, I think we are far behind in terms of that because the political class has almost like demobilised themselves and everybody with their families to Abuja and you find the operation left only to the Nigerian army and security agencies, especially this kind of war that involves terrorism,” he said.

On Tuesday after the National Security Council meeting, the President ordered a rejig of the security apparatus of the country.

On Monday, August 10, Buhari announced that the acquisition of modern military equipment by the government and the adoption of new strategies will ensure that security is restored soon in the country, especially in the embattled North East of the country.

Speaking at the meeting with the five North-East State Governors, the Chief of Defence Staff, Service Chiefs, the Inspector-General of Police, and the heads of intelligence agencies on Monday in Abuja, Buhari said: “Things will improve very soon. We are acquiring modern equipment; some are here, some are being cleared, and others still coming.

“We need to be patient with the acquisition of equipment. You need to train the trainers for the usage ahead of their deployment to the field.

“I have listened to your presentation. I assure you, the Northeast Governors, especially that of Borno, that we go to bed and wake up thinking about you, how to secure our country, that is the responsibility of every government.”

He recalled that the ruling All Progressives Party, APC, campaigned on three major objectives in 2015, of which security was prominent and this was reiterated in 2019 and that Nigerians believed the party could accomplish it.

“We are doing our best and we will continue to do even better,” he said, adding that security will be restored to the North East and the nation at large, following the recent adoption of new strategies.

Earlier in their address at the beginning of the meeting, the Northeast Governors stressed the need to check the “increasing trust deficit between the people in the region and the armed forces”.

They noted that though the security situation in the region has now greatly improved, compared to the time the president assumed office there was need to adequately arm the police to complement the efforts of the military in combating insecurity across the country.

They commended President Buhari for the establishment of the North-East Development Commission and the take-off of Mambila Dam Power Project.

The governors also warned of the consequences of a large population in the region, especially in Borno State, of not having access to their homes and farmlands. And after the National Security Council meeting, the President ordered a rejig of the security apparatus of the country.

Recently, the Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, said the Nigerian Air Force, NAF, was expecting the delivery of 12 additional Super Tucano aircraft to be deployed in the fight against insurgency.

Speaking during an operational visit to the 407 Air Combat Training Group (407 ACTG) Kainji, Niger State, the Air chief said: “We are expecting additional aircraft paid for by the federal government. We are working to get the aircraft out as quickly as possible to add value to what we are doing.”

He described the Super Tucano as particularly important in the fight against insurgency. Unfortunately, Nigerians have lost count of the assurances made by the government of defeating Boko Haram among other promises that are yet to be fulfilled since 2015. And the persistent call for the sack of the Service Chiefs is a pointer to the fact that they are worried over the deteriorating security challenges across the country.

– Aug. 17, 2020 @ 10:25 GMT |

A.I

Tags: Atiku Bagudu Babagana Zulum Badaru Abubakar Maj-Gen. John Enenche NEDC President Muhammadu Buhari Sen. Ali Ndume