Political Briefs
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FOLLOWING recent allegations by some retired service chiefs of lack of equipment to fight Boko Haram, Sambo Dasuki, a retired colonel and immediate past national security adviser, NSA, on Thursday, August 6, said the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan bought sophisticated equipments in the past one year to fight insurgents in the North-East.
Dasuki said the weapons assisted the military to recover many local government areas that were occupied by Boko Haram terrorists. He also said the arms helped the military to checkmate Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram leader, from disrupting the general elections held on March 28 and April 11.
He listed some of the military equipment as Alpha jets, APCs, MRAP vehicles, advanced artillery pieces, assorted arms and ammunitions, highly sophisticated surveillance drones, T72 and carried out modification of F7 supersonic jet fighters.
Dasuki said: “The armoured tanks have comprehensive Nuclear, Biological, Chemical, NBC, protection/sensor system, just as we deployed Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected, MRAP, vehicles that we bought and could withstand Improvised Explosive Device, IED, attacks and ambushes. The vehicles had protected our troops from the land mine threats. We are glad that we also provided assorted Armoured Personnel Carriers, APCs, to transport troops to the battlefield. They are armed for self-defence and to provide protection from attacks from shrapnel and small arms fire.
“All these were acquired in the last one year after years of frustration by Western powers who denied us of the equipment and sabotage our efforts to acquire same from other sources which are reasons for some delay in delivery.”
Despite criticisms, he insisted that the equipment assisted in “curtailing Boko Haram.”
Dasuki disclosed that some military hardware paid for by the Jonathan administration would be delivered on or before the end of August.
The former NSA faulted critics of the administration of Jonathan on security. He said such critics should be careful not to destroy sensitive institutions like the military. “In an attempt to rubbish individuals for whatever reasons, political or otherwise, we should be careful not to rubbish sensitive institutions and their personnel that might still be in active service,” he said.
Dasuki made the clarifications in an interview with PR Nigeria, which is an undercover and alternative channel of communication by the military, against the backdrop of alleged neglect of the military by Jonathan.
Retired Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, a former chief of Defence Staff, had at his pulling-out parade complained about lack of equipment to fight Boko Haram during his tenure.
The position was corroborated by retired Lieutenant-General Kenneth Minimah, immediate past chief of Army Staff, on Wednesday, August 5, who also expressed regrets that the nation toyed with the health and vitality of the military through inadequate funding.
Badeh had in his valedictory address said: “Over the years, the military was neglected and under-equipped to ensure the survival of certain regimes, while other regimes, based on advice from some foreign nations, deliberately reduced the size of the military and underfunded it.
“Unfortunately, our past leaders accepted such recommendations without appreciating our peculiarities as a third world military, which does not have the technological advantage that could serve as force multipliers and compensate for reduced strength.
“Accordingly, when faced with the crises in the North and other parts of the country, the military was overstretched and had to embark on emergency recruitments and trainings, which were not adequate to prepare troops for the kind of situation we found ourselves in.”
— Aug 17, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT
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