The Nigerian Military has since last week given the citizens of Nigeria some thing to cheer about in the war against the monstrous insurgents operating in the nort east states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. The Defence Headquarters had on Monday announced to the world that the Nigerian troops had stormed the dreaded Sambisa Forest chasing out the insurgents from held positions and in the process librated several communities hitherto held incommunicado by the marauders.
According to the DHQ, the insurgents besides suffering severe fatalities as they retreated from the superior fire power of the Nigerian troops also lost their training camps and several weapons including anti-aircraft, armoured personnel carriers to the Nigerian military.
Communities like Baga, Bama and Gwoza and those in the hitherto dreaded Sambisa had their freedom trampled upon by the insurgents since they occupied the areas began to once again savour the air of liberty.
Buoyed by the recorded feat by the military, the House of Representatives praised President Jonathan and the military for the successes recorded against the blood thirsty insurgents. The House commendation came following a motion sponsored by Hon. Mohammad Tahir Mongonu APC Borno urging the Reps to commend the president and the military for their gallantry at the battle fronts.
According to Honourable Monguno, the military had succeeded in pushing out the insurgents from most parts of the state formerly held by the felons. His words, “in previous months, Boko Haram had nearly overrun Borno State, but today the tide has been turned against them.
Similarly, the Norther Elders Council (NEC) through its Secretary General Yousuf Mamman commended the Jonathan administration and the Nigerian military for their gallantry in the war against Boko Haram. The NEC which is a socio-political organization craved the collaboration of all the political stakeholders in the country to ensure the quick restoration of peace and order to the war turned areas.
The council warned against the use of the insurgency as a political campaign tool to win support from the electorate insisting that the politicians must unite to win the war on terror
Besides the successes recorded on the Borno flank of the war on terror, major successes have been recorded on the Adamawa front where nearly all but one local government areas of the state have been liberated.
At the last count on Friday, only Madagali Local Government Area was under the control of the insurgents. It was however reported that the Nigerian troops were battling to regain it.
Report indicate that about five other Local Government Areas of the state including Maiha, Mubi South, Mubi North, Horn Gumbi and Michika have all been recaptured from the maraunders.
One cannot but say bravo to the Nigerian troops for doing the country proud in this particular expedition despite recent aspersion cast on its capacity to ward off the insurgents by those who have chosen to politicize the war on insurgency in Nigeria.
This is where the visit by President Goodluck Jonathan to the troubled area where he reportedly met with some of the soldiers in the battle front is commendable as the visit similar to the earlier one on January 14, this year to Maiduguri would serve as a morale booster to the troops some of whom daily receive the insurgent’s bullets on behalf of the Nigerian citizens. The president should not stop there he should ensure that issues relating to the welfare of combatants are treated with dispatch.
But the Nigerian Military is not relenting as it has proven once more that its stinging element which earned it global acclaims in peace keeping operations in Burma, the Congo, Sierra Lone, Liberia, the Darfur Region of Sudan as well as Somalia etc is still very much with them.
Although not a few Nigerians doubted our soldiers preparedness for the war against those who despite forbidding western education embrace technologies which are products of the same western civilization, given their seeming lame duck approach to prosecuting the war.
In as much as issues of low morale among the troops and the alleged ill-equipment of the combatants owing to the absence of up to date military hard wares needed for the prosecution of similar war fares across the globe particularly with the refusal of the United States government to sell up to date military hard wares to us, the Nigerian troops got some knocks from the citizenry who felt they had surrendered to the insurgents particularly when the insurgents picked and chose their targets some of which included operational bases of the military in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe and some times Gombe resulting in severe fatality among the combatants.
This fatality rate took its toll on the operational strategies of the military high command as many soldiers deserted the service as soon as they got posted to the war zone. It was not surprising that issues of mutiny and acts of cowardice became rife among the rank and file of the military.
The nation’s military integrity suffered severe indignity in the comity of nations with mushroom countries making caricature of our military might especially when the country began the search for collaboration from neighbouring francophone countries of Niger, Cameroon, Chad and their Colonial master France.
Critics of this approach by the Jonathan Administration in curtailing what they called local insurrection had obviously underestimated the Boko Haram debacle and the fluidity of their operational tactics which though principally domicile in Nigeria, had their cells also in Cameroon and Niger where they also carry out occasional attacks against hapless targets.
Leading this pack is the opposition All Progressive Congress APC whose manifestoes centre largely on current insecurity in the land promising to flush out the insurgents and restore peace to the land.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary Lai Mohammed in praising the gallantry of the military over its recent successes against the insurgents blamed the Jonathan administration for failing to take decisive action against the Boko Haram fighters when he needed to resulting in the death of many whose lives would have been saved if the government had lived up to its obligation of ensuring the protection of the life of every Nigerian. The APC accused the president of being derelict in his duties. They claimed that the president has suddenly woken up to the realization of ensuring the protection of the nation’s territorial integrity when he discovered there was something to gain politically, that is vote harvest.
The Jonathan government had while hinging the postponement of the February 14, Presidential Polls on insecurity promised to deal decisively with the problem of insurgency within the six weeks window granted by the shift in the election dates.
Also General Buhari during his lecture at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) London on Thursday took a swipe at the Jonathan administration which he accused of not having provided the military with the needed incentives to prosecute the war on terror. Said he, “on the matter of this insurgency, our soldiers have neither received the necessary support nor the required incentives to tackle this problem. The government has also failed in any effort towards a multi dimensional approach to solving the problem leading to our dependency on our neighbours.
The fact remains that the present onslaught against the Boko Haram has undoubtedly begun to yield the expected results as fleeing insurgents from the superior fire power of the Nigerian troops were reported to have disguised as women to escape the wrath of gallant Nigerian military. Not many of them could succeed with this as many of them were captured and debriefed.
The interesting aspect of this development is the realization that the Boko Haram group which hitherto presented a larger than life posture of fearlessness can after all flee from the current danger posed by the Nigerian soldiers.
The Nigerian soldiers should endeavour to sustain the tempo of current expedition against the now battle weary insurgents who in expression of their frustration and anger as a result have resorted to bombing of soft targets in Kano, Potiskun and Jos the Plateau state capital.