Military, Boko Haram And The Security Puzzle Before Jonathan
Military, Boko Haram And The Security Puzzle Before Jonathan
In this report, GEORGE AGBA examines the controversy trailing
alleged complicity by the Nigerian Army in the ongoing war against the
Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, against the backdrop of frantic
moves by President Goodluck Jonathan and the presidency to ensure that
the insurgents are totally contained.
Last week Friday, a middle aged man in a black Toyota Camry car was driving from AYA to Wuse 2. He missed his way and drove straight to the first gate leading to Aso Rock presidential villa, just by the Nigerian Fire Service station in Asokoro. When accosted by the security operatives on guard at the gate, he told them that he was heading to Wuse 2.
“Why didn’t you follow the Kubwa express road from AYA or take the Area 11 junction route through the federal secretariat? Who told you this is the road leading to Wuse 2?”, one of the security personnel quizzed him. After apologising on the ground that he was new in town, the young man added jocularly that it was ‘tactical manoeuvring’.
This is just one among other instances of how the term, tactical manoeuvring, has now become a popular phrase used by Nigerians for making excuses and explaining mistakes and blunders they commit. Since it was introduced into the country’s security lexicon by the Nigerian Army last week, the term which refers to a move made to gain a tactical end is fast becoming a household name. Tactical manoeuvre is used by military theorists for a concept of warfare that advocates attempting to defeat the enemy by incapacitating their decision-making through shock and disruption.
Trust Nigerians, since the Defence Headquarters used the term to explain why some 480 Nigerian soldiers fled into Cameroon following a fierce battle with the Boko Haram sect last week, tactical manoeuvre has become a term used as cover up for mistakes. A clerk who fails to carry out his duty according to instruction comfortably explains to his boss that his action or inaction is nothing but tactical manoeuvre. A police officer leaves his duty post and when caught red handed by his boss, he explains that his sudden disappearance was a tactical manoeuvre.
Director of Defence Information, Major-General Chris Olukolade had noted in a statement that the 480 soldiers spotted in Cameroon found themselves “charging through the borders in a tactical manoeuvre” after a sustained battle. He said it was standard practice for them to hand over their weapons and the soldiers are now returning home.
But Aso Rock seemed to be dazed by the explanation given by the army. Even President Goodluck Jonathan may have tried hard to comprehend the idea that soldiers who were conducting a tactical manoeuvre were disarmed and accommodated in schools as announced by Cameroon’s army spokesman, Lt Col Didier Badjek.
LEADERSHIP gathered that as soon as he arrived Nigeria from Germany penultimate Monday, the president summoned two of his army chiefs to a meeting at the presidential villa late in the night.
Jonathan, it was learnt, asked them to explain what the term, tactical manoeuvre meant in military parlance and how useful it has been in the ongoing battle against the insurgents.
He wanted to be sure that reports claiming that the ‘Khaki boys’ had joined thousands of citizens fleeing the fighting in the border town of Gamboru Ngala was not true. That the president may have been so bemused on the development was not out of place. There had been reports that the protracted battle between soldiers and Boko Haram in the North-East was because of the inability of the Nigerian soldiers to overpower the insurgents.
Chief of Army Staff, Kenneth Minimah who had stated a few day ago that the military would soon take delivery of hardware to enable it launch a massive operation against Boko Haram was said to have insisted before the president that the soldiers were equal to the task, despite reports that the insurgents have taken a stronghold of Gwoza and other communities in the region. He maintained that the soldiers were not deserting, contrary to the initial Cameroonian account when they crossed the border.
Jonathan, according to a top presidency source, also sought to know whether it was true that the sect had captured Gwoza. In a 52-minute video released on Sunday, Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau had claimed that Gwoza was now “part of the Islamic state”. The town is said to be the largest under control of Boko Haram with a population of more than 265,000 people, according to the 2006 census.
Two days after he met with the army chiefs, President Jonathan also met with former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in the early hours of last Wednesday. Obasanjo who later disclosed this to reporters in Abeokuta noted that the early morning meeting between him and Jonathan bordered on issues of security. LEADERSHIP findings also revealed that the president sought counsel from his predecessor on how to tackle strange happenings in the military like a recent report of mutiny within the army ranks and a recent incident where soldiers’ wives protested against the deployment of their husbands to Gwoza on grounds that they were ill-equipped to fight the insurgents.
There has been growing concern over reports of Nigerian soldiers on the frontline of the war against Boko Haram deserting their posts. While these reports have refused to fade away in spite of the federal government’s continuous claim that it is winning the war against terror, last week’s report of the 480 soldiers who reportedly fled to Cameroon generated more tension. Some Nigerians, especially those living in the epicentres of the insurgency, are gripped by the fear that the insurgents are winning in the war against terror.
But the presidency insisted that the military should be given the benefit of doubt. Special adviser to the president on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati told LEADERSHIP in an exclusive interview last week that the Nigerian Army deserve encouragement rather than being demoralised by negative reports. He said the security forces have their Directorate of Defence Information which has been very diligent in providing information and that the best thing was for Nigerians to rely on its information system.
Abati said, “Two things have been made very clear; that it is an act of mutiny for any soldier to desert his post and under the Armed Forces Act, there are laid down procedures for dealing with such issues. I think that the Chief of Army Staff has made it very clear that any soldier that is found guilty of any act of indiscipline will be court-martialed because soldiers are required under their own tradition to obey certain best practices. It is not something on which I can comment further.
“The Directorate of Defence Information has also clarified the issue of Nigerian soldiers being found in Cameroon. I think it is important to listen to the Defence Information people because ultimately this is about our country. This is about the integrity of our country. What they made clear is that those soldiers ended up in Cameroon in the course of battle. You know that in this threat of terrorism, one of the major areas of battle is the border between Nigeria and the neighbouring countries.
“The defence spokespersons made it clear that the soldiers who ended up in Cameroon were already on their way back to Nigeria and that it was a case of tactical manoeuvre in the battle field. We have to give them the benefit of the doubt that as professionals in that area, they have no reason to mislead us. Of course you know that Nigeria, Cameroon and the other neighbouring countries are working together. They are involved in joint border operations.
“They share intelligence because terrorism, as has been pointed out repeatedly by President Jonathan and other world leaders, is a threat to the whole world and not just to one country. It is a threat to humanity and I think that with the challenge posed by terrorism, our security forces deserve encouragement. They do not deserve to be demoralised by the kind of negativity that some people go out of their way to promote”.
The continuous stay of the Chibok girls in captivity since they were abducted by the Boko Haram sect on April 14 this year is another source of worry for President Jonathan. He has consistently reassured Nigerians that his government was on top of the situation. But some Nigerians have insisted that these are fake reassurances. Their contention is that since the United States and other world powers offered to assist Nigeria to contain insurgency and rescue the Chibok girls, terrorist activities have only escalated, even as nothing has been done so far to save the abducted school girls. A US newspaper had written in its editorial that the Nigerian government seems to have abandoned the girls.
But in trashing the issue, Abati wondered why even some Nigerians who live in the country, follow the news every day and are in a vantage position to get up-to-date information on a daily basis would also think that no effort is being made by the federal government to rescue the Chibok girls. For him, “those celebrating the views of those who sing government’s ineptitude in the media are practicing ‘parachute journalism”.
He said, “There is something called ‘Parachute Journalism’; a situation where journalists who do not know enough about a particular country, relying on hearsay, parachute into the particular environment and on the basis of inadequate impression, jump to conclusions. Some of those US newspapers that you referred to, I have had cause to do rejoinders to about three of them. In one instance, the newspaper published its editorial on one side and I think they were kind enough to publish my rejoinder on the other side in which I said look, it is not right to say that the Nigerian government is not making any effort or that the government is not doing enough. Indeed a lot is being done”.
Insisting that government has done its best in the bid to crush the sect and rescue the girls, he added, “Apart from the military operation which is ongoing and which is being resisted by the insurgents, a war which the government is determined to win, you also have the government introducing a lot of other measures. The Terror Victims’ Support Fund has been launched, the Safe Schools Initiative is in place, there is ongoing collaboration within government at all levels and money and equipment are being provided to strengthen the capacity of the security agencies to combat terrorism.
“But government has also made it clear that it is also treading carefully not to do anything whatsoever to endanger the lives of the girls. Government is not interested in bringing back body bags loaded with corpses; government is interested in rescuing the girls alive. It may look like it is taking a while, but government is determined and our prayer is that good shall prevail over evil”.
But the recent revelation of the identities of the Boko Haram sponsors by the international negotiator, Rev Stephen Davies, engaged by President Jonathan to enter into dialogue with the Boko Haram sect with a view to securing the release of the abducted 275 Chibok school girls has added a more complex twist to the war against terror. In a televised interview in London last week, Rev Davies had disclosed that a former governor of Borno State, a former chief of army staff and a former top official of the Central Bank of Nigeria had been providing funds and other logistics to the sect for the terrorist attacks which had claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people in the country.
While most Nigerians believe that this explains why the war against the insurgent has taken so long, Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Femi Falana (SAN) on Sunday asked the president to order the arrest and prosecution of the sponsors of the terrorist group at the International Criminal Court (ICC). He said the revelation by Davies was backed with some detailed accounts which confirmed some information in the domain of the security forces in the country.
“In view of the gravity of the allegations of crimes against humanity committed by the sponsors of the Boko Haram sect, President Jonathan should refer the suspects to the special prosecutor of the international Criminal Court. Any local investigation conducted by the federal government in the circumstance may be manipulated by vested political interests”, Falana noted in a statement he issued on Sunday.
He recalled that the Ambassador Usman Galtimari-led committee on insurgency in the north east zone set up in 2011 by President Jonathan had recommended the prosecution of “some politicians who sponsored, funded and used the militia groups that later metamorphosed into Boko Haram”. He said a white paper issued on the report of the committee had also indicated that the federal government accepted the recommendation and directed “the national security adviser to coordinate the investigation of the kingpins and sponsors to unravel the individuals and groups that are involved”.
He noted that “Although the white paper was published in May 2012, the directive of the federal government has not been carried out up till now because the individuals involved are said to be connected to the presidency. However, the special envoy of the federal government has just named one of the “kingpins and sponsors” of the terrorist sect.
“Having regard to the report of the Oputa Panel on human rights abuse in
Nigeria from 1966-1999 which indicted the Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha juntas for bombing certain “subversive” individuals and extra-judicial killing of others for phantom coup de tat, the alleged involvement of military officers in the terrorist activities of the Boko Haram sect cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand”.
With the military insisting on the one hand that their 480 ‘run-away-soldiers’ were merely conducting a tactical manoeuvre in Cameroon, and the international negotiator linking a top former military brass to the spnsorship of the insurgents, it is left to be seen how President Jonathan intends to solve this security puzzle that tends to be overwhelming his government in an electioneering year.
Last week Friday, a middle aged man in a black Toyota Camry car was driving from AYA to Wuse 2. He missed his way and drove straight to the first gate leading to Aso Rock presidential villa, just by the Nigerian Fire Service station in Asokoro. When accosted by the security operatives on guard at the gate, he told them that he was heading to Wuse 2.
“Why didn’t you follow the Kubwa express road from AYA or take the Area 11 junction route through the federal secretariat? Who told you this is the road leading to Wuse 2?”, one of the security personnel quizzed him. After apologising on the ground that he was new in town, the young man added jocularly that it was ‘tactical manoeuvring’.
This is just one among other instances of how the term, tactical manoeuvring, has now become a popular phrase used by Nigerians for making excuses and explaining mistakes and blunders they commit. Since it was introduced into the country’s security lexicon by the Nigerian Army last week, the term which refers to a move made to gain a tactical end is fast becoming a household name. Tactical manoeuvre is used by military theorists for a concept of warfare that advocates attempting to defeat the enemy by incapacitating their decision-making through shock and disruption.
Trust Nigerians, since the Defence Headquarters used the term to explain why some 480 Nigerian soldiers fled into Cameroon following a fierce battle with the Boko Haram sect last week, tactical manoeuvre has become a term used as cover up for mistakes. A clerk who fails to carry out his duty according to instruction comfortably explains to his boss that his action or inaction is nothing but tactical manoeuvre. A police officer leaves his duty post and when caught red handed by his boss, he explains that his sudden disappearance was a tactical manoeuvre.
Director of Defence Information, Major-General Chris Olukolade had noted in a statement that the 480 soldiers spotted in Cameroon found themselves “charging through the borders in a tactical manoeuvre” after a sustained battle. He said it was standard practice for them to hand over their weapons and the soldiers are now returning home.
But Aso Rock seemed to be dazed by the explanation given by the army. Even President Goodluck Jonathan may have tried hard to comprehend the idea that soldiers who were conducting a tactical manoeuvre were disarmed and accommodated in schools as announced by Cameroon’s army spokesman, Lt Col Didier Badjek.
LEADERSHIP gathered that as soon as he arrived Nigeria from Germany penultimate Monday, the president summoned two of his army chiefs to a meeting at the presidential villa late in the night.
Jonathan, it was learnt, asked them to explain what the term, tactical manoeuvre meant in military parlance and how useful it has been in the ongoing battle against the insurgents.
He wanted to be sure that reports claiming that the ‘Khaki boys’ had joined thousands of citizens fleeing the fighting in the border town of Gamboru Ngala was not true. That the president may have been so bemused on the development was not out of place. There had been reports that the protracted battle between soldiers and Boko Haram in the North-East was because of the inability of the Nigerian soldiers to overpower the insurgents.
Chief of Army Staff, Kenneth Minimah who had stated a few day ago that the military would soon take delivery of hardware to enable it launch a massive operation against Boko Haram was said to have insisted before the president that the soldiers were equal to the task, despite reports that the insurgents have taken a stronghold of Gwoza and other communities in the region. He maintained that the soldiers were not deserting, contrary to the initial Cameroonian account when they crossed the border.
Jonathan, according to a top presidency source, also sought to know whether it was true that the sect had captured Gwoza. In a 52-minute video released on Sunday, Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau had claimed that Gwoza was now “part of the Islamic state”. The town is said to be the largest under control of Boko Haram with a population of more than 265,000 people, according to the 2006 census.
Two days after he met with the army chiefs, President Jonathan also met with former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in the early hours of last Wednesday. Obasanjo who later disclosed this to reporters in Abeokuta noted that the early morning meeting between him and Jonathan bordered on issues of security. LEADERSHIP findings also revealed that the president sought counsel from his predecessor on how to tackle strange happenings in the military like a recent report of mutiny within the army ranks and a recent incident where soldiers’ wives protested against the deployment of their husbands to Gwoza on grounds that they were ill-equipped to fight the insurgents.
There has been growing concern over reports of Nigerian soldiers on the frontline of the war against Boko Haram deserting their posts. While these reports have refused to fade away in spite of the federal government’s continuous claim that it is winning the war against terror, last week’s report of the 480 soldiers who reportedly fled to Cameroon generated more tension. Some Nigerians, especially those living in the epicentres of the insurgency, are gripped by the fear that the insurgents are winning in the war against terror.
But the presidency insisted that the military should be given the benefit of doubt. Special adviser to the president on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati told LEADERSHIP in an exclusive interview last week that the Nigerian Army deserve encouragement rather than being demoralised by negative reports. He said the security forces have their Directorate of Defence Information which has been very diligent in providing information and that the best thing was for Nigerians to rely on its information system.
Abati said, “Two things have been made very clear; that it is an act of mutiny for any soldier to desert his post and under the Armed Forces Act, there are laid down procedures for dealing with such issues. I think that the Chief of Army Staff has made it very clear that any soldier that is found guilty of any act of indiscipline will be court-martialed because soldiers are required under their own tradition to obey certain best practices. It is not something on which I can comment further.
“The Directorate of Defence Information has also clarified the issue of Nigerian soldiers being found in Cameroon. I think it is important to listen to the Defence Information people because ultimately this is about our country. This is about the integrity of our country. What they made clear is that those soldiers ended up in Cameroon in the course of battle. You know that in this threat of terrorism, one of the major areas of battle is the border between Nigeria and the neighbouring countries.
“The defence spokespersons made it clear that the soldiers who ended up in Cameroon were already on their way back to Nigeria and that it was a case of tactical manoeuvre in the battle field. We have to give them the benefit of the doubt that as professionals in that area, they have no reason to mislead us. Of course you know that Nigeria, Cameroon and the other neighbouring countries are working together. They are involved in joint border operations.
“They share intelligence because terrorism, as has been pointed out repeatedly by President Jonathan and other world leaders, is a threat to the whole world and not just to one country. It is a threat to humanity and I think that with the challenge posed by terrorism, our security forces deserve encouragement. They do not deserve to be demoralised by the kind of negativity that some people go out of their way to promote”.
The continuous stay of the Chibok girls in captivity since they were abducted by the Boko Haram sect on April 14 this year is another source of worry for President Jonathan. He has consistently reassured Nigerians that his government was on top of the situation. But some Nigerians have insisted that these are fake reassurances. Their contention is that since the United States and other world powers offered to assist Nigeria to contain insurgency and rescue the Chibok girls, terrorist activities have only escalated, even as nothing has been done so far to save the abducted school girls. A US newspaper had written in its editorial that the Nigerian government seems to have abandoned the girls.
But in trashing the issue, Abati wondered why even some Nigerians who live in the country, follow the news every day and are in a vantage position to get up-to-date information on a daily basis would also think that no effort is being made by the federal government to rescue the Chibok girls. For him, “those celebrating the views of those who sing government’s ineptitude in the media are practicing ‘parachute journalism”.
He said, “There is something called ‘Parachute Journalism’; a situation where journalists who do not know enough about a particular country, relying on hearsay, parachute into the particular environment and on the basis of inadequate impression, jump to conclusions. Some of those US newspapers that you referred to, I have had cause to do rejoinders to about three of them. In one instance, the newspaper published its editorial on one side and I think they were kind enough to publish my rejoinder on the other side in which I said look, it is not right to say that the Nigerian government is not making any effort or that the government is not doing enough. Indeed a lot is being done”.
Insisting that government has done its best in the bid to crush the sect and rescue the girls, he added, “Apart from the military operation which is ongoing and which is being resisted by the insurgents, a war which the government is determined to win, you also have the government introducing a lot of other measures. The Terror Victims’ Support Fund has been launched, the Safe Schools Initiative is in place, there is ongoing collaboration within government at all levels and money and equipment are being provided to strengthen the capacity of the security agencies to combat terrorism.
“But government has also made it clear that it is also treading carefully not to do anything whatsoever to endanger the lives of the girls. Government is not interested in bringing back body bags loaded with corpses; government is interested in rescuing the girls alive. It may look like it is taking a while, but government is determined and our prayer is that good shall prevail over evil”.
But the recent revelation of the identities of the Boko Haram sponsors by the international negotiator, Rev Stephen Davies, engaged by President Jonathan to enter into dialogue with the Boko Haram sect with a view to securing the release of the abducted 275 Chibok school girls has added a more complex twist to the war against terror. In a televised interview in London last week, Rev Davies had disclosed that a former governor of Borno State, a former chief of army staff and a former top official of the Central Bank of Nigeria had been providing funds and other logistics to the sect for the terrorist attacks which had claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people in the country.
While most Nigerians believe that this explains why the war against the insurgent has taken so long, Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Femi Falana (SAN) on Sunday asked the president to order the arrest and prosecution of the sponsors of the terrorist group at the International Criminal Court (ICC). He said the revelation by Davies was backed with some detailed accounts which confirmed some information in the domain of the security forces in the country.
“In view of the gravity of the allegations of crimes against humanity committed by the sponsors of the Boko Haram sect, President Jonathan should refer the suspects to the special prosecutor of the international Criminal Court. Any local investigation conducted by the federal government in the circumstance may be manipulated by vested political interests”, Falana noted in a statement he issued on Sunday.
He recalled that the Ambassador Usman Galtimari-led committee on insurgency in the north east zone set up in 2011 by President Jonathan had recommended the prosecution of “some politicians who sponsored, funded and used the militia groups that later metamorphosed into Boko Haram”. He said a white paper issued on the report of the committee had also indicated that the federal government accepted the recommendation and directed “the national security adviser to coordinate the investigation of the kingpins and sponsors to unravel the individuals and groups that are involved”.
He noted that “Although the white paper was published in May 2012, the directive of the federal government has not been carried out up till now because the individuals involved are said to be connected to the presidency. However, the special envoy of the federal government has just named one of the “kingpins and sponsors” of the terrorist sect.
“Having regard to the report of the Oputa Panel on human rights abuse in
Nigeria from 1966-1999 which indicted the Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha juntas for bombing certain “subversive” individuals and extra-judicial killing of others for phantom coup de tat, the alleged involvement of military officers in the terrorist activities of the Boko Haram sect cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand”.
With the military insisting on the one hand that their 480 ‘run-away-soldiers’ were merely conducting a tactical manoeuvre in Cameroon, and the international negotiator linking a top former military brass to the spnsorship of the insurgents, it is left to be seen how President Jonathan intends to solve this security puzzle that tends to be overwhelming his government in an electioneering year.
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