Tag: Army

The complex nature of the war against terrorism in the country came to the fore last week in Abuja. A seminar organized by the Army Transformation and Innovation Centre was the theater for revealing disclosures on the collaboration of some soldiers with the deadly Boko Haram religious sect. Chief of Army Staff Lt-Gen Azubuike Ihejirika shocked his audience when he revealed that some soldiers have been caught divulging vital operational secrets of the Army to the religious sect.

A visibly angry Ihejirika lamented that a soldier supplied the information on the movement of the soldiers that were attacked at Okene, Kogi state in January while preparing for international peace-keeping operations in Mali. In that attack, two soldiers were killed and five others injured. He said while some other soldiers were busy posting negative comments against the army on the internet, there were also those promoting communications with the insurgents.

Confounding as these disclosures are, but they are not entirely surprising. President Goodluck Jonathan blew the whistle when he alerted the nation that there were Boko Haram members within his cabinet. But the weight of that alert was whittled down by the inability of his government since then, to catch any of those of his aids aiding and abetting terrorist attacks.

However, comments by sundry personages from the areas prone to these sectarian attacks seem to fuel suspicions that some of the reasons touted for the resurgence of terrorism may after all be far from it. Before now, we have been told that poverty, ignorance and disparity in levels of development of sections of the country were the leitmotif for the growing army of terrorists. We have also been told over again that military solution will prove ineffective in the campaign against the malfeasance. The argument is that once we identify and address these developmental challenges, we would have had the right angle to the orgy of violence that has held this country prostrate these past years. The government bought this idea despite initial ambivalence on its capacity to achieve the desired objective.

Events since has shown no change of heart from the insurgents such that state of emergency is now in force in the three states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. And this has thrown up a plethora of further posers. But central to all these is that we have not been told all about Boko Haram. We have neither been told the real reasons for these acts of terrorism nor have we been led into the sources of the funding of the insurgents. What of the high level planning and sophistry in the execution of these numerous attacks? Is it possible for the insurgents to have been that successful in their military incursions without the benefit of superior knowledge in guerilla warfare and suicide bombing apparently supplied by those well groomed in that art? At any rate, have we cared for the source of those bombs and those that prepare and equip the bombers for their lethal operations? What of the enormous funds that are wasted in them? Yet we talk of poverty as the main reason for these acts of terrorism.

Perhaps, if those funding these terrorist acts had deployed their funds to addressing poverty among the vulnerable segment, some significant progress would have been recorded. Rather than do that they opted to levy war on the country and further annihilate the poor. Some other people are asking if the north is at war perhaps, for them to now to decide what position to take. The north is not at war but some sections and groups in the north are at it. They also have collaborators both in the military and the civilian population.

Here, the startling revelations by Ihejirika come in very handy. It is a remote possibility that the insurgents could have been able to hold this country down without the tacit support and collaboration of some insiders both military and civilians. It is also very unlikely that such saboteurs within the army and the larger society are motivated by the simplistic reasons that have often been offered to account for the extreme violence and killings it that part of the country. Neither can it account for the vaulting and stale ambition that it is still possible to Islamize this country of diverse religions, cultures and ethnicity. What will motivate a soldier trained and paid to protect this country to turn round and supply logistic information to insurgents to get his colleagues ambushed and killed cannot be located in poverty? It can only be found in some higher group interest which making this country ungovernable can possibly precipitate. Not long ago, the nation’s high profile military training institution, the Staff and Command College Jaji, Kaduna state was bombed to the greatest embarrassment of the nation. That could not have happened without some insider cooperation. Besides, the leadership of the college was alleged to have received some security report in that regard without taking steps to avert it.

Given the training, regimentation and command structure of the military, is it not baffling that such high level sabotage can be found in the army in this very sensitive national challenge? Ihejirika has a daunting task to discharge by fishing out all saboteurs that are hell bent in undermining his job. The whole idea is to discredit him and he must not allow that to happen.

More over, we now hear that the sect had training camps in many parts of the north, sacked the government there and installed their own flags. The report that the insurgents nearly brought down one of the nation’s fighter jets with anti-air craft batteries underscores the point that the matter is damn serious. With such a high level military build up in those areas before now, the government failed in providing quick response to the threat of the insurgents. That may have emboldened them in their weird escapades.

The point here is that there is a serious political dimension to the Boko Haram menace. And the sooner we come to terms with his foreboding reality the better for us. I had in this column argued that Boko Haram is nothing but political grievances masquerading under a religious garb. That contention has been borne out by the frustrations of the Army Chief. What will make soldiers to supply secret information on the activities of the military for insurgents to inflict maximum fatalities on our forces? And some others are equally busy posting negative comments on the military so as to discredit that institution. So where is the patriotism the military prides itself for? Not long ago, Obasanjo and Babangida had in a joint statement lamented that patriotic Nigerians had begun to question the basis for the nation’s unity. But do we have real patriots or class interest masquerading as patriotism? If we really have patriots, why are they in short supply each time sectional or class interests are seemingly threatened? The inevitable conclusion here is that our leaders are patriotic to the extent that their self interests are not challenged. Such people do not really qualify as patriots. That is why we must restructure the commanding heights of key national institutions in such a manner that no section has absolute control over them. That is the only panacea for political stability.