Terror War: Like Leicester FC, Like Boko Haram?
Even though Nigerian Army have recorded strings of successes over Boko Haram, much is still left to be done to completely obliterate the menace
It appeared like a football match! Like the match between Manchester City FC and new boys Leicester City FC on February 6, 2016.
Prior to their meeting, Manchester City had won the English premier league for about three times, while Leicester City only got promoted to the English top flight league in the 2014/2015 season. Even in the season, they narrowly escaped relegation. In fact the match between the two clubs was like the fight between David and Goliath.
Breathing in on their opponents, Manchester City which had an assemblage of expensive and experienced players like Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure, Joe Hart and Raheem Sterling thought they would make piecemeal of the ragtag team of Leicester City that comprised hitherto unheralded N’Golo Kante, Robert Huth, Riyadh Mahrez and James Vardy.
But the final result of 1-3 in favour of Leicester City at the Etihad stadium, the playground and slaughterhouse of Manchester City separated the boys from the men.
With the election victory and subsequent swearing in of President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) of Nigeria on May 29, 2015, the Nigerian Army fighting squads have redoubled their efforts to curb the country of the blights of Boko Haram. And marginal successes have been recorded so far. But not without setback and casualties!
On one occasion, one of the units drafted in the fringes of Sambisa Forest to combat Boko Haram went out on a Reconnaissance Survey. Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, they met the insurgents. And fight ensured!
“We fought them assiduously,” Garba Mato (not real name), one of the rank-and-file soldiers narrated, “and they fought back! They fought ferociously!!” The aftermath of the battle was reminiscent of the Manchester City and Leicester City match.
While some soldiers met their untimely death, others sustained varying degrees of injuries. Even Mr. Mato escaped by the whiskers! He said, “I was shot on the leg as you can see. I was shot by a sniper who had wanted to hold me down. But my colleagues intervened and took me quickly to safety.”
But one of his friends, who was shot in the stomach, wasn’t lucky! He gave up the ghost at their camp after being unconscious for four days.
Tedious Tasks, Minimal Means
Addressing newsmen in Abuja on February 17, 2014, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state broke down into tears saying that the Nigerian military lack enough ammunition and motivation. He added that the militants had superior weapons and were more motivated.
But the then government of President Goodluck Jonathan didn’t take his remarks lightly. A presidential spokesman, Doyin Okupe, shot him down immediately. He said the governor was ignorant of military operations.
But on August 25 of the same year, about 480 Nigerian soldiers strayed into Cameroonian borders when they were overpowered by the fire might of Boko Haram. The soldiers, through one of their proxies, told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) that they ran out of ammunition and so had to scamper for their dear lives.
As Mr. Mato will say, “It is only when you are alive you know that you are a soldier! And it is after you have protected yourself first, you can then talk of protecting others or the society.”
There have been claims and counter-claims between civilian and military leaders of the country over the non-provision of sufficient weapons for Nigerian soldiers. Even while in opposition, then All Progressives Congress’ (APC) spokesman and now information minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, queried why the over $12 billion budgeted by the Jonathan’s administration for security between 2010 and 2014, had not translated into physical gains over Boko Haram. Rather, more than 20 out of the 774 LGAs of the country were captured and declared caliphate by the outlawed group.
Fast forward into Buhari’s reign…
Things have indeed changed! And as the president himself stated during the recent National Executive Committee meeting of the APC, the 14 LGAs left under the clutch of Boko Haram have been recaptured back. But the war is still raging! And the complains of yesteryears on the inadequacies of weaponry is still rearing its ugly head.
Many of you might have read my report Crisscrossing Naija I: Why Nigerian Police are Cowards, wherein I narrated how we were robbed together with a soldier at the notorious Lokoja-Okene axis. The soldier, Stephen Obong (not real name), narrated to us how Boko Haram struck them on a fateful day.
While the battle was ensuing, the soldiers ran out of ammunitions. “Our Commanding Officer,” Obong told us, “had to ring his counterpart in Cameroun Republic to come to our aid.” Cameroun responded quickly with box loads of bullets. And with this, Obong and colleagues were able to repel the attack. “If not for God and then the help of Cameroun,” he recalled, “we would have been wiped out!”
And this happened during Buhari’s regime…
Even though Army spokesman, Col. Sule Kukasheka Usman reported recently that the Army had procured modern motorbikes and advanced war machines to prosecute the war on terror, Mr. Mato said that at the time he was still at the theatre of war before he got injured, lack of sophisticated weapons was blunting their operations.
“We need enough weapons like Shilka and Emarab,” Mato said. An emarab according to him has radars which can survey a field of engagement to check for planted mines and ambushes.
“We also need anti-RPG fragment! And if we can have these kinds of equipment,” Mato assured, “within 3 months, Boko Haram will be wiped out!”
And he said, a soldier with all the necessary fighting tools feels that he can do anything.
Sorry State
A cliché states that “A hungry man is an angry man!”
“If we don’t have food because at times we stay for like 2 weeks before supplies reaches us, we have to enter bushes to scout for foods. We pluck maize, beans, soporodo, and moringa which we cook to sustain our lives!” Mato narrated.
And when they go out, they do so at the risks of their livers. He said, “You can match a bomb, a sniper can shoot you or you might meet the Boko Haram insurgents patrolling their perimetres and they shoot you still!”
So they are in dilemma. They have to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea. They stay back at the barracks, they die of hunger; and if they venture out to scout for food, they die from Boko Haram’s bullets.
But many reports have hit the newsstands lately of top echelons of the military hierarchy siphoning funds meant for the foot soldier’s salaries, feeding allowances, weapons and entitlements. The top brasses are accused of cushioning up in air-conditioned offices, while competing with their wives on who should have the biggest stomachs. Meanwhile, their ranks-and-files emaciate and die in the war front.
#DasukiGate’s arms deal scam of over $2.1 billion is still unraveling. While former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh (Rtd.) was docked recently for pocketing over N558m monthly from the Air Force monthly allocations. In the list released by the presidency on the companies and individuals indicted in #DasukiGate Arms Deal, many retired and serving soldiers were reported to be beneficiaries of the loot.
As many commentators will say, diversion of funds meant for prosecuting the Boko Haram war into private pockets took place mostly during Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s regime. But as at today, soldiers like Mato are still complaining of government’s indifference to their plights and lives. He said, “For the past four months now, I have not been paid my feeding allowances of N30,000 per month!”
He added, “People in high positons are not investigating what is going on in Sambisa Forest. If they do, most of our problems would have been mitigated.”
But he was quick to add that the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai once visited them with the press to the fringes of Sambisa. “They didn’t stay long. The COAS just showed them around and said, ‘This is Sambisa Forest,’ and off them went again!”
And he said the troops need such visits. Apart from the fact that the visits boost their morale, he added that it is during such visits they get little changes from the big men with which they use in keeping body and soul together.
“If you are lucky,” he said, “you can get N2000 or N1000 which you will use in buying Maggi, salt, oil and sugar for cooking. You can also buy biscuit and chewing gum which you will put in your pocket to be eating little by little.”
He added, “We are usually given allowances. But it doesn’t come steadily!”
Bleak Future
“If not for President Buhari, I would have also deserted,” were the words of Garba Mato when asked if the situations of things on ground have improved with the coming of President Muhammadu Buhari. He praised the government’s commitment towards prosecuting the war, adding, “With God’s help, Boko Haram are no longer in the city centre. They are now amassed in Sambisa Forest!” And according to him, the only cog in their wheels of success over the insurgents is the absence of sophisticated weaponry and vehicles.
One more thing that sends shivers down the spines of the combatants, he said, is the thought of what the future holds for them and their dependents when they are no more! He narrates…
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“These insurgents are strange types of species. When you shoot them, they will still be approaching you even though their comrades are being dropped down. And sometimes, when we see them still coming and we are running out of ammunitions, we have to turn and run.
“We run because we want to survive. They have sophisticated weapons which we don’t. There are many of my colleagues who have paid the ultimate price. And our superiors will just write ‘Missing in Action’ for them.
“Moreover, before the deceased’s relatives collect his entitlements, they will undergo harrowing experiences. It is only when you have a good Commanding Officer who will say, ‘Oh, so and so died; let’s see how we can make government to cater for his children’s school fees!’ These are those that even care at all.
“At the tail end, the deceased’s belongings and family will be kicked out of the barracks. And that would be the end of the family!”
And so this takes their morale to the lowest ebbs, he added.
Winning War
Urgent actions need to be taken to win back the morale of the soldiers so that they will prosecute the terror war effectively and eventually win it.
First of all, the welfare of the combatants needs to be looked into and taken care of. Salaries and allowances should be paid as at when due. The families of fallen heroes should be accommodated and provided for, pending when they will be comfortable to be on their own. Even after leaving the barracks, or if they already reside outside, the civil and military authorities should make sure they cater for their welfares. When an army officer knows that his future and that of his dependents are secured, according to Mato, “he will give all his best to the task at hand!”
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Secondly, as a matter of urgency, the authorities should quickly replenish the weapon stacks of the nation. Modern weapons should be procured to persecute the war. Desperate times call for desperate measures. “If a soldier have sophisticated weapons in his disposal,” Mato enthused, “he feels he can do anything!”
Thirdly, the government needs to investigate where the insurgents get their weapons from. How come they have superior weapons Nigerian soldiers only hear of? According to Mato, “The insurgents have snipers, GPMGs, and other big weapons. You don’t talk of RPGs; they have the modern ones which if you fire, don’t leave anything behind!” Where do they source these weapons from?
Government should find out the routes these weapons enter our borders. Is it from the sea, the land or the air? Who are their sponsors? Fish them out and close up the routes they smuggle in these weapons. If you want to get rid of an ailment, you have to cut off its source. Mato added, “If not because they get support from external bodies, there is no way they will survive in that place without weapons!”
Lastly, top government officials and military brasses should lead from the front. It is good President Muhammadu Buhari gave the military authorities order to move the command and control centre to the epicentre of the war, Maiduguri, which they complied to. And from the results on ground and testimonies from the combatants and the civilians alike, much progress have been recorded. But we need to do more and very swiftly.
Since PMB came into power, he hasn’t visited the war front. Even President Barack Obama and his predecessor, George Bush, visited Iraq and Afghanistan to raise their troops’ morale. Also, the much maligned former president Jonathan visited the warfront, albeit at the point of campaign. It is not yet late to salvage the situation. Moreover, it is better late than never! And as Mato rightly said, “If people in high places visit us, they will know what is going on in the forest. And most of our problems will be mitigated!”
Leicester City FC might have bloodied the noses of many British heavyweight clubs like the two Manchester, City and United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, and go on to make the biggest upset in modern football history by lifting the English premier league trophy with an assemblage of ragtag players come May 2016. Whether the civil and military authorities of Nigeria will continue allowing the ragtag militants, Boko Haram, to inflict ignoble defeats on its troops or will take drastic steps to checkmate the scourge is left for the womb of time to deliver!
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