Insurgency: Nigeria has a lot to learn from Chad —Momodu

Jude Momodu, an associate professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, is the coordinator, Centre for Peace and Security Studies, Modibbo Adama University, Yola, Adamawa State. In this interview by TOM GARBA, he speaks on the implications of the recent onslaught against members of the Boko Haram insurgent group and the implications therein.

What lessons can the Nigerian government learn from the recent resolve of President Idriss Deby of Chad to confront and contain the activities of Boko Haram insurgents?

It is very sad and degrading that Nigeria that once championed peace-keeping operations in Africa and even went ahead to stabilise and restored peace in countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone and Gambia is now the one to learn lesson from a tiny country like Chad. That notwithstanding, there is a lot that the Nigerian president and our military authorities can learn from Chad. President Idriss Deby of Chad has demonstrated a strong political will towards containing the mass atrocities of Boko Harm insurgents, both at his home country and in the Lake Chad region. Over the years, President Deby has invested massively in the procurements of sophisticated military equipments for the Chadian military.

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Are you saying the Chadians soldiers appear better than the Nigerian military?

As far as it is now and for as long as this war is going this way, the Chadian military remains the best in asymmetric warfare in Africa. They are battle-tested and have fought rebels in Chad for almost four decades. In 2015, the Chadian soldiers came to the rescue of Nigeria on the invitation of former President Goodluck Jonathan. They then helped in flushing out the occupying forces of Boko Haram in Borno State.

Recently, in March 2020, Boko Haram insurgents ambushed and massacred 92 Chadian soldiers. President Deby immediately visited the scene where his troops were murdered and offered condolences and promised to revenge the gruesome murder of his troops by the insurgents. This is an exemplary leadership displayed by the President of Chad. President Muhamadu Buhari can take a cue from President Deby’s fearless and dynamic style of leadership. President Deby also worked the talk by mobilising and leading his troops against the Boko Haram insurgents last week and they dealt a big blow on the insurgents, killing many of them and seizing huge stock piles of arms from the armory of the insurgents, who mostly fled into Nigeria and Niger, where they felt they were not likely to face such hard punches. Some people have said that Abubakar Shekau was killed by the Chadian soldiers in the revenge attacks but I think it was a top Boko Harm commander that was killed.

Suffice it to say, that there are many lessons that the Nigerian government and the leadership of the Nigerian military can learn from the onslaught, last week, of Chadian troops against the Boko Haram insurgents which made the insurgents to chicken out. I sincerely hope that our president here in Nigeria will rejig the war strategy against the insurgents by adequately resourcing the military so as to be able to effectively contain the Boko Haram marauders.

 

How can you explain why the Boko Haram insurgency has lasted this long?

The Nigerian Civil War lasted for just 30 months — between 1967 and 1970. But the Boko Haram insurgency, which started in 2009, has so far become protracted, stretching for 11 years now and it has remained the longest war in the country and also an unresolved nightmare. The insurgency has led to the deaths of several thousands of lives and provoked massive humanitarian crisis, leading to the displacement of more than two million people and residents of the Lake Chad region. The North-East of Nigeria is the epicentre of the Islamist insurgency waged by the Abubakar Shekau-led Boko Haram Islamic sect which calls itself Jama’atulAlhulSunnahLidda’watiwal Jihad (JAS), meaning “People committed to the propagation of the Prophet’s teachings and Jihad”. It also has its splinter group called the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP), a group which pledged allegiance to the Islamic States since 2015. Nigeria is currently fighting her longest war and from the evidence before us, it appears that our security forces are not winning the war.

 

Why did you say so?

I said this because the Boko Haram insurgency has continued unabated, primarily because of the kinetic counter-offensive approach that has been adopted for so long a time by the military to contain the Boko Haram insurgents. This kinetic counter-insurgency approach has continued to prove ineffective and is unable to contain the offensive attacks of the insurgents. This is evidenced from the continued and consistent violent attacks launched by the terrorists against military formations and civilian targets. Boko Haram insurgents have continued their campaign of deaths, killing our gallant soldiers, humanitarian workers and defenseless Nigerian citizens and burning down villages. Many civilians residing in areas prone to the attacks by the insurgents can hardly sleep with their two eyes closed. About two weeks ago, the Abubakar Shekau-led insurgents ambushed and massacred 47 Nigerian soldiers in a village called Gorgi in Yobe State. Just imagine how our soldiers have continued to be killed so cheaply by these rag-tag insurgents. My worry and question is, when is the Nigerian government going to bring an end to Boko Haram’s mass atrocities? Only God can tell when an end to these insurgency and mass killings will happen.

 

Many people have attributed the apparent uncoordinated approach the security forces have taken in fighting the war against the insurgents to lack of finance and lack of the political will. Do you subscribe to this view?

 

Yes, the Nigerian security forces fighting the Boko Haram insurgents are largely under-resourced. They have continued to struggle to fight from a very weak position against the well-resourced Boko Haram insurgents. The greatest challenge facing Nigeria’s counter insurgency operations in the North-East is the gradual waning or even the non-existence of the political will from Nigerian government. The Federal Government has gone to sleep and clearly demonstrated its inability to adequately provide the resource the fighting troops in terms of adequacy of weaponry, troops, logistics, welfare and motivation.

Although, I am aware that the Federal Government has made payment for the delivery of 12 Toccano Jet Fighters from the United States of America (USA), but these jet fighters will not be delivered until 2022. We are currently at war with the Boko Haram insurgents who are killing our people and threatening our national sovereignty. Therefore, it is now that the jet fighters are needed and not 2022.

There are also the challenges of accountability and transparency in defense procurements. In the last seven years, the Nigerian military has received budgetary allocations of up to about Four Trillion Naira. What has been done with these huge amounts of money? We are all aware that our soldiers have, on several occasions, posted videos online complaining that they have been fighting Boko Haram insurgents with poor weapons and equipments. Some of them even said that the insurgents have more superior weapons than the Nigerian soldiers. Recently, Major General Olusegun Adeniyi, the immediate past Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, was fired for allegedly daring to declare in a video that went viral about the difficult situation under which the fighting troops were operating. This confessional statement from such a high-ranking officer is only stating the obvious.

The counter-insurgency operation itself is shrouded in secrecy. Those persons and institutions that ought to be over-sighting the military authorities in charge of the counter-insurgency operations have either gone to sleep or are complicit in the massive corruption that is tainting the counter-insurgency operations.  Clearly, a lot needs to be done by the government, if we must win the war. The fighting troops are not properly resourced and the chances of winning the war against the insurgents has continue to be slim.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE