These, without a doubt, are strange times for Nigeria. To say
that the spate of insecurity in the country is becoming very
alarming will be an understatement. Suddenly, we are faced
with a different kind of insecurity occasioned by incessant
terrorist activities. Before now, terrorism is alien to our
culture. But occurrences in recent years have since altered
the picture as the reprehensible activities of the Boko Haram
sect, which today remains one of the nation’s foremost
adversaries, have made Nigeria a focal point of global
terrorism activities. Through a series of bloodletting
operations, unrivalled in the annals of the country, the sect
has, in the past 12 years, held the nation to ransom.
To underline its newly found status as a global terrorist
group, the sect was designated by the US Department of
State as a terrorist organisation in 2013. In the first half of
2014, it killed more than 2,000 innocent and hapless
civilians, in about 95 attacks. In the last three years, more
than 3,000, people have lost their lives as a result of Boko
Haram terrorist operations. A recent data claimed that Boko
Haram attacks have left at least 12,000 people dead and
8,000 crippled in the last three years while hundreds of
thousands have fled their homes for the fear of the
insurgents.
Perhaps, the most audacious of the dastardly acts of the
group, till date, remains the abduction of over 200
secondary school girls, who were kidnapped in a most
notorious manner, from their dormitories in Government
College Chibok, Borno State. The girls, henceforth to be
referred to as our girls, have since been in the custody of
the sect for well over 140 days. The act was met with outrage
and wide condemnations across the world. Indeed, some of
the leading nations of the world offered to help in rescuing
our girls. Several local and international groups have equally
been clamouring for the release of our girls. A renowned 17-
year-old Pakistan child right activist, Malala, recently visited
the country on account of our girls’ plight. She reportedly
had “useful” discussions with major stakeholders including
President Goodluck Jonathan. Malala’s visit eventually
opened the door for a Presidential parley between the
Presidency and distraught parents of our girls. The parley
was, however, beclouded by controversies over the sharing
formula for the money purportedly released by the
Presidency for the upkeep of our girls’ parents.
Somewhere along the line, we were told by the nation’s
military high command that the location of our girls,
supposedly in a vast forest named Sambisa along the
Nigerian /Cameroonian border by Eastern Borno, had been
discovered . However, according to military authorities, they
had to tread cautiously in order not to jeopardise the safety
of our girls. Good. But, while one appreciates the efforts of
all the stakeholders in the bid to free our girls, the point,
however, is that we are now becoming very apprehensive,
especially with regard to the safety of our girls. With Ebola
presently capturing the attention of the whole nation
coupled with preparations for the 2015 general elections,
the fear is that, like most unresolved murder cases in the
country, the issue of our girls might soon fizzle out of the
consciousness of the nation. Consequently, more than ever
before, this is the time to keep asking questions concerning
the plight of our girls. Where are our girls? What is
happening to them? How are they being fed? With what are
they being fed? How healthy is the place where they are
being kept? Are they being sexually abused by their captors?
Is it true that they have been fully integrated into the Boko
Haram family? Is it true that some of them are now being
used as suicide bombers? How can we be pretending that all
is well when we have yet to find our girls? Are we actually
making efforts to bring back our girls?
This brings us to the issue of the Nigerian military. Truth be
told, these are unusual times for our military. Perhaps,
there is no other time in the country’s history, aside from
the civil war era, when the professionalism of the Nigerian
military has been fiercely put to test than now. While one
values the sacrifices of our military men and women who
put their lives at risk to uphold the safety of other members
of the society, one must, however, stress that the Nigerian
military needs to do more than it is presently doing in order
to completely flush out the men who have held our nation
hostage for too long. One is rather disturbed by several
unconfirmed reports of Nigerian soldiers absconding to
neighbourng Cameroon in a bid to escape the ferocious
firing power of Boko Haram insurgents. Though one is not
really schooled in the art of military warfare, it is becoming
alarming that we couldn’t really curtail Boko Haram’s
incursion through military actions thus far. Some have
suggested, though one finds this rather incredible, that the
insurgents possess more sophisticated war arsenals than the
Nigerian military. Could our military have really sunk that
low?
In his inaugural speech in May 29, 1999, former President
Olusegun Obasanjo painted a rather horrid picture of the
Nigerian Army when he said among others that “the
incursion of the military into government has been a
disaster for our country and for the military over the last
thirty years. The esprit-de-corps amongst military personnel
has been destroyed; professionalism has been lost. Youths
go into the military not to pursue a noble career but with the
sole intention of taking part in coups and to be appointed as
military administrators of states and chairmen of task
forces”.
Obasanjo further affirmed that “as a retired officer, my
heart bleeds to see the degradation in the proficiency of the
military. A great deal of reorientation has to be undertaken
and a re-definition of roles, retraining and re-education will
have to be done to ensure that the military submits to civil
authority and regains its pride, professionalism and
traditions. We shall restore military cooperation and
exchanges with our traditional friends. And we will help the
military to help itself”.
To what extent the fortune of the military has improved in
the last fourteen years of democratic rule is better left for
scholars, researchers and other stakeholders to determine.
One thing that is, however, certain is that these are tough
times for our military. But with the help of everyone
stakeholder in the country, we shall surely overcome. We
have demonstrated with our commitment to the
containment of the deadly Ebola virus that we can fight back
when we are pushed to the wall. We need to do more in our
resistance against our other adversaries. God bless Nigeria!
that the spate of insecurity in the country is becoming very
alarming will be an understatement. Suddenly, we are faced
with a different kind of insecurity occasioned by incessant
terrorist activities. Before now, terrorism is alien to our
culture. But occurrences in recent years have since altered
the picture as the reprehensible activities of the Boko Haram
sect, which today remains one of the nation’s foremost
adversaries, have made Nigeria a focal point of global
terrorism activities. Through a series of bloodletting
operations, unrivalled in the annals of the country, the sect
has, in the past 12 years, held the nation to ransom.
To underline its newly found status as a global terrorist
group, the sect was designated by the US Department of
State as a terrorist organisation in 2013. In the first half of
2014, it killed more than 2,000 innocent and hapless
civilians, in about 95 attacks. In the last three years, more
than 3,000, people have lost their lives as a result of Boko
Haram terrorist operations. A recent data claimed that Boko
Haram attacks have left at least 12,000 people dead and
8,000 crippled in the last three years while hundreds of
thousands have fled their homes for the fear of the
insurgents.
Perhaps, the most audacious of the dastardly acts of the
group, till date, remains the abduction of over 200
secondary school girls, who were kidnapped in a most
notorious manner, from their dormitories in Government
College Chibok, Borno State. The girls, henceforth to be
referred to as our girls, have since been in the custody of
the sect for well over 140 days. The act was met with outrage
and wide condemnations across the world. Indeed, some of
the leading nations of the world offered to help in rescuing
our girls. Several local and international groups have equally
been clamouring for the release of our girls. A renowned 17-
year-old Pakistan child right activist, Malala, recently visited
the country on account of our girls’ plight. She reportedly
had “useful” discussions with major stakeholders including
President Goodluck Jonathan. Malala’s visit eventually
opened the door for a Presidential parley between the
Presidency and distraught parents of our girls. The parley
was, however, beclouded by controversies over the sharing
formula for the money purportedly released by the
Presidency for the upkeep of our girls’ parents.
Somewhere along the line, we were told by the nation’s
military high command that the location of our girls,
supposedly in a vast forest named Sambisa along the
Nigerian /Cameroonian border by Eastern Borno, had been
discovered . However, according to military authorities, they
had to tread cautiously in order not to jeopardise the safety
of our girls. Good. But, while one appreciates the efforts of
all the stakeholders in the bid to free our girls, the point,
however, is that we are now becoming very apprehensive,
especially with regard to the safety of our girls. With Ebola
presently capturing the attention of the whole nation
coupled with preparations for the 2015 general elections,
the fear is that, like most unresolved murder cases in the
country, the issue of our girls might soon fizzle out of the
consciousness of the nation. Consequently, more than ever
before, this is the time to keep asking questions concerning
the plight of our girls. Where are our girls? What is
happening to them? How are they being fed? With what are
they being fed? How healthy is the place where they are
being kept? Are they being sexually abused by their captors?
Is it true that they have been fully integrated into the Boko
Haram family? Is it true that some of them are now being
used as suicide bombers? How can we be pretending that all
is well when we have yet to find our girls? Are we actually
making efforts to bring back our girls?
This brings us to the issue of the Nigerian military. Truth be
told, these are unusual times for our military. Perhaps,
there is no other time in the country’s history, aside from
the civil war era, when the professionalism of the Nigerian
military has been fiercely put to test than now. While one
values the sacrifices of our military men and women who
put their lives at risk to uphold the safety of other members
of the society, one must, however, stress that the Nigerian
military needs to do more than it is presently doing in order
to completely flush out the men who have held our nation
hostage for too long. One is rather disturbed by several
unconfirmed reports of Nigerian soldiers absconding to
neighbourng Cameroon in a bid to escape the ferocious
firing power of Boko Haram insurgents. Though one is not
really schooled in the art of military warfare, it is becoming
alarming that we couldn’t really curtail Boko Haram’s
incursion through military actions thus far. Some have
suggested, though one finds this rather incredible, that the
insurgents possess more sophisticated war arsenals than the
Nigerian military. Could our military have really sunk that
low?
In his inaugural speech in May 29, 1999, former President
Olusegun Obasanjo painted a rather horrid picture of the
Nigerian Army when he said among others that “the
incursion of the military into government has been a
disaster for our country and for the military over the last
thirty years. The esprit-de-corps amongst military personnel
has been destroyed; professionalism has been lost. Youths
go into the military not to pursue a noble career but with the
sole intention of taking part in coups and to be appointed as
military administrators of states and chairmen of task
forces”.
Obasanjo further affirmed that “as a retired officer, my
heart bleeds to see the degradation in the proficiency of the
military. A great deal of reorientation has to be undertaken
and a re-definition of roles, retraining and re-education will
have to be done to ensure that the military submits to civil
authority and regains its pride, professionalism and
traditions. We shall restore military cooperation and
exchanges with our traditional friends. And we will help the
military to help itself”.
To what extent the fortune of the military has improved in
the last fourteen years of democratic rule is better left for
scholars, researchers and other stakeholders to determine.
One thing that is, however, certain is that these are tough
times for our military. But with the help of everyone
stakeholder in the country, we shall surely overcome. We
have demonstrated with our commitment to the
containment of the deadly Ebola virus that we can fight back
when we are pushed to the wall. We need to do more in our
resistance against our other adversaries. God bless Nigeria!
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