On Unwarranted Distractions on Military Operations

On Unwarranted Distractions on Military Operations

By Mukhtar Ya’u Madobi

Recently, the duo of Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, General Leo Irabor and Chief of Defence Intelligence, CDI, Major General Samuel Adebayo were unjustifiably attacked by faceless and shadowy groups claiming to be fighting for the national interest.

Why claiming to express their concern over the lingering insecurity in the country, they have always attacked Defence Headquarters and called for the overhaul of the entire Defense Intelligence Agency, DIA a body whose activities like similar ones all over the world shrouded in maximum secrecy and confidentiality.

Could the attackers have moles and fifth columnists within the topmost and cordinating agency in the country.

In the latest unjustifiable attack, they accused the military intelligence body for lacking skills in coordinating the various theatres of war in the fight against insecurities, which according to them has worsened the situation.

In rubbishing their balderdash, the Youth Against Disaster Initiative, YADI, cautioned one of the group going by the name, Northern Advocacy for Peace (NAP)on the manner they traded security issues without regard to the consequences of their childish and inept approach to ongoing military operations.

YADI noted that the obnoxious and somewhat diabolical request of the so-called advocacy group to President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the duo military chiefs, is a joke taken too far, and which every sane Nigerian must entirely condemn.

“At the rate the Northern Advocacy for Peace is going, one has no choice but to summarily conclude that the group’s jet-like descent into the pit of infamy, is already a fait accompli.

“For quite some time now, the advocacy group has shown ‘sincere worry’ and ‘patriotic concern’ over lingering insecurity and other socio-economic challenges plaguing the nation; something that we must all commend.

“But it is again necessary to point out that the modus operandi the advocacy group has been deploying regularly is one that should apparently trouble every right-thinking individual,” the statement reads in parts.

Meanwhile, as such groups sustain their campaign of calumny against institutions and officers of the military, it is on record that since last year, there has been mass surrender of Boko Haram fighters to the Nigerian troops and the elimination of their top commanders due to aggressive military offensives.

Some of the success stories of the military in the last one year included the death of Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau and subsequent elimination of other commanders in the sect.

Not only that, since the deployment of the NAF super tucano jets for war against terrorism in northeast, scores of high ranking ISWAP commanders have been eliminated, thereby forcing the dreadful group to reshuffle their cabinet on several occasions.

In addition, their hideouts are equally raided and destroyed, a development that compelled a large number of them into fleeing to neighboring West African countries.

Recently, PRNigeria reported that the notorious leader of ISWAP, Sani Shuwaram, and other terrorists of the sect were killed after an airstrike in the Marte axis

Again, looking at the anti-banditry operations in northwest and north central regions, the military have also been performing to the expectation as many notorious bandits’ kingpins have been sent to the land of no return to answer for their crimes.

All these aforementioned wins and a lot of more are achieved on the battlefield. But we should also not forget to ask ourselves about those brains behind the curtains who ensure the translation of those military operations into success stories.

Without credible intelligence gathering and information sharing by the coordinating agency, the troops could not have achieved all these victories against the non state actors.

The Nigerian military does not deserve any form of distractions, especially at a period politicians are engaged in political campaigning.

Nigerian citizens, should therefore join and support the security forces in their efforts in ending the terror reign of these beasts, who have been holding us to ransom in our own backyards.

Mukhtar is a Staff Writer with the Emergency Digest.