Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai has said sacking service chiefs in the country won’t end the menace of insurgency by Boko Haram in the country.
Buratai in an interview on Tuesday with TheCable and ThisDay/Arise said while he’s not disputing against the wisdom of the National Assembly, the President has a better picture of the situation and knows where the shoe pinches.
He also revealed that Boko Haram didn’t start in 2009, as generally believed, saying this phase is only representative of their second step. He said there would have been indoctrination and radicalisation that would have happened for as far back as 50 years ago.
Buratai said the military has been helping the civil Police who are overwhelmed by the insurgents and believes that the service chiefs can not be singled out for blame and should be hailed for helping to keep Nigeria’s territorial integrity.
Buratai said members of the National Assembly should see the Boko Haram as one that concerns every fabric of the society.
“This is a complicated question in the sense that you heard the pronouncement of the technical defeat of Boko Haram. Before we know where we are now, we must understand where we were before the present situation. Let me start by making this point very clear. As of 2015 and up till the time the Multinational Joint Taskforce (MNJTF) was established, when the operation of the operations of MNJTF started to contain the insurgency of the Boko Haram terrorists, at that point, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nigeria was at stake. This is within the background of the concept of the operations of the MNJTF.
“You must know that the establishment of the MNJTF has many stakeholders within the Lake Chad Basin Commission if you start at that point with countries such as Chad, Niger, Cameroon, and Nigeria. And later on, the Republic of Benin joined. The African Union also has an interest. The European Interest and other European countries such as France, Britain, and the United States of America all had the interest to contain the menace as they foresaw it to be detrimental to their interest in the sub-region. At that point, the conceptualisation of the MNJTF operations envisaged that a peacekeeping force must be established and deployed within the Nigerian territory.
“It is common knowledge that once an intervention force is established, the territorial integrity and sovereignty would be infringed upon. That was the idea. Specifically, the MNJTF had three initial sectors. We had Sector I in Cameroon, which was deployed far into northern Cameroon province with headquarters at Mora. The location of Sector II gives an idea of what I mentioned earlier as regards sovereignty. Chad was deployed to the northern part of Nigeria with Dikwa up to the stretch of Gamboru-Ngala, Marte, Bama, and some parts of Gwoza. These areas were to be under the Chadian troops. Sector III, which is Nigeria with headquarters at Baga, was to be stationed in Baga in conjunction with Nigerien forces. They were to operate from Baga with the mandate to defeat Boko Haram terrorists, to rescue abducted persons, including the Chibok girls, and also to facilitate humanitarian activities and to ensure the restoration of law and order by bringing back the civil administration in those areas. That is the principal mandate of the MNJTF.
“So the question is: at what point did everything change? I was privileged to command the MNJTF and I have the concept of operations at my fingertips. I realised the dangers of having an intervention force deployed in one’s territory. The MNJTF concept provided for the functioning of the armed forces of those countries within their region. But that of Nigeria was an exception because the Chadian troops were in territory, as well as the Nigerien troops, although partially not until the fourth sector was created and stationed in Diffa. So these are complexities, and if we had allowed the foreign forces to be in our territory, that country would be divided along that line. Clearly, the adversaries and the terrorist boundaries would be defined as against our national and sovereign territory. This is key in the war against terrorism.
“When the president came into power and saw the implications and I, having been appointed as chief of army staff, my priority was not to allow the full implementation of that concept of operations where the Chadian troops would be on our territory permanently. What action did I take? Within the first two months, we were able to take over Dikwa and Gamboru-Ngala, and that is where we now said that the other forces from Chad would have to find alternative locations within their territory. This is a significant achievement of the president and commander-in-chief, whereby he saved the territorial integrity of this country from falling into the hands of foreign interests. If that action was not taken, we would probably be negotiating with the terrorists. That is quite dangerous, and it would have seen us fighting from so many fronts. I think Nigerians must be grateful to the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. By extension, they should also be thankful to the armed forces of Nigeria for keeping our territorial integrity, and we are glad we have been able to safeguard that constitutional responsibility.
Photo Credit: ThisDay
“We are not questioning the wisdom of the national assembly. I believe they also have their sources of information; they drew their analysis and came to that conclusion. But in reality, they have to look at it within the context of what are the responsibilities of the executive arm of government, as well as the mandate of the legislative arm of government. I am tempted not to comment on this particular issue because I am directly involved. However, I want to believe that whatever happens, the commander-in-chief is the right arbiter, and he knows where it pinches, he knows where the problems are. I think the decision should be left to him. He should not be pushed or prompted in this regard.
“However, the issue I see is not with the service chiefs because they are not thinking about the service chiefs as I want to believe because we are leading troops, deploying equipment in the quest to safeguard our territorial integrity. In that sense, if the members of the national assembly have been to the Theatre of Operations to witness the efforts that have been taking place and with casualties recorded, I think they should look at what role have they played to resolve the issue because it is not just military action alone, but an activity that requires the participation of every segment of the society.
“The whole of government approach in solving insurgency is indeed relevant because countries that have experienced such insurgency have been contending with it for as many as 50 years and so on. So no one is averse to change, and we are ready for any change as well. But the excuses that have been given as regards what is on the ground I believe are not tenable. I am not joining words with anybody, but that is the reality on the ground, and I expect that they should send words of encouragement to the troops and everybody because you can’t divorce what has been done on the field from the commanders who are deployed in the headquarters.
“The most important thing is that the challenges are quite enormous, and the troops are facing them daily. If there were no actions despite all the challenges in the resurgence not only in the north-east but across the country, if there was no responsiveness to tackle the terrorists, then one can say yes, there is a leadership challenge because the leaders are not meeting up with their responsibilities. I recall that I did mention in one of my interviews that the issue is far beyond the equipment and the number of troops.”
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