Motivation Power

This Kuje Prison Break is the biggest evidence that our national security is beyond the ability of the federal government to manage. The people in charge of national security are clearly not in charge and the honourable thing to do is for them, the whole lot, to resign.

Anything short of a mass removal of the security team is a tacit endorsement of the status quo. And that is not acceptable. President Muhammadu Buhari can only justify his continued stay in office if he demonstrates his power as Commander-In-Chief, by moving swiftly to replace his security team immediately before he ends up being kidnapped by the terrorists, who have become bold enough to attack his convoy.

I didn’t imagine, for once that the President could be so vulnerable as to be open to such a brazen attack by an armed group who laid ambush on his convoy right there in his home state. What an insult!

The President must now display his rage and total commitment to the mandate of his office by reacting swiftly to reclaim Nigeria from the hands of a group of associates who are running this nation on his behalf. For, it’s difficult for the President to convince intelligent, well-informed people that he is fully in charge of this country, given his apparent hopelessness in the face of rising coordinated, premeditated, well-organized attacks by disparate terror groups who don’t have a tenth of the resources our security agencies have.

Within one week, a jailbreak was launched, his convoy was attacked, and other violent acts were carried out across the country. What else does Mr. Buhari have to say than to act as never before? The terror war isn’t being won obviously because of sabotage from within.

The terrorists have people in the Nigerian security system that give them sensitive information which enables them to carry out accurate attacks with reckless abandon. This is clearly evident in the impunity, and bravado, with which they operate. The terrorists do not fear our army. They wilfully do whatever they want to do.

President Muhammadu Buhari has to deal with this unfortunate situation. He hasn’t been doing the needful, otherwise, we should never be in this mess. He is working in concert with our enemies without knowing it. He needs to look inwards for our enemies, the informants, and double agents who give vital information to the terrorists.

These guys need to be identified and decisively dealt with before we can make a headway.

Boko Haram and their ilk do not have the capacity to successfully engage a well-organized defense force like the Nigerian armed forces without help from within. That is a fact the government is yet to come to terms with. This is a major factor in the apparent ineffectiveness of the operations.

The focus of this war should shift to intelligence. You can arm a force all you can, if intelligence is lacking, less equipped opponents will outgun you with ease if they have efficient intelligence.
Changes in personnel have been carried out several times in the hierarchy of the armed forces, yet little has changed in the results of this campaign. That means, the problem is not about personnel as much as operational strategies. It’s the strategy we have to constantly change to contain the enemy.

Many continue to call to question, the loyalty of our soldiers. Many of our commanders and even, soldiers from the rank and file, have sympathy for Boko Haram because of religious sentiments. They think the terrorists are fighting the cause of Islam and should be supported.
This tendency is there, but our leaders are not looking at this factor.

Nothing should be left to chance. Religious sentiments run high in this campaign and are a reason for the setbacks we sometimes suffer in this war.

All the issues raised here are not completely new, but the authorities haven’t addressed them with all seriousness. That is why the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment and deployment of the same have had little impact on the war.

The question to ask is this: how can a loose band of amateur fighters successfully engage a well-organized army for so long without being defeated if something is not terribly wrong. Gen Sanni Abacha has famously said, if insurgency lasts more than a few hours, the government knows about it. In this case, some top people in government are the mysterious power behind Boko Haram and their cohorts.
Until we fish them out, this problem will linger.

But so far,we have not been to fish out the collaborators of these terrorists because of lack commitment to the cause.We know that many Islamists are in the army who benefit from this war and would not want it to end.
Many local supporters of Boko Haram abound in the villages around the theatre of operations. These traitors are known to give active logistics and intelligence support for the terrorists.We do not know why they have not been arrested.
This is probably why many concerned stakeholders are asking the federal government to consider hiring foreign mercenaries to help us finish off these terrorists.
If we are not willing to bring in mercenaries,we should consider help from foreign intelligence. Many world powers actively engage other powers in intelligence sharing and logistics collaboration to deal with tough security challenges.

Nigeria should look at the options of seeking help from foreign powers who have the capacity to engage in complex operations like the Boko Haram war has turned out to be.
There’s nothing to be ashamed of if we seek the assistance of greater powers when our forces are proving in capable of defeating the terrorists.
This war is now down to intelligence. That’s what the jail breaks are telling us.President Buhari has to take a decisive step in getting foreign intelligence support to end this war before he leaves office. He can’t afford to end his tenure without totally destroying all the elements that threaten our national security.

Ayodeji is an activist, pastor and speaker. He can be reached on 09059243004(WhatsApp only). Email -ladibest16@gmail.com