Two Military Generals have expressed shocked why the Federal Government and the President have decided to play politics with the fight of insurgency in Nigeria. One of the Generals who spoke on anonymity said
“I am still unsettled why on earth the President decided to play politics with the fight against insurgency in Nigeria. Last year, before the appointment of the current Chief of Defence Staff, there was an intelligent report from the DMI on how we could end the insurgency in the North East. The CDS read the report, was highly impressed and ready to implement it. It was based on that report from the DMI that the CDS announced that he would end Boko Haram by the end of April last year. The CDS had that zeal and agility until he debriefed the presidency. As officers, we don’t know what the briefs were, but the officer and men noticed that the enthusiasm and spirit that burned in the CDS just dropped. The existing command structures were immediately adjust and special units created.”
He added further: “the command and control system became incoherent and uncoordinated. The men were deployed to bits and without clear reasons and intelligence, they were recalled or sometimes redeployed to other bits. The sad part of it is that these postings and repostings were done in an unprofessional manner that it rendered the officer and men vulnerability and prone to attacks by the insurgents. You were aware of how some of our men were ambushed and killed. To cover up, it was reported that it was an insider information that sold them out. There was no such insider but the unintelligible orders issued by the unit and leadership.
He continued: It was then officers and men began to complain at different levels over the lose of their colleagues. Today, I am glad that the Presidency and the CDS have fallen back to the same Report from the DMI which the Military had before the CDS was appointed and we can see the progress the Military is making against the insurgents. My only question to the CDS is why did we not use that Intelligence Report. Why did we wait till now before we used intelligence report”
Another Col Kuwe, who is currently on AWOL for not obeying some orders which according to him would have put the insurgents in possession of some military hardwares said: “President Goodluck Jonathan must tell Nigerians why he inflicted this level of wickedness and pain on the people of the North East and Nigerians in general. He can not deny his involvement, but he must tell us his motive. You can see that all of a sudden the military is beginning to win the war against the Boko Haram. Is there a new military? No. Did you hear of any special training of the men? No. Did the terrain change? No. So what is the sudden magic? The answer is the demonstration of political will: the military leadership has now allowed for the adoption of a proper military tactics and strategy”
He continued: “Take my case for instance; what was my offence? That I didn’t allow Boko Haram to capture our Military Hardwares. I was in-charge of a military formation at Baga. We had military hardwares, including APCs which had some mechanical and operational challenges at the time. As part of our rules of engagement, if you are under enemy aggression and you have military equipment which you cannot evacuate, instead of allowing them fall into the use of the enemy, you are obliged to destroy them. This is an international military rule and applicable to Nigeria. When we got intelligent report that the insurgents would attack our base, we called for reinforcement, for more than 14 hours we never got the any help. When the Insurgents eventually came and we were been overrun by superior firing power, several of our men been killed. Instead of allowing the insurgents t [truncated by WhatsApp] to capture those equipment, I ordered that they should be destroyed before we took a retreat. Sadly, that is why I am been persecuted. My offence is: why did I not allow Boko Haram members to capture those equipment, which they would have used to unleash further acts of terrorism on the Nigerian people”
“Remember that America sent some personnel to aid our operations shortly after the kidnap of the Chibok girls. The question is: why did they withdraw? The Americans came here and in less than no time, they assisted us to locate the exact position of the kidnapped girls. We were still mapping out strategy for their rescue when a top military chief sabotaged the move. He came out public to say the military had found the position of the girls, he almost gave the exact location. What was he expecting, that the insurgents should keep the girls at the place, waiting for the military after such lead? The Americans considered that highly unprofessional and risky for the safety of its men. They felt that our military was sabotaging itself and they pulled out”
The Col added: “Now, because President Jonathan wants to score a political point, the military is recapturing all the towns taken over by the insurgents; women who were hitherto kidnapped are now been released seamlessly and in very inexplicably circumstances. What is the magic? Who is fooling who? Don’t get me wrong, I am very pleased that we are beginning to win the war, but it leaves a lot to be desired. Some of us are compiling materials for his prosecution before the International Criminal Court of Justice. President Jonathan must be made to explain his role and motive in the genocide that he allowed to take place in the north East, if not now certainly later”
