Editor’s note: The Nigerian army soldiers have been subjected to all kinds of accusations since the war against Boko Haram commenced. Low morale, poor skills of warfare, cowardice – this list is neverending. Are they really the only ones to blame for that? Deji Adeyanju, Naij.com guest columnist, states that the primary reason underlying the above “wicknesses” of the Nigerian militants may be the lack of support from the Nigerian citizens.
The total failure of the Nigerian army
I have just watched the chief of army staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, on Channels TV. He spoke on his visit to the troops in Geidam community of Yobe state after the Wednesday’s attack by Boko Haram militants, who overran the army, killed three soldiers, carted away weapons and ammunition abandoned by the soldiers on the run, and looted most food and petroleum products from the popular Wednesday market. I was particularly touched by the honesty of General Buratai, who was obviously angry with the troops having run away from Geidam town. He said: “How could you allow these criminals to overrun you? How could you run away from these rag-tag untrained criminals? You allowed them to operate here for 12 hours unchallenged. You refused to come back until they withdrew.”
On the surface, the words of Chief Buratai are very hurtful to the image of the Nigerian army, however, this is the painful reality of today. The Nigerian army seems to be overwhelmed and demoralized. Its image has suffered too much damage in the eyes of Nigerians and the international community, mainly because of the way it has been handling the war against Boko Haram for the past three years. For over two years Boko Haram has repeatedly embarked on the massive propaganda using social media to demonize the Nigerian army. Through so many of its online propaganda campaigns, the sect has been portraying our army as weak, cowardly and unable to fight. The numerous online media and personalities have, intentionally or not, helped the insurgents to achieve their propaganda goals. All wars are fought both on ground, air, sea, land and in the minds of all parties involved, and, most importantly, in the psyche of the citizens. To win the war against Boko Haram we must conquer the minds of the Boko Haram members with fear, win over our allies and friends by convincing them the Nigerian army is capable and reliable, and boost the confidence of our troops through the citizenry support.
The Nigerian army and other security agencies are our last line of defense against the Boko Haram barbarians, since we cannot defend ourselves from their satanic attacks. If not the efforts of the Nigerian military and other security agencies, these barbarians would have taken over the entire nation, imposed their misguided religious tenets and false Sambisa Sharia law system on all of us, forced our sisters into sex slavery like they did to the Chibok girls, and made us live in perpetual fear. If not the Nigerian army and other security agencies, many Muslims and Christians across the country would not be able to go to mosques on Fridays or churches on Sundays.
Boko Haram seeks to destroy Christianity and Islam, and do not mean to any of us well. Nigerians, irrespective of religious consideration, party affiliation and tribal affinity, must realize that Boko Haram is our common enemy, the army is doing its best to protect us against the overwhelming odds, and it needs our support at all times.
The consequences of the Boko Haram war politicising
This was what the opposition party in the days of the former president, Goodluck Jonathan, was admonished with, but refused to listen. The opposition members politicised everything. They politicised the attempt by the former president to list Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO); they politicised the procurement of arms to prosecute the war; they politicised the appointments of service chiefs; they politicised the state of emergency in the North East; they politicised Chibok and turned it into a campaign tool against Jonathan, the PDP-led federal government and the Nigerian army, which they, for inexplicable reasons, saw as an appendage of the PDP, not of the federal government. El-Rufai and many leading APC chieftains then referred to the Nigerian army as the Jonathan’s army. At some point in time their presidential candidate (the incumbent president), Muhammadu Buhari, called an attack against Boko Haram the one against Northern Nigeria.
If the political class and all Nigerians had supported the then federal government and the security agencies in the fight against Boko Haram, we would probably have already won the war. The politicisation of the war against Boko Haram caused more damage than good to the whole nation. Those, who saw it as an avenue to keep scoring needless and cheap political points in the North, sabotaged the efforts of the security agencies. They got the Arewa Consultative Forum to issue the press releases kicking against the ban on Boko Haram and the plan of the then federal government to list Boko Haram as an FTO, which was needed to get arms from our allies to effectively prosecute the war.
Finally, when Boko Haram was listed as an FTO, they began another campaign against the army saying the former chief of army staff, Lieutenant General Ihejirika, was one of the Boko Haram sponsors and the one supplying arms to the insurgents at the order of Jonathan. Their allegations were so scary and consistent that our allies became skeptical of supplying us with arms, and the United States and Israel refused selling ammunition to us. We had to turn to Russia for help. As if that was not enough, Murtala Nyako, the former governor of Adamawa state, even accused the federal government of genocide against Northern Nigeria, and suggested that the federal troops were the ones dropping arms for Boko Haram from helicopters.
Furthermore, it was Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the incumbent governor of Kaduna state, that built a propaganda foundation suggesting the former president, Goodluck Jonathan, was the one sponsoring Boko Haram. He also tried to expose the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the ex-Niger Delta militants and others as the possible sponsors of the terrorist group. El-Rufai ensured he poisoned the minds of the young people from the North and many of his followers on social media against Jonathan by maintaining this lie. Later, when speaking at Chatham House, El-Rufai presented the following table to justify his propaganda theory.
Th table containing the classification of the Boko Haram members by Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, presented during the El-Rufai’s speech at Chatham House. Credit: The official Twitter account of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai
Those interested in understanding the metamorphosis and variants of Boko Haram will find this compilation helpful. pic.twitter.com/VfYJnhZgbL
— Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai (@elrufai) September 8, 2014
What has changed now?
The question all Nigerians may now want to ask those who refused to support the former administration and the security agencies in the fight against Boko Haram and who have suddenly started supporting the federal government and the army now is: what has changed? Is Goodluck Jonathan still the one sponsoring Boko Haram with the help of his Niger Delta ex-militants? Is the CAN still the one sponsoring Boko Haram? The APC members were offered the explanations why they should see the battle against the terrorists as a national issue, not a political one, and why we should not play politics where the national security is concerned, but they would not listen. They threw caution to the wind, and played loudly to the gallery. Now see, where that has got us to: in just 120 days of the President Buhari’s rule, the deadly group has killed more than 1,300 Nigerians and bombed Abuja twice.
READ ALSO: They’re Back: Boko Haram’s Return Under Buhari
800 Nigerians Killed In 100 Days Of Buhari’s Presidency – Report
The message here is that the enemy is Boko Haram, not the federal government, not President Buhari, and definitely not our ever-caring Nigerian army and the security agencies spending their days in the heat and their nights in the cold, while the rest of us spend time with families at home. The military deserves our respect and support, as it remains in the forefront in the fight against the barbarian Boko Haram.
Deji Adeyanju for Naij.com
Deji Adeyanju is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party writing from Abuja. Contact him on Twitter or via dejiadeyanju_1979@yahoo.co.uk.
This article expresses the author’s opinion only. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Naij.com or its editors.
Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@naij.com — drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Naij.com’s step-by-step guide for guest contributors.
We’re ready to trade your news for our money: submit news and photo reports from your area using our Citizen Journalism App.
Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to Naij.com Opinion page!
The post Our Soldiers Are Not Cowards! How Nigerians Unwillingly Demoralise The Army appeared first on Nigeria News today & Breaking news | Read on NAIJ.COM.