The dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram, is now in full control of Michika, a trading centre in Adamawa State, not far from the Cameroun border. The towns captured within the last few days include Bara in Yobe State, Banki and Bama in Borno State while Madagali and Gulak were seized in Adamawa State. Bama was seized by the rampaging terrorist group on September 1 and Banki overrun the next day. By September 3, Bara, another town in the North-East was captured.
Gulak and Madagali fell to the militants on Saturday. Data from different population websites show that the five towns have a combined population figure of 170, 743 (Bama -118,121; Madagali -12,919; Bara -11,673; Banki -4,935; Gulak -23,095). Earlier in July, the sect had displaced thousands of people after it seized six other towns in Borno and Yobe states. The towns included Dikwa -29,026; Buni Yadi -4,768; Gamboru Ngala -240,000; Gwoza -15,176; Damboa -233,200 and Marte -15,707 with a total population of 537,877. The Nigerian army however rallied and later recovered Bama from the insurgents.
The capture of Michika and other towns has heightened fears and belief that Boko Haram is winning the war. Nigerians cannot however ignore the security implication of this continuous capturing of towns by the Boko Haram. The security implication is that the insurgents appear, not just to be gaining grounds against the Nigeria forces, but sending away investors. No investor will want to enter and trade in a country where the opposition has the upper hand. International communities will be wary of coming to the country to transact businesses.
There is also the issue of Nigerians residing in areas that have not been captured, but are close to towns that had been captured. The residents will live in dread, fearing to venture out for daily businesses, unsure when it would next be their turn to be captured. Many of the residents living in captured areas are presently displaced. A good number of them are running from pillar to post, seeking for shelter. They’ve been plunged into a nightmarish existence. Psychologically, members of the Nigerian army will be losing credibility and courage, while the opposition will be getting bolder, daring and more courageous.
The opposition in their euphoria will probably want to capture more towns. Whether they’ll succeed or not, is up to the Nigerian government. Nigeria as a country has been known for going on Peacekeeping Missions, to intervene and intercede in restoring peace in countries up in arms. This present situation in the country will not warrant any external country inviting Nigeria’s intervention. After all, charity begins at home. Nigeria cannot restore peace in warring nations, when it’s at war and losing to the opposition. This gloomy picture generally means that the country is not secure and losing to anarchy. Any area captured by the sect, means the Nigerian Constitution is no longer operational in that axis. It also means anything goes.
There will be human right abuses against women and children, with the situation degenerating to a state of lawlessness. There would not be a recognized police force in such area and the Boko Haram will continue to have a field day. There is also likely to be support from sycophants, people who want to belong to the winning team. Eventually, if nothing is done, the sect will continue to capture more towns and states, until they take over the whole country, thus enshrining the Islamic state they had always desired.
Pundits believe that the aim in targeting and capturing more towns by Boko Haram is to gain more territory in its efforts to create an Islamic state. But other security experts argued that there may be a more sinister motive behind the capturing, since this is happening in tandem with the move of other Islamic militant groups in the world. In Nigeria, the fear has heightened that Boko Haram may soon seize Maiduguiri, which would be the mother of all captures.
An intelligence source said: “Our belief is that they want to capture all the states in the north for some reasons. They’ve started with capturing of towns. And from that, they may begin another offensive, which is to capture states, especially Abuja.” Dr. Ona Ekhomu, a security expert, is the President of the Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria (AISSON) and the Africa Rep resentative of the International Foundation for Protection Officers (IFPO).
Ekhomu thinks there is a more sinister reason for the capturing, but declined to share the information for security reasons. He however said: “The Boko Haram members are good military men and tacticians. They know which towns they’re taking on and they know for what strategic reasons, but I won’t tell you. Yes, there are tactical reasons, I can however tell you that most of the towns they’re captured are close to Sambisa forest. It means they can retreat into Sambisa, come out and attack, then retreat again. It’s a battle strategy.” He described as unfortunate, the capturing of Michika and other towns in the north.
He however said that the tide could turn for the Nigerian forces, if proper attention is given to military arms. “The military is fighting, but it’s doing so with hands tied behind its back. Fighting with its arms tied behind its back, is talking about military armaments, which is outdated because we’ve not really kitted the military for this sort of battle. The military was last kitted during the Shehu Shagari era. That was about 31 years back. That was the last time the military was kitted with fresh gears, meaning new equipment,” said Ekhomu.
Ekhomu said that alone was a drawback for the Nigerian army, adding that there was also the issue of weapon superiority. He said: “But now the bad guys, because they’re able to buy weapons, that’s Muammar Gaddafi’s former Libyan army war weapons from across the desert, superior fire power to those of our boys and are able to dislodge our boys or sometimes kill them. Let me give you a scenario; they come to an army check point. Everybody knows the army because they’re in uniform, but nobody knows the bad guys. They know the distance to the army checkpoint. “They calibrate the distance to that check point, go out of the range of that checkpoint and fire double ‘A’ anti-air craft weapons into the particular triangulation of that military checkpoint.
And they’ll kill the soldiers there and come in, to do mop up operation.” He argued that the Nigerian army was severely disadvantaged. According to him, the soldiers are wanted in every town in the northern community for assistance and have too many issues on their platter. “The army is putting out fire in many places and it’s quite a drain on its resources. This is why we’re having this turn of events,” he stated. He revealed that what had largely conspired against the Nigeria army was the fact that the insurgents have a lot of mercenary soldiers, fighting on their side. The sect has drawn mercenary soldiers from ISIS, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigel Republic and even Mali He added:
“When the Malian war was hot, Boko Haram went to fight on their side. In fact, Abubakar Shekau went to fight in that war. Boko Haram had ingratiated itself into the Malian Islamist group called Ansar Dine. These are the people fighting against our troops. The army is not just fighting Boko Haram. The army is up against serious challenges.” According to him, the Nigerian army had not been running, but retreating in the face of overwhelming odds, so that they could regroup, to attack another time. He further explained: “Let me give you an instance in Bama. When the fighting was too hot, our boys withdrew, but later got Bama back within four days. It was a tactical withdrawal. When you stay and fight every battle to the end, you may become a dead hero. We should support our military.
We should support our boys. They’re fighting against international terrorists. These are the same terrorists that are chasing armies out of Iraq and Syria. These are the same people we’re fighting here. Boko Haram has all technical help.” The former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav (rtd) opined that the Boko Haram group maybe capturing towns because it wants to prove to the Federal government that they can always beat the Nigerian army. His words: “As far as I’m concerned, the Boko Haram sect has showed the Nigerian army that they can always beat them. They capture this town and then the next. It shows the army is inefficient. It shows our President is not serious.
The Boko Haram sect wants to intimidate the federal government and the people of Nigeria and cause havoc.” He said that if the military goes out now, to deal with the insurgents decisively, the sect might not capture any other town. Tsav said: “But as long as they continue to allow them to capture more towns, there would be fear. And one day, Boko Haram may attempt to march on to Abuja. If they’re not stopped, they would be emboldened to capture other towns. The military are complaining they’re not well equipped. They’ve complained that Boko Haram is better equipped than them.
The Governor of Borno State once said that the Boko Haram is better equipped. The President came out and started insulting him. This is exactly what is happening now! This man saw and said it. If the army is armed, it would be able to deal with the situation.” Tsav noted that the major cause of the troubles in the country, including not equipping the soldiers properly to confront terrorism and terrorists was corruption. “Look at what is happening in this Ona country now. There’s a lot of corruption and for a long time, nobody has been convicted of corruption.
There was a time Lamido Sanusi said that 20 billion dollars was missing, but nobody bothered to investigate this. The 20 billion dollars can equip the Nigerian army very well to fight and win this war. The President is sitting on corruption and he’s not ready to do anything about it,” said Tsav. Adding, “But a lot of people are benefiting from this situation. This set of people are building houses, buying cars, jetliners and sending their families overseas. It’s unfortunate indeed!” The Chief Executive Officer/principal consultant Zenith Intelligence and Security Solutions, Barrister Ethelbert Oney, a UK trained lawyer, believes the reason for the latest move from Boko Haram was to finally be able to get its hold on the whole of Nigeria, with the aim of Islamising it.
According to him, such a dream will never become a reality. He said: “The Boko Haram situation got to this extent because of under reaction, which I had always talked about. This under reaction is when government fails to take its legitimate stand. When you apply under reaction, it means something is happening which you think will soon go away. What the Boko Haram is doing, is what we call psychological propaganda. We need to play the same game on them. Psychological propaganda means injecting fear into the people. Most of the people in the towns they’ve captured have run away. That’s the game plan. That’s the psychological propaganda I’m talking about.” Oney said that what Nigeria and Nigerians need right now, is resilience. He explained: “It means people standing together and saying enough is enough.
The problem we’re having now, as a democratic government, is when we fail to say, that this is what we can do. If we continue to lose our ground, terrorists will continue to win. We’re at the dagger edge point now. All this could have been avoided if the appropriate steps had been taken. Terrorism has a system. In order to win the war on counter terrorism, we must first win the intelligence war.”
Gulak and Madagali fell to the militants on Saturday. Data from different population websites show that the five towns have a combined population figure of 170, 743 (Bama -118,121; Madagali -12,919; Bara -11,673; Banki -4,935; Gulak -23,095). Earlier in July, the sect had displaced thousands of people after it seized six other towns in Borno and Yobe states. The towns included Dikwa -29,026; Buni Yadi -4,768; Gamboru Ngala -240,000; Gwoza -15,176; Damboa -233,200 and Marte -15,707 with a total population of 537,877. The Nigerian army however rallied and later recovered Bama from the insurgents.
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| Ekhomu |
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| Tsav |
There is also the issue of Nigerians residing in areas that have not been captured, but are close to towns that had been captured. The residents will live in dread, fearing to venture out for daily businesses, unsure when it would next be their turn to be captured. Many of the residents living in captured areas are presently displaced. A good number of them are running from pillar to post, seeking for shelter. They’ve been plunged into a nightmarish existence. Psychologically, members of the Nigerian army will be losing credibility and courage, while the opposition will be getting bolder, daring and more courageous.
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| Oney |
There will be human right abuses against women and children, with the situation degenerating to a state of lawlessness. There would not be a recognized police force in such area and the Boko Haram will continue to have a field day. There is also likely to be support from sycophants, people who want to belong to the winning team. Eventually, if nothing is done, the sect will continue to capture more towns and states, until they take over the whole country, thus enshrining the Islamic state they had always desired.
Pundits believe that the aim in targeting and capturing more towns by Boko Haram is to gain more territory in its efforts to create an Islamic state. But other security experts argued that there may be a more sinister motive behind the capturing, since this is happening in tandem with the move of other Islamic militant groups in the world. In Nigeria, the fear has heightened that Boko Haram may soon seize Maiduguiri, which would be the mother of all captures.
An intelligence source said: “Our belief is that they want to capture all the states in the north for some reasons. They’ve started with capturing of towns. And from that, they may begin another offensive, which is to capture states, especially Abuja.” Dr. Ona Ekhomu, a security expert, is the President of the Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria (AISSON) and the Africa Rep resentative of the International Foundation for Protection Officers (IFPO).
Ekhomu thinks there is a more sinister reason for the capturing, but declined to share the information for security reasons. He however said: “The Boko Haram members are good military men and tacticians. They know which towns they’re taking on and they know for what strategic reasons, but I won’t tell you. Yes, there are tactical reasons, I can however tell you that most of the towns they’re captured are close to Sambisa forest. It means they can retreat into Sambisa, come out and attack, then retreat again. It’s a battle strategy.” He described as unfortunate, the capturing of Michika and other towns in the north.
He however said that the tide could turn for the Nigerian forces, if proper attention is given to military arms. “The military is fighting, but it’s doing so with hands tied behind its back. Fighting with its arms tied behind its back, is talking about military armaments, which is outdated because we’ve not really kitted the military for this sort of battle. The military was last kitted during the Shehu Shagari era. That was about 31 years back. That was the last time the military was kitted with fresh gears, meaning new equipment,” said Ekhomu.
Ekhomu said that alone was a drawback for the Nigerian army, adding that there was also the issue of weapon superiority. He said: “But now the bad guys, because they’re able to buy weapons, that’s Muammar Gaddafi’s former Libyan army war weapons from across the desert, superior fire power to those of our boys and are able to dislodge our boys or sometimes kill them. Let me give you a scenario; they come to an army check point. Everybody knows the army because they’re in uniform, but nobody knows the bad guys. They know the distance to the army checkpoint. “They calibrate the distance to that check point, go out of the range of that checkpoint and fire double ‘A’ anti-air craft weapons into the particular triangulation of that military checkpoint.
And they’ll kill the soldiers there and come in, to do mop up operation.” He argued that the Nigerian army was severely disadvantaged. According to him, the soldiers are wanted in every town in the northern community for assistance and have too many issues on their platter. “The army is putting out fire in many places and it’s quite a drain on its resources. This is why we’re having this turn of events,” he stated. He revealed that what had largely conspired against the Nigeria army was the fact that the insurgents have a lot of mercenary soldiers, fighting on their side. The sect has drawn mercenary soldiers from ISIS, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigel Republic and even Mali He added:
“When the Malian war was hot, Boko Haram went to fight on their side. In fact, Abubakar Shekau went to fight in that war. Boko Haram had ingratiated itself into the Malian Islamist group called Ansar Dine. These are the people fighting against our troops. The army is not just fighting Boko Haram. The army is up against serious challenges.” According to him, the Nigerian army had not been running, but retreating in the face of overwhelming odds, so that they could regroup, to attack another time. He further explained: “Let me give you an instance in Bama. When the fighting was too hot, our boys withdrew, but later got Bama back within four days. It was a tactical withdrawal. When you stay and fight every battle to the end, you may become a dead hero. We should support our military.
We should support our boys. They’re fighting against international terrorists. These are the same terrorists that are chasing armies out of Iraq and Syria. These are the same people we’re fighting here. Boko Haram has all technical help.” The former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav (rtd) opined that the Boko Haram group maybe capturing towns because it wants to prove to the Federal government that they can always beat the Nigerian army. His words: “As far as I’m concerned, the Boko Haram sect has showed the Nigerian army that they can always beat them. They capture this town and then the next. It shows the army is inefficient. It shows our President is not serious.
The Boko Haram sect wants to intimidate the federal government and the people of Nigeria and cause havoc.” He said that if the military goes out now, to deal with the insurgents decisively, the sect might not capture any other town. Tsav said: “But as long as they continue to allow them to capture more towns, there would be fear. And one day, Boko Haram may attempt to march on to Abuja. If they’re not stopped, they would be emboldened to capture other towns. The military are complaining they’re not well equipped. They’ve complained that Boko Haram is better equipped than them.
The Governor of Borno State once said that the Boko Haram is better equipped. The President came out and started insulting him. This is exactly what is happening now! This man saw and said it. If the army is armed, it would be able to deal with the situation.” Tsav noted that the major cause of the troubles in the country, including not equipping the soldiers properly to confront terrorism and terrorists was corruption. “Look at what is happening in this Ona country now. There’s a lot of corruption and for a long time, nobody has been convicted of corruption.
There was a time Lamido Sanusi said that 20 billion dollars was missing, but nobody bothered to investigate this. The 20 billion dollars can equip the Nigerian army very well to fight and win this war. The President is sitting on corruption and he’s not ready to do anything about it,” said Tsav. Adding, “But a lot of people are benefiting from this situation. This set of people are building houses, buying cars, jetliners and sending their families overseas. It’s unfortunate indeed!” The Chief Executive Officer/principal consultant Zenith Intelligence and Security Solutions, Barrister Ethelbert Oney, a UK trained lawyer, believes the reason for the latest move from Boko Haram was to finally be able to get its hold on the whole of Nigeria, with the aim of Islamising it.
According to him, such a dream will never become a reality. He said: “The Boko Haram situation got to this extent because of under reaction, which I had always talked about. This under reaction is when government fails to take its legitimate stand. When you apply under reaction, it means something is happening which you think will soon go away. What the Boko Haram is doing, is what we call psychological propaganda. We need to play the same game on them. Psychological propaganda means injecting fear into the people. Most of the people in the towns they’ve captured have run away. That’s the game plan. That’s the psychological propaganda I’m talking about.” Oney said that what Nigeria and Nigerians need right now, is resilience. He explained: “It means people standing together and saying enough is enough.
The problem we’re having now, as a democratic government, is when we fail to say, that this is what we can do. If we continue to lose our ground, terrorists will continue to win. We’re at the dagger edge point now. All this could have been avoided if the appropriate steps had been taken. Terrorism has a system. In order to win the war on counter terrorism, we must first win the intelligence war.”
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