“BH PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO ISIS IS A DESPERATE ACT” - EKHOMU

Boko Haram

Renowned security expert Dr. Ona Ekhomu has said that the recent pledge of allegiance by the religious terrorist group Boko Haram to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was a desperate cry for help by Boko Haram in order to avoid imminent defeat by gallant Nigerian troops. 

He urged the Nigerian military to intensify the counter-offensive operations and completely rout the terrorists and ensure the territorial integrity of Nigeria.

In a statement released in Lagos, Dr. Ona Ekhomu said that Boko Haram was hoping to scare the Nigerian military by invoking the specter of ISIS. He said another goal of declaring allegiance to ISIS was to engage in recruitment of jihadi  fighters as the recent military offensive had resulted in heavy loss of men on the part of the BH terrorists.

Ekhomu, who is President of the Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria (AISSON) said that the earlier declaration of the Islamic Caliphate of Gwoza by Boko Haram (BH) had dissolved with each new town or village re-captured or rescued from their clutches by Nigeria’s gallant troops. He warned that “the government and citizens must be alert to the threat of suicide bombings like we saw in Maiduguri last weekend that resulted in 62 fatalities and active shooter attacks like we saw in Njaba Borno State. Such sneak attacks are going to continue for quite a while. It will take vigilance and security awareness on the part of citizens to forestall these lone wolf or wolf pack attacks” Ekhomu said.

Dr. Ekhomu commended the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) troops fighting alongside Nigerian troops but deplored their boastful statements and claims of superior fighting skills. Ekhomu said that Nigeria had the greatest military in Africa and that the soldiers from Chad Cameroon and Niger were merely playing a supporting role to the Nigerian troops.

 He said that the real value of the Cameroonian, Nigerien and Chadian troops in the military campaign was that they were largely denying Boko Haram safe haven in their countries. He deplored the previous connivance and collusion of Nigeria’s neighbors in atrocities committed by BH. He said that aside from the African Union mandate on use of force, “BH essentially did Nigeria a favor by attacking the neighboring countries and drawing their ire. Obviously, BH bit off more than it could chew”. He said that the paltry number of troops contributed by the neighbors showed that two divisions of the Nigerian army could have flushed out BH barring our porous borders and complicity of neighboring countries who were benefitting from cash and other valuables stolen from Nigeria and trafficked into their countries.

Ekhomu advised President Goodluck Jonathan to order a full military parade in Abuja in honor of our troops once the military mission has been accomplished. “This would boost morale and restore the military to its usual place of honor in the Nigerian space,” he added.