In response to that publication, some Nigerians labeled me as condoning an ineffectual government’s unwarranted and ill-informed decision to “surrender the sovereignty of our country to neo-colonialists”.
But, I must tell anyone who cares to listen that Boko Haram snatched away that sovereignty from right under our noses three years ago. While I agree with one of my angry respondents that too many Nigerians are doing too much “talk-talk”, without really proffering any solutions to this escalating war, I’m circumspect about what he has called the “better option to calling in foreign support”.
According to him and his likes, General Mohammadu Buhari (retired) should be “persuaded” to wade in and talk to the terrorists, since, as he put it, the Boko Haram leadership had once or twice mentioned him as “someone they respect”. Perhaps so.
What I do know, if my memory serves me right, is that the former head of state has severally rejected any such suggestions, even though we all know that it took his belated intervention to end the blood-letting that was sparked off in parts of the north, when his supporters went violent, following his decisive defeat in the 2011 presidential election.
I do not deny that the likes of General Buhari are enormously influential and can contribute in no small degree in unraveling the seeming mystery behind the dangerous political-cum-armed conflagration that is playing out in parts of the north. Having said that, we must also allow realism, truth and pragmatism to reign supreme at all times: meaning that it is already too late in the day for any magic-wand-performance from people like the former head of state. Boko Haram has fallen irretrievably into the hands and ideologies of Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Al Shabbab.
Of course, and as everyone is now settling down to understand, the U.S., Western Europe, China and Israel are not here to extend the hand of Santa Clause to Nigeria. They have come in with their own standards and conditions; and besides, their increasing involvement can only embolden the extremists and ensure that some parts of the Moslem World will not join in any coalition to help us, if only because of Israel’s involvement.
Yet, the facts on the ground clearly show that the violence in the north-east is not only escalating by the day, but, has also proved to be beyond the capacity of the Nigerian military. It is a dangerous thing to witness a demoralized and infiltrated army fight any war, let alone a counter-insurgency conflict, in which it has little or no experience.
Yes! Experience, intelligence and hi-tech weapons are what we currently don’t have, and that is what foreign help will afford our security forces.
Well, many of us might have to continue, even if grudgingly, hearing people with American accent delivering radio and TV jingles and security alerts. But, surely, that is not too much to ask, when even people high up in our country’s military have admitted that corruption, that virus that is the root of most of our problems, has permeated the armed forces, so much so that something as basic as bullets don’t often reach the troops on the battlefront on time.
Unfortunately for this war, it is not a conventional conflict, between two standing armies. Boko Haram and its allies are hit-and-run guerrillas, and Nigerians must stop thinking that helicopters, heavy shells, rockets and mortars will prove successful in defeating radicalized armed militants who can and do melt back into the ordinary population whenever they need to. Not only do these foreign personnel possess the technology, including drones and satellites, needed for the complex job of fishing out the terrorists and minimizing collateral damage, but, equally as important to this country is winning and retaining the full backing of the United Nations, U.N., which these foreign powers can guarantee. Let’s not forget that America, Britain, France and China are among the five permanent members of the all-powerful U.N. Security Council.
In fact, notwithstanding the fear in some quarters, which may not be totally unfounded, that the terror-alliance might try to attack soft targets down south and cause further escalation, it’s also true that increased and more effective collaboration between our security forces and the foreigners, including our neighbours, can limit the activities of the insurgents. Besides, and as the recent Paris conference has shown, Nigeria’s immediate neighbours will be essential in winning this war against terror. While they may have their own handicaps or misgivings about joining us in taking the battle to the insurgents, we’re at least wrest assured that a world-power such as France, upon which Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Niger, among others, rely for extensive economic and military support, will be trusted to ensure that our Neighbours are committed to the cause.
Also, Third World armies hardly tolerate or accept to subject themselves to civilian authority, especially in times of conflict like this. While I’m not foreseeing any military coup in this country, at least, we can all wrest assured that with international presence here, and eyes of the entire world community fixed on us, the military won’t want to risk the backlash and isolation that will trail any undemocratic take-over of power.
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