By Comrd. Musa Mohammed
There is no doubt to any objective mind that relative peace and security have been attained in Nigeria with the coming of President Muhammadu Buhari and the subsequent appointment of the reigning Service Chiefs.
While before Muhammadu Buhari’s assumption of office as president of the country, Nigerians wouldnt forget in a hurry how boko haram terrorists has inflicted on the country heavy rain of terror especially in Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto and the Federal Capital territory, Abuja among other places.
While the media remains agog with litanies of public outcries and unjustified condemnations against the service chiefs over occasional resurgence of insecurity in the North West and North east, resulting in rising clamour for the sack of Service Chiefs, there is the need for logical introspection over the desirability or necessity for the removal of service chiefs.
To start with a brisk look at the general picture of the insecurity issue in Nigeria highlights a problem spanning a decade and traversing the respective tenures of many service chiefs before the ascension of the current heads of the armed forces.
Needless to recount here, there were deadlier attacks, far more devastating than what we recently experienced in borno, Katsina, niger and Yobe states. Attacks and bombings really foreclosed every opportunity to conduct business operations by the roadside and at market places, attend schools or workplaces, let alone enjoy travelling opportunities.
With the appointment of the current service chiefs, relative peace and security have been achieved. In my opinion, it is an open issue that among the heads of the military in this country, one of them has since their appointment proved himself to be outstandingly exceptional especially in the areas of military leadership. It is apparent that Gen tukur Buratai has been so much committed, focus and untiring in the efforts to destroy boko haram’s terrorism and other sundry crimes across the country.
Gen Buratai, in all objective human calculations has rejuvenated and restored the capability and willingness of the army personnel to fight. Troops no longer abondoned their positions and equipment on sighting the marauding insurgents. Gone are the days when troops remain on the defensive locations – thanks to the ingenious creation of super camp which has allowed for the needed mobility, flexibity, concentration of forces, equipment and efforts as well as the required force protection as troops are mostly mobile on patrols, carrying the battle to insurgents’ camps and hideouts killing hundreds of them in the process. The nation must have noted the way chief of Army Staff led offensive operations in the north east for over two months with resounding succeses where over 1500 terrorists were reportedly eliminated to the extent that the leader of the terrorists Abubakar Shekau was reported to have requested for a cease fire like a weeping terrorists’ commander which he is.
Recall that unlike before, the spate of civilian and non civilian casualties quickly subsided and military counter-insurgency began to record progressive victories on a regular basis.
Boko Haram fighters who were in control of 22 Local Government Areas have since been flushed out with the effective recapture of the areas.
Despite the occasional setbacks, the appointment of Gen Buratai and the entire heads of the military has therefore yielded some remarkable succeses in the battle against terrorism in Nigeria.
In fact, while MOONLIGHT NEWS has been following the progress of war on terror with keen interest, as have been the AREWA MEDIA PRACTITIONERS, our last visit to some parts of both Yobe and Borno States revealed striking features of security improvement in many of the areas and the people showed strong signs of support and appreciation for the success of the Nigerian Military operations in the North East.
Hence, if the reckless killings and bloodshed have been the ugly side of the matter, and the immense operational lapses in security strategies are the bad ones then the remarkable achievements recorded under Buratai, and the other service chiefs whose replacement guarantees no certain outcome are the good side of the present service chiefs, who obviously deserve our collective patience, prayers and support.
Mohammed is the Editor MOONLIGHTNEWS & National
President Arewa Media Practitioners.
