Chilling on Technical Victory' may allow insurgence regroup for daring attacks is the warning coming from Nigeria's foremost security media outlet www.security1656.com
Shortly before the New Year President Muhammadu Buhari declared the war against the Boko Haram insurgents technically won. His words were " articulated conventional attacks on centres of communication and populations in towns and so on, they are no longer capable of doing it effectively.
So technically, I think we have won the war".
The
recall is particularly imperative because even though the war still remain
technically won, the audacious attack on the town of Dalori over the
weekend, was disturbingly articulated, effective and on populations. It didn't
follow the convention of previous attacks where young female suicide bombers
were the principal actors. It is this seamless ability of the insurgents to
device new technique to attack soft targets that make the war against them at
this dicey.
When
their campaign of bloodletting in Dalori was over, more than 86 persons were
killed, 136 injured and the town reduced to ruins. Survivors have spoken of
women and children being burnt alive.
They also describe how the insurgents came
into the town in two Golf cars and motorcycles and this account has been
corroborated by Army's official statement which was published by Premium Times.
The audacity of that entry should give us a cause to worry as such an overt
operation was neither nipped nor contained by the security operatives
especially as the attack happened just 10 kilometres away from Maiduguri.
Certainly,
the attack raise serious questions and at this point, it is premature to even
speculate that our technical victory is under threat but we cannot deny that
the tacit approach of the Dalori attack which lasted over four hours under the
nose of the military, so close to Maiduguri, the command headquarters of the
fight against the insurgents is an affront to the Authority of the Military in
the area. This is perhaps the reason why GarbaShehu, the senior special
assistant to the President on Media and Publicity released a statement on
behalf of the President describing the attack as a desperate attempt to
embarrass the government.
Admittedly,
the Army has done a remarkable job of fighting the insurgents to a fall back
position. They must now do even more to keep liberated territories and protect
citizens. Attacks like the one in Dalori cannot be planned in a day. It could
have taken weeks. It could not have been successful without the insurgents
carrying out surveys and mapping out strategies that require them to be
physically on ground. The failure to detect them is a problem of intelligence.
It should not be allowed to repeat as that could boost their shattered morale
and we can as well just kiss goodbye to the gains so far made
.
The
timing of the Dalori attack has coincidentally come at a time when the
President is on another leg of his foreign trip to Europe. This time he shall
be in Strasbourg, France and is schedule to address both the French and
European Parliaments. His address is expected to focus on terrorism. Having
been at the receiving end of a similar attack last year in the hands of
terrorists suspected to be members of the ISIL group, the President’s visit was to seek closer defense assistance from the
French. Obviously, the war against the insurgents is in need of some new vigour
especially as the Chibok girls whom the President has promised to find during
his inauguration are still missing.
We must
also admit that with such challenge on our hands, the technicality of the
victory over the Boko Haram remains fragile. The final push will land the
outright victory over them should be well underway. Obviously the Presidents
trip to France will go a long way to support whatever existing plans to win the
war outright. If we live too much on a technical victory, we buy time for the
insurgents to regroup and launch daring attacks like Dalori.
About the author;WabaIribi is a political
scientist and a writer.
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