TheCable

The news of the NDA attack has sent very strong shock into the nation. The NDA is sacred ground. It is where our finest officer core is trained and deployed into what used to be the most respected fighting force in Africa.

This attack shows more than ever before the clay footed stature of the Armed Forces and Nigerians as expected have been all over themselves with condemnation and bitterness towards the government for what just happened.

But let’s look at this thing very closely. Now I am really scared because up until this very issue, I had made myself believe that this insurgency was at best a rag tag team of people trying to defend their religious faith on the one side and on the other side loose bands of petty criminals taking advantage of the situation to carry on the business of banditry and kidnapping.

But this attack to me tells more. It shows a deliberate and very brilliant strategy to erode further public confidence in the Governments ability to protect and play its constitutional role. It is aimed at fueling the current call for self-protection which in itself could easily lead to anarchy and total breakdown of law and order like in Libya and other failed states.

Nigerians as usual are running riot. Not taking the time to look closely at these things and forgetting that in a system where everything goes down, we will all suffer.

This is not the time to be castigating the Government and berating the army. We agree that they have not lived up to their responsibility but at the same time, what they are facing is a well-coordinated guerilla warfare and those who know, know that this is usually not the easiest of conflicts to curb.

The Government should begin to look at changing its tactics. This is why some of us at the time of choosing the new Army Chief after the demise of the last one had suggested that we look towards intelligence since the battle ground has tactically changed.

It is now a battleground of intelligence. The huge Armies no longer remain effective in my illiterate estimation. You move a major mechanized division towards the battle ground and what do you find? sand and trees. No enemy.

Guess what, your enemy is in the cities, the mosques, the churches and the beer parlors around your barracks and homes. This is not a full-frontal Army to Army conflict this is a ‘hit and run’ conflict complete with ambushes and booby traps and our over 100, 000 strong Army is looking stupid.

Why we cannot change tactics is what is beating me right now. Why we cannot use our special forces to penetrate the networks and take them from the inside is my measles right now. Why we cannot seek for help from international intelligence community is really disheartening.

But the worse of all in this situation, is the general public who out of their fear and panic and continuous violence and loss of lives are behaving exactly how the terrorist wants them to behave – loose confidence in the system thereby further undermining the Government’s ability and capacity to fight.

Can someone please tell Mr. Buhari this?