Defence Hqs
- Presidential c’ttee indicts military over Chibok kidnapping
Roland Ogbonnaya 

The story of Nigeria’s military is a microcosm of the country: One that
started on an enviable slate but has ended up a shadow of its former
self, THISDAY investigations have revealed.
Starting from 1970, immediately after the civil war, Nigeria with a
population of 56.132 million boasted a military strength of 250,000
troops, which was by far the largest in West Africa.
Retired military officers, who spoke to THISDAY with a history of the
country’s military might, added that in the early 1970s, the armed
forces also had the arsenal to boot.
Today, however, a retired army general said that with a population of
170.2 million, a little over 100,000 armed forces personnel that are
ill-equipped, poorly trained and poorly motivated troops are expected to
defend the territorial integrity of the country from internal and
external aggression.
With Nigeria currently at war with the terrorist group, Boko Haram, he
wondered how the federal government expects to win the war against a
deranged group that has killed over 12,000 innocent citizens of the
country in a space of five years and is lusting for more blood.
Going down memory lane, the general said the decimation of Nigeria’s
military started in the 1980s after the overthrow of President Shehu
Shagari.
“Shagari was the last president that made a conscious effort to equip
the military adequately. Before he was overthrown, his administration
ordered 50 Chinook helicopters for carrying equipment and armed forces
personnel. He also ordered several armoured vehicles and ensured that
the armouries in all the divisions were well equipped.
“But when a succession of military rulers took over, starting from
Major-General Muhammadu Buhari to General Ibrahim Babangida and the late
General Sani Abacha, they went out of their way to demobilise the army
for their own selfish reasons,” he revealed.
He added that even when former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a retired general who should have reversed the rot, assumed office in 1999, he continued on the same path as his successors in order to weaken and depoliticise the armed forces and prevent over-ambitious officers from overthrowing his government.
He added that even when former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a retired general who should have reversed the rot, assumed office in 1999, he continued on the same path as his successors in order to weaken and depoliticise the armed forces and prevent over-ambitious officers from overthrowing his government.
To buttress the general’s point, globalsecurity.org, a website
dedicated to defense, military and weapons systems news and information
on armed forces worldwide, described the Nigerian military as “a large,
complex organisation: The Nigerian military contains a number of
contradictions, incongruities, and internal disjunctions.
“It is the largest, most capable military in West Africa with major
foreign deployments under ECOWAS and the AU, as well as extensive UN
peacekeeping commitments.
“At the same time, chronic under-resourcing has led to low operational
readiness, lack of training, and relatively poor conditions of service.
“These problems, along with endemic corruption, have made the Nigerian
military somewhat of a hollow giant resting on its reputation -- more
capable than any other force in the sub-region, but considerably less
capable than it should be with tens of thousands of troops and a large
stock of major weapons systems and other equipment.
“A high percentage of the heart of the force -- the 60,000-soldier
strong army's 25 infantry battalions -- are capable of little more than
basic defensive operations.”
It is on this same premise, THISDAY gathered, that the Presidential
Fact-finding Committee on the abduction of the schoolgirls in Chibok,
Borno State, in its report submitted to President Goodluck Jonathan last
Friday indicted the military for the kidnapping of 276 female students
from their school.
According to a source on the committee, the report by the committee led
by Brigadier-General Ibrahim Sabo (rtd), came down heavily on the
military for not responding to intelligence reports before the attack on
the Chibok community and the abduction of the schoolgirls over 70 days.
The committee, which advised the federal government to keep its report
classified for the sake of national security and so as not to jeopardise
the release of 219 schoolgirls who remain in captivity, also said in
the report that the military also failed to respond to the attack on
Chibok because the soldiers were ill-equipped and ill-motivated.
Also, contrary to expectations, the fact-finding committee absolved the
Borno State Government of complicity in the kidnapping of the
schoolgirls and failure to provide security at the Government Secondary
School, Chibok, on the day of the attack as it was one of the five
designated centres in Borno State for the West African Examination
Council School Certificate (WAECSC) that was holding at the time.
The source on the committee further revealed that the report stated
that apart from the 219 girls that remain in captivity, 57 who had at
different times escaped, two policemen were also kidnapped on the night
of April 14.
He said the report, however, stated that the two policemen who were
kidnapped alongside with the girls had since regained their freedom when
security forces attacked a village said to have been occupied by the
Boko Haram sect.
When contacted on the issue, the Senior Special Adviser to the
President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, refused to discuss the
report of the fact-finding committee, stating that it was a classified
document and could not be commented on.
He explained that he was unaware of the findings of the committee report and as a result, could not deny or confirm THISDAY inquiries.
He explained that he was unaware of the findings of the committee report and as a result, could not deny or confirm THISDAY inquiries.
However, a presidency source denied that two policemen were kidnapped
alongside the girls, stating that the report of the committee never made
a reference to policemen.
The committee was inaugurated by the president a few weeks after the abduction of the schoolgirls.
Its terms of reference included to liaise with the Borno State
Government and establish the circumstances leading to the school
remaining open for boarding students when other schools were closed; and
to liaise with the relevant authorities and the parents of the missing
girls to establish the actual number and identities of the girls
abducted and to interface with the security services and the Borno State
Government to ascertain how many of the missing girls had returned.
TEN STEPS TO DEFEAT BOKO HARAM
- Equip the military
- Commence an aggressive recruitment drive
- Establish the Nigerian Armed Forces Reserves
- Invest in new technologies and training
- Build barracks and pay the troops a living wage
- Plug leakages and stem corruption
- Reintroduce professionalism and de-emphasise federal character
- Enter into military alliances with friendly nations
- Court martial traitors and sympathisers of Boko Haram
- Adequately compensate families that lose troops at the warfront
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