Last week, Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar visited the Headquarters of Blueprint newspaper in Abuja, where he speaks on issues bordering on the ongoing war against terrorism in the North east, welfare of troops and other sundry matters. MUSA UMAR BOLOGI reports.
When Sambisa was captured by the troops, Nigerians expect to see the Chibok girls, weapons and even the capture of Shekau, the Boko Haram factional leader, or his commanders, unfortunately this was not so. Were you not also surprised that the troops neither captured Sheka u nor rescue the Chibok girls?
There were activities going on in the forest before it was occupied by the insurgents. It used to be the training camp of the National Guards that was introduced in the 1980, during the Babangida administration. But over time the place was left unattended. When the Boko Haram terrorists were dislodged from Maiduguri the only place they could lay siege was Sambisa forest, because of its natural cover.
Our strategic target was to capture the forest. Now that we have done that, we are going to revive it to accommodate our activities, especially training and exercises. We still have other plans, but we are taking our time so that we don’t repeat mistakes of the past. We want to make sure the terrorists are completely dislodged from the place before we convert it to a more useful venture.
On the issue of not apprehending Shekau or any of his commanders, I want to say that we are not fighting Shekau as a person; we are fighting Boko Haram elements. Shekau is just the leadership; we are fighting the ideology and total elimination of the group called Boko Haram. And I believe we have succeeded in doing that because they now lacking formidable force to attack. They don’t have the capacity to even organise themselves anymore. They don’t have free movement as they used to have; neither do they have freedom of action. They are in total disarray; and if somebody is in disarray, it means he has lost out. They are completely gone. This is what it means in military engagement. So, the issue of whether we were unable to capture Shekau or any of his commanders is not the case.
On the issue of Chibok girls, it is possible that the terrorists have hidden them somewhere that was why troops could find them in Sambisa. But we are doing our best to rescue not only these girls but every other person abducted by the insurgents. We have rescued many people that are not even known. They are also human beings, and they are Nigerians. So the Bring Back Our Girls (BBG) should not be exclusive on one demand, they should include other people, because they are also Nigerians and other persons children too. They must be generous to expand their vision to accommodate those that were kidnaped and were not even known. Our troops rescue people abducted by the terrorists on daily basis. Even last week, they rescued 87 people.
We took the BBG to Sambisa to avail them the opportunity to understand the terrain in which our troops conduct operations. And when they came back they began to appreciate our efforts. Sambisa has a large land mass. It is about the size of the whole South east. But because of narrow understanding of the terrain people believe that it is just an easy thing to do.
Some of our soldiers have spent two years in this terrain, without seeing their families. What sacrifice they have to give their country more than what they are doing?
People are just being emotional about the Chibok girls. But we are not relenting, we are doing our best and where ever they are one day we will find them.
Three operations are concurrently on to ensure that we totally eliminate the terrorists and rescue all the captives. These are: Operation Crack Down, Operation Rescue Finale, and Operation Gama Aiki II by the multi-national joint task force.
There are stories in the social media that troops are not adequately catered for in terms of
Welfare is very important in every military engagement. We have elements that are very pertinent when it comes to issue of engagement, be it conventional or unconventional. These are: platforms, equipment, intelligence, and welfare. The issue of welfare is very fundamental that no commander treat it with kids glove.. It is against this backdrop that the Armed Forces have put in place many welfare initiatives, in addition to allowances of soldiers on monthly basis. I can confidently say that payments of all allowances of our troops are up to date.
In the event of incapacitation or death of a soldier, there are incentives that have been put in place to cushion the effect of absent of a bread winner. The Armed Forces Act has institutionalised welfare packages as follows: Nigerian Military Welfare Scheme, Benevolent Services, Housing Scheme, Group Life Insurance, and sponsorship of four children from primary to university level. The Group life Insurance is specifically introduced for troops who paid the supreme price in the course of duty.
This is a large sum of money which the Federal Government has put in place to settle any officer or soldier who died in battle. The money is a premium and it is being controlled by a company. Just last month the Minster of Defence issued cheque to the 2018 next-of-kins of some deceased soldiers. Though no amount of money can replace the life of a bread winner, the money is a show of concern. The Armed Forces has put all these packages in place so that when anything happens the family of a deceased soldier will have something to lay hands on and move on with life. When a soldier is deceased his salaries continues up to the time the Group Life Insurance is paid. So, nobody is denying anybody anything in terms of welfare.
However, many people don’t know about these welfare packages. Outsiders may not know, but the soldiers themselves know about these packages. The allegations we read in the social media, most times, come from people that were dismissed from service. They are the ones complaining. The truth is that they cannot be paid when they did not work. They use sentiment to misinform the populace in order to achieve their aim.
But we have realised that we have to talk to the media about this, because it is only when we talk that the public will know about the policies that are put in place by the Armed Forces for those who are still serving and those that were incapacitated.
After the accidental bombing of Rann by the Airforce fighter jets, a committee was set to investigate the incident. Has the committee concluded its findings, and what is the outcome?
The accidental bombing of the community was really an unfortunate incident. The information given to us and passed to the air force was very accurate. The source of information as never failed us, so we have no reason to doubt such information. It was on that will to further eliminate the insurgents that we acted the way we acted. But it was an operational mistake. It was regretful, and I believe Nigerians have come to understand it. This kind of thing has never happened since we began the war against the terrorists.
The essence of this occurrence is to learn a lesson and reappraise the whole exercise and see what we can do better. Two committees have been set up on this issue. There is a committee set up by the Defence Headquarters apart from the service committee. As soon as they finished their investigations, the report will be made available, and we will let people know the outcome.
What is the military doing on attack on soft targets by the terrorists?
As will always say, the military cannot do it alone. There must be collaboration from people. These terrorists are human beings and not ghosts. We expect the public to always provide us with information about strange things or people they see around them. The efforts should not come from the military and other security agencies alone, but the public must cooperate to give information in order to prevent suicide bombing. We have always informed the public on new antics of the suicide bombers, and we will continue to do our best to update the citizens, especially people in the North east.