By Ezrel Tabiowo
Abuja
A member of the Senate Committee on Army and Defence, Senator Mohammed Sani Saleh, yesterday blamed the inability of the Nigerian military in defeating Boko Haram on what he described as the ‘deterioration’ and decay” in the armed forces.
Senator Saleh, a retired Army General who opened a can of worms on the rot in the military, heaped the bulk of blame on past military regimes whom, he said, were responsible for disarming the armed forces and in the process rendering it weak.
The lawmaker made the revelation during a meeting between the security chiefs and the Senate and House Committees on Defense, which held at the National Assembly yesterday.
Senator Saleh therefore called on his colleagues in the National Assembly to insist on a military that is well equipped just so as to ensure strong and potent armed forces.
Senator Saleh said: “What I am going to say is based on my experience as an insider. Our duty here as senators of the federal republic transcends the extension of state of emergency. Our duty of oversight should ensure that high standards must be maintained in addition to acquiring all necessary equipment required to maintain a strong force.
“When the chief of defense staff was appointed in January, this year, the service chiefs made a categorical statement that within three months they will crush Boko Haram. But unfortunately, what we are seeing is a complete deterioration of the situation, so it is incumbent on us to find out why that deterioration. We have heard about our soldiers mutiny, it is also our responsibility to find out why that is happening.
The lawmaker, who also recounted incidents which led to the fall of the armed forces, revealed further: “For us to understand why that is happening, we need to go back to the Babangida era. After the 1990 Okar coup, the federal government of Nigeria systematically and comprehensively disarmed the military.
“All the tanks, all the artillery guns were disarmed and locked up. All the aircraft were parked in Ilorin and other places, flying stopped, training stopped to ensure regime security not national security. All the good officers of the Nigerian Army were hounded out of the military. And there was over concentration of power at the centre, which was the army headquarters.
“Prior to that, General Officers Commanding used to have training and manouvre grants. They had the power and responsibility to train their troops and battalions and to ensure an efficient logistics and service support system. All that stopped. Everything was from Army headquarters, everything was from Air Force headquarters, everything was from Naval headquarters. The attendant result was decay. Training was no longer going on at the battalion level, soldiers lost their skills and since then, no additional military equipment was purchased for the Nigerian Army. Even things as little as machine guns were in short supply, ammunition was in short supply.”
Senator Saleh, however, cautioned that until concerted efforts are made by the federal government in ensuring a turnaround of the situation which exists in the military, the fight against the Boko Haram sect may well be an uphill task that may prove insurmountable.
“An individual soldier’s professional skill was to be a match man, to shoot and hit his target but can he do that if he has no ammunition? We have a duty to rebuild this army, to rebuild these armed forces, and unless we understand these basic facts, we are not going anywhere.
The lawmaker, who also attributed the weakness of, and confusion within Nigeria’s military to its warfare tactic, blamed the Obasanjo regime for same and called for its immediate reversal as a strategic concept of engagement.
“Also, after some time the fighting doctrine of the Nigerian Army was changed. We were essentially British brought up. That means we knew how much materials we had, the tasks before us and so on. But along the line during the Obasanjo regime, General Obasanjo brought Americans here and our doctrine approach was changed to warfare.
“I make bold to tell you that up till today nobody understands that. I know it is a strategic concept of warfare but in Nigeria we are applying it to the operational and tactical level. It has created a lot of confusion within our army.
He said Nigeria’s involvement in foreign operations and the kind of training we give to our soldiers for operations was a kind of defensive posture.
“You don’t kill until you are killed, you don’t attack until you are attacked. That also helped to change the orientation of some of our soldiers,” he added.
Revealing the extent of fraud within government’s military establishments, the lawmaker said: “I must mention here fraud within the ministry of defense, fraud within the military service systems themselves has contributed a lot to diminishing our fighting capability. Further to that again, we have the issue of our combat service support. Because of fraudulent activities, We monetized everything. Our supply services, our medical services are completely inefficient and are unable to support the fighting in the North-east now. Right now I stand to question how our soldiers are being fed.”
Earlier, the Chief of Defense Staff, Air Marshall Alex Badeh, while briefing the Senator Thompson Sekibo-led committee yesterday, called on Nigerians not to lose faith in the ability of the armed forces in curbing insurgency in the country.
Briefing both committees of the House of Representatives and Senate, the chief of defence staff disclosed that measures were already in place to deprive members of Boko Haram free movement within the North-east states presently under state of emergency.
He said: “Since the declaration, the Armed Forces have been engaged in a sustained operations against these terrorists. In the last one month, troupes have sustained on-going offensive operations both in and outside seven division areas of operation to shape the theatre, establish fighting positions and limiting Boko Haram freedom of movement within the area of operation and, as I said earlier, the chief of army staff and chief of defence staff have been away to the theatre since last week and are yet to be back till probably next week.
Significantly, troupes are currently carrying out unlimited offensive operations aimed at denying Boko Haram freedom of action and from achieving its aim to isolate and control areas around Maiduguri.
“Additionally, the involvement of the international community which led to the establishment of the joint planning committee on the 12 of May, 2014, the initial mandate of the joint coordination and planning committee which is championed by America and Britain was the fusion of intelligence for the rescue of abducted Chibok girls but this gradually is being extended to other aspects of the operations. I want to state here that the military is highly engaged in operations in view of achieving favourable outcomes,” he added.
