The first official covenant a leader makes with the people, on
the first day of official function is security of lives and property of the
citizenry. It is neither negotiable nor subject to compromise under any guise.
A law
abiding and peaceful nation is the panacea to uninhibited development and
prosperity. It is the primary essence of governance. And the capacity of the
Armed Forces anywhere in the world is gauged by its capacity and competencies
to assist the President to defray internal and external aggressions against its
country. But the military abdicated on this basic constitutional responsibility
under the last administration.
And the
consequences were quite grave. No Nigerian can agree less that Nigeria was on a
precarious cliff of total breakdown of law and order, by May 2015, when
President Muhammedu Buhari took the reins of office.
Burdened
by an extremely weak Military, prior to the ascension of the Buhari Presidency,
Nigeria
replaced its peaceful soul with almost everyday violence, deaths and agonies
from terrorism. Dominantly at the home front, Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs)
obstinately pulled the cord of disunity and disintegration of Nigeria . It
went paranoid and regrettably unchallenged in the organized atrocious acts and
heinous crimes against Nigerians. But Buhari has smothered the fire.
Also, an existing discontentment in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria, unleashed very acerbic militancy, greased by greed and an insatiable appetite for dubious wealth by the elite. Very wild and bitter splinter militant sects emerged, with separate agendum and modus operandi, surprisingly, all pointing to an obscure reason-impoverishment of the Niger Delta, the proverbial cash cow of the country.
Also, an existing discontentment in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria, unleashed very acerbic militancy, greased by greed and an insatiable appetite for dubious wealth by the elite. Very wild and bitter splinter militant sects emerged, with separate agendum and modus operandi, surprisingly, all pointing to an obscure reason-impoverishment of the Niger Delta, the proverbial cash cow of the country.
Militants
competitively registered resentments through bombing of oil installations or
facilities, abductions of oil workers, oil theft and bunkering and other
sublime acts of terrorism. Nigeria
bled uninterruptedly under the fangs of militancy, as crude oil exploration
dropped incredibly from 2.3 million barrels a day to 1.2 million barrels.
Much
more, the fear of constant violence, kidnappings and payment of ransoms on oil
workers compelled the relocation of headquarters of International Oil Companies
(IOCs) outside the Niger Delta to Lagos and
other safer locations in Southern Nigeria . But
President Buhari has laid the ghost of militancy to permanent rest.
The
general dreary insecurity portrait of the Southern region of the country was
further amplified in the Southeast region. An assemblage of disparate armed
gangs found a comfortable haven is the now outlawed Indigenous Peoples of
Biafra (IPOB). Led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, an abrasive bloodsucker, the armed
gangs tormented and terrorized innocent and law abiding citizens, killing and
maiming opponents who expressed aversion to their style of secession
agitations. They severally created conditions favorable to looting and
perpetrating all acts of criminality with impunity. Again, Mr. President has
castrated the terror sect into oblivion.
Elsewhere
in the North, the narrative was the same. The foreign and Iranian backed
Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) or the Shiites in Nigeria , led by Sheik Ibraheem
El-Zakzaky, operating under a bizarre religious ideology, antithetical to all
known Islamic norms or doctrines, held dozens of Nigerians captive in cities
and villages.
The
Shiites killed Nigerians at sight, including security agents, during their
weird or irreligious processions and brooked neither opposition nor resistance
from any quarters. The Shiites have just discovered they cannot penetrate Nigeria under a
Buhari Presidency.
The pride
of the nation was completely buried with the tempestuous rage of armed bandits
and cattle rustlers in the Northwest. The deadly criminals sacked whole
villages and communities, much as they prevented farmers from accessing their
farms or traders and local businessmen from patronizing markets.
Major
highways became unsafe, as they ambushed passenger or commercial vehicles and
murder commuters in cold blood and dissipate unmolested. But the region is now,
a persona non grata for these armed criminals.
The more
than a decade’s violence on the Plateau raged with renewed vigor, expanding to
unimaginable frontiers. In Plateau too, several communities were sacked and it
was a celebrated killing mines for both indigenes and visitors to this once
enviable tourist’s destination in Nigeria . Life largely became
meaningless for most Nigerians. But peace has berthed on the Plateau.
And
specifically in Southern part of Kaduna
state, old ethnic rivalries were resurrected and the strengths of feuding
parties tested in bloodbath. The scenario has been duplicated in the Middle
Belt region with the herders/farmers crisis, equally claiming hundreds of lives
and causing awful destruction of properties. President Buhari has set the ball
rolling to clear the last vestiges of these criminals.
Glaringly,
the capacity of civil security agencies could not contain the widespread anger
on the land. Therefore, President Buhari, who immediately restructured and
re-organized the Nigerian Military, deployed the military in aid of civil security.
They were saddled with the onerous of quelling the burning fires of bloodbath
across Nigeria
and to restore peace and security to the people.
The Chief
of Army Staff (COAS) and leader of the counter-insurgency operations in Nigeria , Lt.
Gen. Tukur Yusufu Buratai hit the ground running. He started by
re-professionalizing and re-organizing the Nigerian Army, inculcating in Army
personnel the virtues of discipline, loyalty, patriotism and commitment to
their constitutional and professional duties.
Gen.
Buratai’s first assignment saw him facing the conflagration of the Abubakar
Shekau led Boko Haram. By December, 2015, barely five months of his action on
the battlefield, Boko Haram insurgents were weakened and decimated. His troops
also began the speedy recovery of nearly 24 LGAs under terrorists control in
the Northeast and incredibly restricted the insurgents area of operations to
just the Northeast, where they originated.
By
mid-2016, Nigerian troops had reclaimed all Nigerian territories under the captivity
of Boko Haram, an action which was executed simultaneously alongside freeing of
Boko Haram hostages enslaved in remote camps and caves.
At the
last count, the Nigerian Army had directly or indirectly rescued nearly 5,000
Nigerians held captive by insurgents, including a substantial number of the
Chibok schoolgirls abducted in April 2014 and all the recently abducted 110
Dapchi schoolgirls. Among the rescued are children, women and the aged.
Having
effectively and courageously decimated Boko Haram terrorists, the Nigerian Army
moved and defeated terrorists by the demystification of Sambisa Forest
in Borno state. It was terrorists’ most fortified haven, where they retreated
for shield, recuperated and planned fresh attacks on Nigerians. Sambisa is a shadow
of its former dreary self, as the Army has transformed it with infrastructure.
Soldiers
penetrated Sambisa forest up to camp zero, killed scores of insurgents in the
exchange of gunfire. Abubakar Shekau was fortunate to escape, but soldiers
recovered his copy of the Holy Koran and the Boko Haram flag, a sign of
absolute defeat.
The Army
has engineered the voluntary surrender of dozens of Boko Haram top commanders
and hundreds of their foot soldiers. Soldiers have also blocked avenues
hitherto at the disposal of Shekau for the easy recruitment of fresh Nigerian
foot soldiers. So, when Shekau yelled publicly about his frustrations with the
war and preferring to surrender, soldiers had severely castrated him.
Additionally,
the Army under Gen. Buratai’s watch has expanded its infrastructure and
amenities. He has influenced the establishment of the first Nigerian Army
University in Africa, located in Biu,
Borno state; there is the Nigerian
Army Aviation
School and several
others. The Army Chief has renovated and refurbished Army barracks and
formations across the country, as well as railroaded the establishment of new
military formations in Kaduna ,
Rivers, Zamfara, and the Northeast region among others.
The
Nigerian Army under its current leadership is the first to execute Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) projects to host communities, anywhere soldiers are
deployed on special assignments. And it covers free Medicare, water supply,
electricity and roads projects all over the country.
Therefore,
in three years of battling Boko Haram by the Nigerian Army and other security
agencies, it’s now an joy unspeakable that Nigeria has come out of its
troubled insecurity waters. It is safe and rightly too, to haughtily thump the
chest and echo loudly that the Army has steered the ship of security to safety.
And that it is still under the same leader who decades back conquered the
Maitatsine insurgency, is unspeakable and the exhilaration is indescribable
among Nigerians.
He is the
ever calculative and focused President Buhari. He is the singular reason, every
Nigerian and indeed the entire nation is proud to regale in the prevailing
security in the country. He has remained a worthy guardian, an inspiration and
protective shield to Nigerians and the Nigerian Army under Gen. Buratai. It is
responsible for the marvelous results and victories over either internal or
external terrorism acts against Nigeria .
*Kolawole Anthony,
PhD, is a University lecturer.
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