Boko Haram insurgency: Retired generals,others warn against hiring mercenaries Our Reporters Some retired generals and socio-political orga...
Boko Haram insurgency: Retired generals,others warn against hiring mercenaries
Some retired generals and socio-political organisations on Wednesday faulted the call for hiring of mercenaries to fight the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East.
An ex-Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Joshua Dogonyaro (retd.); a former General Officer Commanding, 1 Division, Major General Abiodun Role (retd.) and Corps Commander, Amotekun Corps in Osun State, Brigadier General Bashir Adewinbi, (retd.), in separate interviews with The PUNCH, said Nigerians were capable of defending themselves.
Also, socio-political groups, including the Northern Elders’ Forum, the pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, and the Coalition of Northern Groups, faulted the call for the hiring of mercenaries.
Recall that following the killing of 43 rice farmers at Kwashebe village in Borno State on Saturday, the state Governor Babagana Zulum, appealed to the Federal Government to hire mercenaries to fight the insurgents.
Zulum has received the support of his counterparts, the North-East governors and the Senate.
Before the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd)’s assumption of office, the Federal Government hired mercenaries to fight insurgents.
The Buhari regime, however, dispensed with the services of the mercenaries on assumption of office in 2015.
But retired generals who spoke to The PUNCH on Wednesday cautioned against the return of mercenaries.
Nobody will do it for us, mercenaries hired in the past fled – Ex-GOC
Role, in an interview with one of our correspondents in Ibadan, said Nigeria did not need to hire mercenaries against the Boko Haram insurgents.
He said what the military needed was the support of the citizens including the media, to help in the asymmetrical war.
READ HERE Kanu mocks Nigeria for seeking external help to defeat "rag tag" Boko haram
He stated such wars were not easily won, saying some mercenaries hired at a point discovered that they were not familiar with the terrain and fled after they had lost some of their colleagues.
Role said, “It’s like you have a problem in your own house and you think the only people that can help you out are strangers. Why do we always say that we should bring Americans, bring Chadians any time we have such a security challenge?
“It is annoying to have such a thought always. Why did we diminish ourselves? What the media need to help do is to enlighten Nigerians to let them know that asymmetrical warfare is not easily won. When the media give their vent to the event like the one that just happened, it emboldens the insurgents and that is what they need.
“Some are saying we should call Chad. Which experience do Chadians have more than Nigerian military in this area?
“The other time Idris Derby said he neutralised 1,000 Boko Haram fighters. Did we ever see the 1, 000 bodies? He went to some villages and performed some macabre actions. He went to some villages and dislodged some insurgents and they are using that to cast aspersion on Nigeria.
“They said we should engage mercenaries. Didn’t (Sambo) Dasuki engage mercenaries in the North-East? Those guys (mercenaries) saw that they were not familiar with the terrain, after few of them were neutralised, they packed their loads and fled. My strong opinion is that if we can put right our situation, nobody will do it for us.”
Involving mercenaries in insurgent war will fail – Retired general
On his part, Adewinbi said involving mercenaries in the insurgency war would fail.
Adewinbi said if mercenaries would work in the same environment where soldiers had failed, no better result would be achieved.
He, however, suggested reorientation of the residents of Borno to make them more committed to the insurgency war, adding that technology should be employed to monitor porous borders in the North.
The Amotekun boss also urged various regions to come up with regional security outfit that would tackle security challenges peculiar to their areas as the South-West did.
He said, “First, our border is so porous in that area. They (insurgents) move freely. They move their logistics and men. They can come in a deceptive form to cause havoc and go back.
“The people of that area too are not cooperating with the soldiers. Boko Haram members are living within the people. When they come, they operate within the people. People in the area are the ones providing logistics, intelligence and supporting the insurgents. Even if you bring mercenaries from anywhere, Boko Haram will still operate, mercenaries will fail. Reorientation of people is key to make them more supportive to the army.”
Dogonyaro in a telephone chat with one of our correspondents in Jos on Wednesday said Nigeria was not incapable of defending itself against terrorists
When asked if the call to mercenaries was in order, the former ECOMOG field Commander asked. “Are Nigerians incapable of protecting themselves against the killers?”
Also, the CNG and NEF, Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo faulted the call for the hiring of mercenaries.
The CNG described the call as “the most unreasonable”, while NEF said, “hiring mercenaries represents a fatal indictment on the capacity of our armed forces.”
Afenifere said the suggestion for the use of mercenaries to fight Boko Haram “is a big shame on Nigeria.”
The Spokesperson of the CNG, Abdul-azzez Suleiman; NEF Director (Publicity and Advocacy), Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed and National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said these in separate interviews with The PUNCH.
Suleiman said, “This is one of the most unreasonable calls. The Borno governor might have been pushed by the circumstances he is facing into making that call. We don’t blame him. In his place, any leader with a passion for his people would make same or even more desperate suggestions.
“Rather than contemplating hiring mercenaries, first, Nigerians, particularly northerners must eschew hypocrisy and tell the Buhari government that it has failed in the vital area of protecting citizens’ lives and their livelihoods. We must all unite in calling for his resignation and in the alternative, explore other available democratic windows for achieving some form of change.
“This is because if Buhari cannot in the very least call Garba Shehu to order for making those insensitive remarks that tend to blame the slain farmers of Borno for negligence and telling the Senate and the whole nation that the evidently failed service chiefs must remain, then certainly Buhari has lost it. We do not buy the idea of hiring mercenaries. Rather, the CNG is more comfortable with mobilising the population to protect itself.”
Faulting the call, Baba-Ahmed said, “Hiring mercenaries represents a fatal indictment on the capacity of our armed forces. We need to first acknowledge that we have a military that has been led to fail. Then we have to agree what we need to do with a leadership which will create problems even for mercenaries.
“I do not believe that the President or the leadership of the armed forces will accept this recommendation. Our military can defeat Boko Haram and other internal security challenges. But it needs stronger political will and a more committed leadership. Our current leadership will not accept to change how it deals with our problems.”
Odumakin said, “It’s a big shame on Nigeria that we are now having calls for mercenaries against Boko Haram in spite of the propaganda by Lai Mohammed that the group has been degraded.”
The Pan Niger Delta Forum described it as a shame, adding that it reinforced the various calls for re-jigging of the country’s security architecture and sack of the service chiefs.
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