In his inaugural address to the nation,
Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari gave a strange order for the Military
Command Centre or the Headquarters to immediately relocate to Maiduguri till
terrorism is defeated. Since he made this speech, many so-called military
“experts” or analysts have suddenly sprung up to voice their opinions on the
matter which has the capacity or otherwise to solve or deter our efforts at
fighting terrorism.
Of all the opinions I have read or heard,
either for or against it, I must confess I saw little or no logic in most of
the opinions offered other than ethno-political arguments. I soon saw how
quickly ignorance spreads.
Before we go further, let me make some
clarifications. I am not a military expert, neither do I lay claim to be. I
have no military experience or training save for my three weeks camping for the
Nigerian Army Short Service Combatant(SSC) Commission for which I couldn’t make
the final list in 2014. If there is anything I know about the military is
purely from my interactions with my soldier friends when I went for National
Youth Service where I stayed briefly at a military barracks in 2013 in Adamawa
state.
Having said that, let us get back to our
task. In my opinion, most of us, or perhaps our military “experts” are missing
out on some basic points which are crucial in our understanding of the fight
against terrorism. The issues are not made easier when we continue to look at
them from purely ethno-emotional lenses.
First, we need not be reminded that
Muhammadu Buhari is the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces by
virtue of his position as President of the Federal Republic. The 1999
Constitution under which he took his oath of office, confers upon him certain
powers under section 218(1) to “determine the operational use of the armed
forces of the federation.” My simple, layman understanding of the term
“operational use” includes but not limited to the establishment of bases,
formations, command, divisions and subdivision in any component of the armed
forces in any part of the federation. If the commander-in-chief then, in his
wisdom, chose to relocate the command centre to any part of the federation for
operational efficacy, this writer sees nothing wrong in that!
Perhaps, some fears are due to geographical
factors. One of the arguments is that moving the military headquarters out of the
Federal capital Territory(FCT) will not prove effective. They support their
argument with the fact that the command centre is not the infantry, hence a
waste of time to relocate. I immediately reached out for my copy of the 1999
Constitution again, I am sorry to announce that nowhere and no clause made the
President’s action in this matter illegal!
A prominent military analyst have defined a
commander-in-chief as someone who keeps himself abreast of the situation, make
expedient decisions for an operation or battle, assign combat mission
opportunely and completely, disseminate the decision to units and sub-units,
organise interactions, render total support to troop operations and put the
decisions into effect firmly and resolutely. We are not used to these kinds of
radical decisions made by a true commander-in-chief perhaps this is why we are
used to pot-bellied generals, commanders and lazy soldiers as products of a
below-efficient military brass.
Moving the higher echelons of the military
to the troubled spots will make them have quality briefs, reports and field
orientations, which is about all that is needed in the fight against terrorism.
We must be quick to admit that there are no
hard fast rules to fighting groups like the Boko Haram. This is where we must
quote the great Prussian military strategist, Carl von Clausewitz, in his
classic, On War where he writes, “Everything in war is very simple, but
the simplest thing is difficult.” On the surface, fighting Boko Haram and
defeating the terrorists look easy, but fully conquering it involves a lot of
complexities which are too detailed to be written in a single article.
If we
are looking carefully we would have found out that the group itself is not as
strong as they have been made to look, but for the reckless (in)decisions by
the politico-military establishment, the group would just have existed in the
footnote of history. If Boko Haram militants can flee on the advancement of the
Chadian and the Cameroonian Armies, finding comforts on Nigerian soil under the
full glare of the “almighty” Nigerian army, then there are things we are not
just doing right!
It is at this point that the risky decision
to relocate the full presence of the Nigerian army at the troubled areas makes
some sense. If Boko Haram can after then prove stronger than the entire army,
then the time has come to take a long, hard look at the army itself!
Napoleon Bonaparte is considered one of the
greatest generals in history. He achieved this feet, not by siting at the
comfort of his Command or Headquarters in Paris, he was always leading the
battle himself. His entire military campaigns were directed by a single
commanding mind. He received quality field reports, intelligence and battle
briefs thanks to his presence on the battle ground. We might not have
remembered him today had he just sat at his high command barking out orders
like we have today in the Nigerian military.
Adolf Hitler missed out on Napoleon’s great
strength by relying too much on information from his high command in Munich during
the World War II. He and his generals were almost never on the battle field.
They sat comfortably at the headquarters to analyse contradicting field
reports. Little wonder the well-equipped German army fell like a pack of cards.
The rest is history.
I cited these two examples just to show how
long our generals have slept. Like I wrote in an earlier article, How
to Fight Terrorism, I argued that there are no conventional rules when
it comes to fighting terrorism. Several minute details often prove critical or
decisive which is part of the complications which Clausewitz wrote about. Roads
get clogged, troops refuse to report to their assigned stations for
mobilisation (or leave and return home after they have reported), equipments are inadequate or out of date, troops are not trained to
use equipment which is up to date and so on. All these notwithstanding, we are
aware relocating the military command to Maiduguri might not end the menace of
Boko Haram overnight, but it can be part of the solution. This is my humble
opinion on the matter!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Olalekan
Waheed ADIGUN is a writer,
philosopher, academic, political risk analyst, and researcher. He is equally an
independent political strategist and brand consultant for individuals,
political organisations and campaigns. He is based in Lagos, Nigeria.
His
write-ups can be viewed on his website http://olalekanadigun.com/
Tel: +2348136502040, +2347081901080
Email: olalekan@olalekanadigun.com
Follow me on
twitter @adgorwell
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gbam!!!, let the big wigs in the military go and see what is happening there and make sure they release the right equpiment for they war or they too will get hurt. Gbam! Gbam!! Gbam!!! sai Buhari, Sai our able presidoooooooooooo
ReplyDeleteThis writer is good, he is very objective. GMB made the right decision, cos he was a Military General, he knows the problem with the Military, this singular movement of the Military command centre will boost the soldiers confidence and will not give room for 'malingarin' both on the part of the highly placed officers and soldiers.
ReplyDeleteNice one, and real food for thought, for a proper restoration.
ReplyDeleteThe generals are very good at womanizing and eating pepper soup. It's hard for such people to strategize.
ReplyDeleteWhat will happen if Boko Haram captures our weapons, jet and helicopters after transferring the military headquarter. The terrorist act will not just be within Northeast but it will be all over the nation since they are in possession of jets, military helicopters, etc. Please exercise caution while moving. You might think it will help the war. It might even worsen things. The Generals can relocate to Maiduguri without relocating the military headquarters. Military headquarters does not need to move before the army can work. The developed world have never moved their military headquarters to volatile region because of the difficulty of war. IF THE SOLDIERS CANNOT FINISH BH WITH HEADQUARTERS IN ABUJA, THEY WILL ALSO NOT ACHIEVE IT WHEN IT IS MOVED THE HEADQUARTERS. SUPPOSING IT IS MOVED AND BH TAKES OVER THE HEADQUARTER, NIGERIA IS FINISHED. Do not think they cannot achieve that when they were able to destroy the headquarters where Nigeria, Chad, and Niger Joint Forces meet. However this is a new era and I hope GMB will not allow enemy forces take over our military headquarter. This is just my fear, I might be wrong anyway but it is a big possibility. All Nigerians should continue to pray for our leaders so that they will not make any mistake.
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