SOLDIERS AND AMBUSH KILLINGS 

The bandits are as dangerous as ever. The military must go all out and rout them

In recent times, the Nigerian armed forces have suffered heavy casualties from both insurgents and bandits who now seem focused on attacking troops and laying ambushes on military convoys. On Friday at the national military cemetery in Abuja, the 22 soldiers who died in combat on 14^th August were buried. According to defence headquarters, 36 personnel were slain during an ambush by terrorists at Zungeru-Tagina Road and the subsequent jet crash in Chukuba area of Shiroro, both in Niger State. “I use this opportunity to call all commanders, all troops all over Nigeria, that we must avenge this,” Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, said at the burial. “Those that did this and those that have continued to kill our men wherever they are, we will get them.”  

 We commiserate with the families of the fallen heroes, even as we hope that they will be accorded the needed attention at this most difficult period. We also commend our military for the critical role they have played in the fight against insurgency/banditry in the North and for making sacrifices on behalf of the nation. But they must also interrogate the ease with which criminal gangs take out their men and women in uniform. Given the timing of recent attacks and the choice of location, the intention of the perpetrators was to send some sinister message about their capacity. If gunmen could so cynically ambush our troops to kill dozens, it is very telling of the boldness they have mustered to thumb their noses at authority. That this has become a consistent pattern is why the military high command should be concerned. In one such attack in March 2020, about 70 soldiers were killed when terrorists fired rocket-propelled grenades at a lorry load of soldiers at Gorgi village in Borno State.     

  Since taking out Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, insurgents from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have engaged the military in serious confrontations. Two years ago, they ambushed and killed the commander of the 28 Task Force in Chibok, Brigadier General Dzarma Zirkusu in Bulguma, Askira Uba Local Government Area of Borno State. Shortly after, dozens of people, including soldiers, mobile policemen and civilians were killed in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State by terrorists who wiped out an entire military platoon. In July last year, Captain Attah Samuel and four other soldiers, were killed when terrorists ambushed the Guards Battalion during a patrol in Bwari area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).   

 The list of soldiers killed after being ambushed by bandits or insurgents is long. Yet, we do not need to enlist in the security agencies to realise the efficacy of pre-emptive and preventive intelligence in the situation we have found ourselves. In fact, any combat operations in such an environment of volatility, and complexity as we have in Shiroro must be intelligence-driven. But that would entail cooperation from the civil populace by volunteering information to the military. Shiroro is right in the heart of Nigeria. The bandits have been there for some years now and some people must know them.  

We must accept that the insecurity confronting the nation is no longer a series of random and opportunistic attacks. There is now a strategic selection of targets, well-coordinated attacks as well as careful map reading by terrorists and bandits. In the pattern of these attacks, their timing and precision, there is need to interrogate the issue of possible sabotage and failure of intelligence. Besides, we must be resolute in our approach to dealing with the challenge. The idea of dialogue as a non-kinetic option of dealing with bandits being muted by the Governor of Niger State is a recipe for disaster, given the experience of Katsina and Zamfara States.  

 Meanwhile, the violence that defines this season in Nigeria speaks to a national psychology that has devalued human life to the lowest level. From North to South and East, hundreds of people are being killed almost daily either by criminal cartels or lone wolves who seem to have overpowered the capacity of the state. But the situation becomes more worrisome when criminals target our military personnel for extermination. The time has therefore come to realise the severity of the threat to our national security by reassessing the current strategies which have proved ineffectual.