The recent killing of about 44 Nigerian soldiers by insurgents in Matete, a remote village near the Nigeria-Chad border, is yet another sad incident in the renewed onslaught by the insurgents on our troops in recent time.
According to reports, the soldiers, including an officer, were killed when a splinter group of the Boko Haram, known as the Islamic West Africa Province, now operating along the Nigeria – Chad border area, stormed a Nigerian Army Battalion in Matete and over-powered the soldiers.
The latest incident came on the heels of the call by major stakeholders on the need for the Federal Government to address the security challenges in the country.
We still recall with grief and pains, the loss of one of the most gallant young officers in the Nigerian Army, Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Abu-Ali, who was felled by the insurgents, along with five other soldiers, in an ambush that could only have been made possible by prior information of the troop’s movement to the insurgents.
Many other young soldiers are also being felled almost on a daily basis by the insurgents who now appear to be more determined in their efforts and seem to have penetrated the intelligence machinery of our military.
Despite official denials by authorities concerned, there is hardly any family in Nigeria now, with members in the Army serving in the North East especially, that is not in grief over the untimely loss of their loved ones in the battle against Boko Haram . As the situation stands, being posted to the North East by the Army is like being sent to Golgotha; and this should not be the case.
It is really sad that Boko Haram and other splinter insurgent groups have recently stepped up their game with strategic and more deadly attacks on our soldiers and other civilian locations, leaving in their trail tears, blood and sorrow. Though the renewed attacks may no longer be on the metropolitan centres and cities, most local residents in other parts of the North East are no longer sleeping with their eyes closed because of the fear of the unknown.
We therefore condemn the new trend in all its entirety as we begin to wonder what has suddenly happened to our intelligence gathering system despite the huge investment the current administration claims to be making on the war against insurgency, especially the approval of $1billion for the purchase of ammunition and equipment for the nation’s Armed Forces.
It is really worrisome that we still continue to sacrifice our gallant and committed soldiers on the battlefields while some of our politicians and other top officers in the military are allegedly feeding fat on the lingering insurgency, especially with alleged sabotage of all efforts aimed at bringing the crisis to an end
It is really sad that at a time we should be exploring technology in tackling the problem of insurgency in the country, we are still sticking to the conventional fire-for-fire approach which has not yielded the much-expected results.
We recall with nostalgia the 55-minute Operation-Entebbe of July 4, 1976 which liberated 105 Jewish and Israeli hostages out of the 110 initially held for ransom by some Palestinian and German terrorists who had earlier on June 27, 1976 hijacked an Air France plane and landed it in Benghazi, Libya before finally flying it to Entebbe in Uganda . We wonder why the Federal Government would not work with its foreign partners to look for better ways of fighting the lingering insurgency in the country instead of bowing to the unending demands of the blood-thirsty criminals for huge amounts of ransom.
It is really worrisome that we still continue to sacrifice our gallant and committed soldiers on the battlefields while some of our politicians and other top officers in the military are allegedly feeding fat on the lingering insurgency, especially with alleged sabotage of all efforts aimed at bringing the crisis to an end.
As we continue to count the costs of the unending insurgency on our national development, we are glad that the Federal Government is not giving up on the challenge. More heartwarming is the news that President Muhammadu Buhari, being a retired General, has instructed that the recent attack on our soldiers in the Nigeria-Chad border area be investigated. Already, the president has sent the Minister of Defence, Brig-Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali (rtd) to Chad for a meeting with President Idris Deby of Chad over the matter.
We sincerely hope that the prompt action will yield the expected result and put a stop to the senseless killing of our soldiers in the service of their father land. While we commiserate with the families of our gallant soldiers who have been felled by the insurgents over the losses, we implore the Federal Government and the Military High Command to ensure adequate care and protection for our soldiers on the battlefields.
The military intelligence unit should also be strengthened to ensure that information about troops and equipment movements is not sabotaged and leaked to the insurgents.
The government should also continue to boost the morale of the loyal troops through appropriate compensation and provision of the much – needed state-of-the-art equipment that would enable them confront the insurgents whenever they strike.
