From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna.
A retired military officer, Major Abdullahi Ibrahim has described the recent truce with the Boko Haram sect with the Nigeria military as a disgrace, because it portrayed the military on the defensive rather than on offensive.
He stated this while speaking to Peoples Daily in Kaduna, yesterday.
Major Ibrahim, who served with the Nigeria Armoured Corps, said the step taken by the military leaders in respect of the ceasefire did more evil than good to the country, amongst the international communities.
According to him, the said ceasefire gives a physiological boost to the insurgents, who, according to him, ‘feels they are on top of the world; and that is responsible for their recent havoc in Mubi and other areas’.
The retired military officer, who now runs a private security company based in Kaduna, said Nigeria military are combatant-ready but that planning and logistics are accountable for their present predicament.
“Our troops have excelled in international assignment; whether in Congo, Liberia , Cote D’Ivoire and Sudan; they are always rated as one of the best contingent, but what baffles me is that the same agile forces are trying to be ridiculed by insurgents that are not even professional”.
“The Nigerian government has arm deals agreement with many countries across the globe; why is the government not asking such countries to supply them with up to date military hard ware?”
On the way forward, Major Ibrahim said there is a need for reorientation of the Nigeria military, because ‘in the Military over-confidence is a problem; so you have to balance it and that is what is lacking in the Nigeria military’.
