Counter insurgency: Buratai hails Irabor, others for keeping momentum
By Stanley Onyekwere
Former Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Yusuf Buratai, has commended efforts of all the service chiefs led by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, for maintaining the momentum and making the armed forces and country proud, in the ongoing counter insurgency operations.
Buratai, who is also the immediate past Nigerian Ambassador to Benin Republic, Lieutenant General, however declared that he does not regret anything he did while serving the country.
He made this assertion at the weekend, in Abuja, during the public presentaion and launching of three books authored by a journalist, Jibrin Baba Ndace, in his honour.
He said: “The military is a force that stands at all times in the defence of our territorial integrity, in the defences of lives. And of course, we defend our country with all that it takes, eve if it means paying the supreme price.
“If I say that I regret anything, I will be telling lies. I’m fulfiled, and I’m happy that I served my country where I did, and I’m happy I am being appreciated. There are so many thing to do, but I have my proofs, which you see my final moments in my books”.
Recounting the pre 2015 security situation, he revealed that the there was so mun devastation in infrastructure and humans in the country particularly in Borno state and the northeast.
He added that it is heart warming the men and women of the armed forces are able to continue the onslaught against the Boko Haram terrorists.
He said: “Nigerians were already feeling defeated by the Boko Haram propaganda, as at the time we came in 2015, everybody was scared of being attacked or bombed. So psychologically, everybody was defeated, so we decided that we have to defeat that psychological or sense of defeat from fear of Boko Haram and unknown.
“And for the first time in the history of Nigerian Military, Journalists are embedded in the war front with us, as media operation is so critical to psychological operation.
“Almost, on daily basis in 2015 -2016 they (Insurgents) continued to attack mosques, churches and so on. So psychologically, Nigerians were traumatised as they don’t feel safe anywhere. So that was one of my strategies to ensure that this propaganda was defeated and eliminated from our minds. “I said we cannot achieve that until the press go along with us, and really that helped us achieve a lot. And this (the book launch) is one of the results.
“ And the book titled walking in the war front with Lt. Gen. TY Brutai is a collection of some the relics in pictures, so that people could see and appreciate the damage that have been done by the insurgents, as it is so unimaginable, not even to talk of the human sufferings that were so pathetic and terrible.”
He continued: “We were able to maintain the momentum right from day one (the first day I took over as the Chief of Army Staff up till the last day that I left, there was never a dull moment. The more we moved in, the more dangerous and daring it became , because we had pushed them to the wall, the became desperate.
“Many would not know that the theater became hot around that time – 2019-2020 especially during the Covid lockdown we relocated completely to the northeast. We were there in the theater dealing with the Boko haram terrorists. And that is how we maintained the momentum before we left office in 2021. So more are to be written, and I believe that we have a lot to tell Nigerians about how the whole counter insurgency went.
Also speaking, General Irabor, eulogised Bruratai, in whose honour the author of the books, was able to identify the key role of media operations and how it can infuse into kinetic operations of the troops in the frontline.
He added that although there are lot of influences on men and women of the armed forces, but posterity will actually judge them in the right context.
According to him:” There is no man or woman who is faultless, as it is only our creator God Almighty that is faultless. We as members of the armed forces remain very professional based on core principles that we entrenched during our training, but even at that there are still areas that every now and then reviews are carried out.
“It will be unfair to disparage men and women of the armed forces, who toil night and day for the rest of this society to go about their businesses even to sleep with their two eyes closed’.
On his part, the author said he was inspired by so many factors especially his experience from direct commitment of a combatant as an embedded, and lack of materials either in form of documentary or books on experiences of journalists in embedded course.
He added that the books as motivating tools, as they afford an opportunity to celebrant them and be able to tell Nigerians that it is not what they see or the perception created about them, as they are committed men and women who put their lives on the line daily to keep the country safe.
Highpoint of the event was the launching of the three books: Walking in the War Front with Buratai; Duty Call Under Buratai’s Command; and The Lonely Grave and other Poems.
