By Oluwafemi Popoola
The year 2021 has been remarkable as regards military operations in the fight against insurgency. The past few weeks have seen the Nigerian Armed Forces record successes in the operations against various insurgent groups in the country especially the North East region.
The small territories that were captured by Boko Haram have been recaptured while the displaced locals are gradually returning to their settlements. What is evident is that this New Year has witnessed a turn around in the fight against insurgency as the Nigerian army reconsiders and reorganizes its approach towards counter-terror operations.
Despite multiple declarations of victory by the Nigerian government in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency, towards the tail end of last year, we witnessed a number of gory incidents where the terrorist groups in most cases carried out their operations unhindered with huge civilian casualties.
In September 2020, Boko Haram militants killed 22 farmers working on their irrigation fields near Maiduguri in two separate incidents. Also on the 29th November, At least 43 farm workers were killed and 6 others wounded by Boko Haram at Zambamari village north east of Maiduguri.
On 2nd December, the Boko Haram jihadi group also claimed responsibility for a brutal massacre of 76 farm workers in Borno state. The terror group said the attacks were carried out in retribution for farmers cooperating with the Nigerian military. There were also several media reports of continued slaughtering of soldiers and citizens across North eastern Nigeria and in neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, where its fighters often hide out and civilians flee.
In spite of all this menace, the start of the year 2021 has been promising. The Nigerian army has re-examined its operational strategy. The formidable joint task force of the Nigerian Amy and Nigerian Air force is bearing fruits as the insurgents are seen fleeing their locations.
In 2019, the Nigerian Army took delivery of various tactical and strategic weaponry to enhance its long range as well as close-quarter strike capacity, these include Streit Armored Personnel Carriers, Typhoon Mine Resistant and Ambush Protected (MRAPs), Ezugwu MRAPs, Proforce Ara MRAP.
Those acquisitions were made in parallel with other more strategic combat assets like the third generation VT4 MBT, ST1 light tanks and SH-5 self-propelled howitzers. The VT4 MBT is currently considered as one of Africa’s most powerful and modern armored combat vehicle.
With all these recent weapons, the Nigerian Army has been able to begin mobilizing and deploying its troops and weapons to the North East for an unprecedented assault against Boko Haram and ISWAP with relative success.
On the 3rd of January this year, the Nigerian Army during an airstrike operation, destroyed a new Boko Haram settlement at Mana Waji in Borno state. “The airstrikes were conducted by the air task force of Operation Lafiya Dole, after a series of surveillance found the settlement,” Major General John Enenche, a military spokesperson said in a statement. Aerial surveillance missions had revealed that “the new settlement was being used to store their weapons and logistics items as well as to plan and stage attacks,” Enenche concluded.
On 18 January in a press statement from the Defence Headquarter, troops of operation Hadarin Daji neutralized several bandits and arrested suspected armed bandits in Katstina and Zamfara states. In the same press statement, following credible intelligence on movement of armed bandits with rustled animals at Bungudu LGA of Zamfara State, troops of Forward Operating Base Kekuwuje on 17th January 2021, responded immediately and made contact with bandits. In the course of the encounter 30 armed bandits were neutralised while 24 cows and unspecified number of sheep were recovered.
Similarly, still on same 17 January 21, troops deployed at Maradun received information of reprisal attack by armed bandits at Janbako village in Maradun LGA of Zamfara State. Troops swiftly mobilized to the area to forestall the reprisal attack. Troops were ambushed short of Janbako village where firefight ensued. The gallant troops overwhelmed the bandits and neutralised 5 of them. In another development, following a tipoff, 2 suspected bandit collaborators named Mustapha Sani and Murtala Sani were arrested at Dungun Muazu village in Sabuwa LGA of Katsina State.
Despite all these achievements recorded in the past weeks by a rejuvenated Nigerian Army in the fight against insurgency, the withdrawal of coverage of these successes by the Nigerian media shows how irresponsible and unreliable they could be. One begins ask where they kept their reporting arsenal. Their silence in their duties to inform the Nigerian people on the giant strides made by our security personnel shows how selective they could become.
Many observers would remember how news and reports of unrest and killings that were carried out by these insurgent groups always seemed to dominate and overshadow the media space but such news like Army killing bandits and Boko Haram, weapons recovered, always seem to fade into obscure corners of the papers. They seem not to be news worthy enough. This portrays hypocrisy and a demonstration of absolute lack of balanced reporting.
The incident over the weekend where the Nigerian Army successfully repelled an attack by men of ISWAP was unfortunately twisted by the Nigerian media. They chose to highlight that the Nigerian Army base in a particular theatre was overrun by ISWAP. Some section of the media even went to the extent of showcasing an armoured personnel carrier of the Nigerian army seized by ISWAP with a bad reportage of the whole event.
This silence displayed by them in the wake of the victory over the terrorist groups by the Nigerian army can be equated to their erratic reportage of the fight against insurgency. Obviously, there has been a silent shift from professionalism to sensationalism.
The core values of journalism have been sacrificed for sensationalism which can be traced to the urge to make profits. The victims and recipients of this malady is not the military but the Nigerian people who have been deceived and misinformed over the years.
