By Suleiman Umaru
The leadership of the Islamic state West Africa, Province, ISWAP, a breakaway faction of BokoHaram, sponsored by ISIS, Never expected what they saw at Doron Naira an Island in the Lake Chad region, when the Multi-National Joint Task Force, MNJF, comprising of soldiers from the West African Countries of Nigeria, Niger , Chad and the Central African sub-regional country of Cameroon, swooped on them on Saturday, June 15, 2019.
The insurgents may have been attacking military bases in the north east in the recent including carting away military weapons from the Barracks but this time around they could not confront the MNJTF, soldiers who were prepared for them as they were armed with sophisticated weapons.
Security experts told The Value News that the soldiers may have gone back to the drawing board after the attack on military bases in Borno, one of the flash point states in the north east geo-political region, by ISWAP fighters.Timothy Abtigha, a Colonel and Chief of Military Information of the MNJTF, said the attack on the insurgents at the Lake Chad region was part of the military ongoing ”Operation Yancin Tafki”, in the region to ”flush out ISWAP elements from the north east theatre”.
An elated Antigha, disclosed that the MNJTF, soldiers, who were determined the ISWAP, fighters a lesson of their life had killed no fewer than 42 of their fighters in the Island and weapons and gun fitted trucks including motor cycles. He noted that it was the greatest ever suffered by the terrorists in the one operation in the last six months. The killing of the ISWAP, fighters my not have been without a loss on the par MNJTF, soldiers The Army Colonel confirmed that a soldier was killed and ten others wounded, an indication that it was not easy to overrun the terrorists.
It was learnt that same week, the ISWAP, soldiers , who have virtually taken over the battle in the north east from BokoHaram fighters had attempted to attack MNJTF , soldiers in Sector 1, Forward Operation Base in Nguma, Cameroon but lost five of their fighters and one captured , who is now helping the soldiers to track others on the run . It was gathered that 13 AK-47 rifles and hand grenades were recovered from the ISWAP, terrorists.
Determined to flush out the Islamic Fundamentalists , from the north eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, the Air Force wing of the Operation Yancin Tafki, were said to conducted air raids in Arege Malkorony, axis, in Borno state, killing some of the ISWAP members as the alleged Headquarters and logistics base of one Abu Talib, a top official of the terrorist group, was said to have been targeted in that operation. That may have sent a signal to the ISIS sponsored ISWAP, that their days in the Lake Chad Basin are numbered.
The terrorists may have taken it up against the President Idris Derby, of Chad , soldiers , for opening the door , for the MNJTF , soldiers, to neutralise them in the Lake Chad region. Last Friday, a Boko Haram insurgents ambush at Mbomouga in the country’s Ngouboua area, against Chadian soldiers, had killed seven of them and a local guard described as the latest in a surge of attacks in the region by security sources. 13 other people were said to have been killed during the attack. The terrorists had also attempted to ambush troops of the 26 Brigade Garrison of the Nigerian Army on routine patrol around Wala village , Borno state, but were lucky to lose two of their fighters to the superior gunfire of the soldiers.
The question on the lips of most people was: how did the BokoHaram fighters knew Nigerian soldiers were coming on patrol to the Wala Community if there is no mole among the 26 Brigade Garrison, feeding the Insurgents about the movement of the soldiers. Sagir Musa, a Colonel and Army Public Relations officer, who could not hide his feelings said ”intelligence had revealed that the terrorists were informed of the troops movement in order to use the opportunity to grab foot stuff and other items”.
He may be right that the Insurgents had advance information about the soldiers movement as he disclosed that as the soldiers advanced to the village, they discovered two Improvised Explosives Devices, IEDs, Concealed along their axis of advance, an indication that the terrorists were prepared for the soldiers. The good news was that IEDs were sucessfully defused and cleared by the soldiers, he said.
Only recently, President Muhammadu Buhari, held a closed doors meeting with the 36 state governors and the Service Chiefs over the prevailing security situation and other issues besetting the country at the Presidential Villa. Only, recently, Baru, an Engineer and an outgoing, Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, had revealed that $1 billion , had been taken from the Excess Crude Account to finance the insurgency in the north east. That much was confirmed by Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti state and Chairman, Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, had said that the amount was not ”enough to frontally address the myriad of security challenges facing the country.
Kayode, the NGF, Chairman, noted that $1 billion may seem like a huge amount of money but when dealing with security issues, where a Tucano Jet costs over $50 million and the country has placed order for 20, which is equivalent to that 1 billion removed from the Excess Crude Account to finance the BokoHaram war.
He disclosed that the NGF, were supportive of the 1 billion removed the excess crude account on the approval of the Katsina state born Nigerian President and Commander In-Chief of the Armed Forces , to resolve the security challenges in the country. According to him, the $1 billion, which was shared among the security agencies was well spent by the security Chief as it afforded them the opportunity to brainstorm on wide ranging issues of security, insurgency in the north east , banditry in the north west, kidnapping, robbery among others.
In spite of the claim by the NGF , Chairman, that the Service Chiefs spent the $1 billion given to them from the excess crude account judiciously, Tukur Buratai, a Lt. General and Chief of Army Staff recent Statement on the reasons for the resurgence of the terrorists attacks in the region speaks volume. He had accused soldiers of displaying a poor commitment to defend the country in almost every task they had been assigned, a situation described as unfortunate.
The situation may have been worse the Nigerian Army were said to have released a video deploring the poor state of their equipment to fight the insurgents in the north east and Lake Chad Basin, fueling speculations making the rounds that the $1 billion released by the President to service Chiefs for the purchase of military hardware for the use of the Armed Forces my not have been spent wisely against the claim of the Presidency and the NGF.
