BY: IFEANYI IZEZE<\/p>\n
As said by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Tukur
\nYusuf Buratai, the Nigerian Army will be undertaking a unique one month
\nmilitary operations nationwide to tackle banditry, kidnapping,
\ninsurgency and other security threats.<\/p>\n
Buratai at the Army Headquarters in Abuja, also disclosed that
\n\u201cOperation Positive Identification (OPI) which is ongoing in the North
\nEast theatre of operation, will be extended to cover the entire
\nnation.\u201d<\/p>\n
As said, \u201cThe various exercises, which the Army will conduct in
\nconjunction with other security agencies to boost synergy and
\ninter-agency cooperation among the services and security agencies, will
\ntake place between November 1 and December 23, 2019\u201d.<\/p>\n
On Operation Positive Identification, Buratai explained that it was to
\ncurtail the movement of bandits, kidnappers, armed robbers, ethnic
\nmilitia, cattle rustlers and other criminal elements to other relatively
\npeaceful states to perpetrate their crimes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOperation Positive Identification will run concurrently with these
\nother routine exercises during the period,\u201d the army chief disclosed.<\/p>\n
Now, as the Nigerian Army announced the commencement of this
\nsimultaneous routine military exercises in all the geo-political zones
\nof Nigeria, the first thing that comes to mind is to ask: Is Nigeria at
\nwar with itself since we are not being invaded by external forces?<\/p>\n
How did we get to this point that the military has taken over our civil
\nspace in matters that could have ordinarily been tackled by the Police
\nForce and Department of State Security Service? So what is actually the
\nduty of the Police and the Department of State\u2019s Service if the
\nmilitary can take over as small as the responsibilities of fighting
\narmed robbery and kidnap gangs?<\/p>\n
Aside the huge cost of these military operations in terms of funds, and
\nhuman resources, we should actually re-examine if we are really not
\noverstretching our military.<\/p>\n
Despite how good and well-intended the stated missions seemed, the
\nfrequency at which these operations are coming these days should
\nactually worry our leaders, more so when curiously none of these
\nmilitary operations has ever been decisive in their missions.<\/p>\n
As announced by the Nigerian Army, the exercises running concurrently
\ninclude: Exercise Ayem Akpatuma II in the North Central and parts of
\nNorth Western States including Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi and Taraba as well
\nas Kaduna and Niger States in Nigerian Army\u2019s 1 and 3 Divisions Area
\nof Responsibilities (AOR) including Headquarters Command Army Records,
\nGuards Brigade and 707 Special Forces Brigade<\/p>\n
Exercise Python Dance (Egwu Eke) IV which will be carried out in the
\nSouth Eastern part of Nigeria comprising Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu
\nand Imo States in Nigerian Army\u2019s 82 Division Area of Responsibility;
\nwhile Exercise Crocodile Smile IV will as usual take place in the South
\nSouth and parts of South Western States including, Cross River, Akwa
\nIbom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Lagos, and Ogun in Nigerian Army\u2019s
\n2, 6, 81 and 82 Divisions\u2019 Area of Responsibility.<\/p>\n
Also, the Nigerian Army Women Corps will stage a robust show of
\nforce\/confidence building patrols in some selected locations in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Is it not mind-blowing that at the last count, Nigeria, a country that
\nis not under attack from outside has over 14 full -scale joint military
\noperations all geared towards internal security \u2013 maintaining law and
\norder, peace and security?<\/p>\n
The Police and DSS were supposed to be our internal security first
\nresponders but these two agencies have been degraded that both seem to
\nhave lost the reasons for their existence. The DSS in addition to
\nhanging around politicians and political office holders, is now more
\ninterested in doing EFCC\u2019s job in fighting corruption and raiding
\nBureau d\u2019 Change markets rather than engaging in generating timely and
\nquality intelligence to aid in the nation\u2019s internal security efforts.<\/p>\n
Two things easily come to mind: We failed over the years to upgrade the
\ncapability of our police force to cope with internal problems. Also, we
\nmore than ever before, prefer military solutions to solving problems
\neven where mere dialogue would have worked. These are failures of our
\ngovernment (s) for which steps should be taken to correct.<\/p>\n
Is it not shameful that we have a well-funded and fully equipped secret
\npolice service agency in this country and we had groups like the Boko
\nHaram, Niger Delta militants, bandits, and rampaging Fulani herdsmen
\nmetamorphosed from village criminal gangs to the present well-organised
\ninternational syndicates without being spotted and checkmated at the
\nonset?<\/p>\n
What happened to our intelligence gathering in this country or those who
\nwere to check these miscreants actually looked the other way for
\nwhatever reasons while the different groups garnered strengths to
\ninconvenience everybody? How do you explain that a group of people (not
\nspirits) would gather and plan to execute heinous attacks on
\nindividuals, schools, and even communities and dastardly implement such
\nacts without our security agencies (Police, DSS and even the DMI)
\npicking an iota of early-warning intelligence at the pre-planning,
\nplanning, and execution stages? They only know about such attacks and
\nother crimes only when it has been successfully executed and someone
\nwould tell me there is no complicity. We need to be more serious with
\nourselves as a nation of peoples.<\/p>\n
Whether anyone wants to hear this or not, the Nigerian military may be
\ndoing a good job today in getting involved in internal security
\noperations but this is not without some serious consequences to the
\nfuture of our armed forces and the Police also. If the military
\ncompletely takes over our civil security management, the police will
\nsooner than later become irrelevant and thus also metamorphose to become
\npart of the security challenges that we have to deal with as a nation of
\npeople, that\u2019s if this scenario is not already playing out.<\/p>\n
The federal government should honestly look at this issue with a view
\nto re-inventing and re-engineering our Police and State Security
\ndepartments to effectively take over majority of the internal security
\noperations and freeing our military from the encumbrance of chasing
\narmed robbers, kidnappers, and cattle rustlers. This is my point. God
\nbless Nigeria!!<\/p>\n