If terrorists and bandits come with tanks and march down the streets of Abuja, Lagos, or Kaduna, our Air Force and ground troops will neutralise them the way they took out the coup plotters at Cotonou in the Republic of Benin over the weekend.
But when they hide in forests the size of some European countries, it is not so easy. In such locations, they are not obvious targets.
That is why the United States had challenges defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan and had to leave that country after twenty fruitless years, to the extent that they abandoned billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment during their hasty retreat.
So, stop comparing apples with oranges and saying things like if our Air Force and Army can rout putschists in the Republic of Benin, why can’t they do the same to terrorists and bandits?
In this country, there was a time when terrorists were operating right here in Abuja.
On Tuesday, 5 July 2022, almost a thousand terrorists on motorcycles invaded Kuje prison and freed over 500 of their fellow terrorists. That led to a spike in crime within Abuja.
Two weeks later, on Friday, 29 July 2022, terrorists attacked the Brigade of Guards. For those who do not know, the Brigade of Guards are the personal bodyguards of the President of Nigeria.
Earlier on, on 28 March 2022, terrorists bombed the Kaduna-Abuja railway, taking a train and its passengers hostage, killing ten people and taking tens more hostage.
But under this administration, Bara’a, the Emir of Ansaru, and Mallam Mahmuda, his deputy, who had been behind the Tuesday, 5 July 2022, Kuje Prison Break, were captured.
Since their capture, there have been no high-profile terror incidents in Abuja. Do be appreciative of this. This was a city that used to experience bomb blasts and gunfights. But these are now a thing of the past.
Consider this analogy.
If a monkey is in its natural habitat, which is the forest, it is difficult to catch and cage it. But if it wanders into an urban environment, catching it becomes easier.
Terrorists and bandits in Sambisa Forest and the Sahel are like monkeys in a forest. Yes, it is possible to catch and cage them, but it is time-consuming, because, as Christ says in Matthew 8:20, “Foxes have holes, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head”.
However, it is different when they venture into a country’s capital city or its commercial hub.
Our military, like almost all, if not all, national fighting forces, is trained for conventional warfare. That is why, from the Congo in 1960, to Tanzania in 1964, to the Nigerian Civil War, to Lebanon in 1978, and then via ECOMOG between 1999 and 2006, the Nigerian Armed Forces have had a sterling military record as a dependable fighting unit.
But now we are dealing with an unconventional security threat that is not easy to overcome, and rather than understand and encourage our troops who are sleeping in foxholes so you can sleep on your beds, you are seeing this as an opportunity to dampen their morale by mocking and undermining them.