Buratai Should Respond Appropriately to Ghashghar Attack

The Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj.-Gen. Lucky Irabor on Wednesday finally confirmed that several Nigerian soldiers went missing after Boko Haram attacked a military base in Ghashghar town, in Mobbar LG of Borno State about two weeks ago. Irabor said that a sizeable number of the 39 soldiers declared missing had returned. He also admitted that a few soldiers were yet to be found. However, Irabor was silent on the number of soldiers speculated to have died in the attack. At least, to some extent, he was honest. The Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Colonel Usman Sani was not. He decided to play politics with the lives of our gallant soldiers. Sani sent a text to a colleague of mine last week Friday, saying that no soldier went missing. “It is not true,” he said in the text message in reaction to our enquiry. We cannot make progress in this war against Boko Haram if we continue being economical with the truth.

Just as I said last week, the Ghashghar attack highlights the threat the group still poses in the region. Boko Haram is still very active in Mobbar, Abadam and Chibok local government areas of Borno State. All these talks about “having decimated the terrorists” are all propaganda. This war is far from over. Clearly, the military is still battling for control despite making gains against the terrorists. This is a fact we must face, and respond fittingly. I am still waiting for the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai to react appropriately to the Ghashghar attack. The story in town is that our soldiers were ill-equipped to face the Boko Haram fighters that attacked Ghashghar. Buratai has to do something very fast about this issue of equipment. He also has to do something very fast about the low morale of our soldiers. There are allegations that soldiers are being cheated by their commanders who fail to pay their allowances in full, particularly feeding allowances.