Presidency to Shettima: Army well-equipped to defeat Boko Haram

The Presidency yesterday fired back at Governor Kashim Shettima over his statement on Monday when he said Boko Haram insurgents are better armed and motivated than the troops fighting them.

Presidential assistant on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, addressed a news conference in Abuja yesterday to react to Shettima, who spoke to journalists on Monday shortly after a meeting with President Jonathan.

Okupe said the military had acquired the sophistication and necessary capacity to adapt to the changing modus operandi of the insurgents.

He said Shettima lacked the expertise to classify the effectiveness of any weapon, and was therefore wrong to have said insurgents were better armed than the troops.

Okupe said the governor’s statement “is based purely on a civilian perception of the situation at hand. It is clear that Governor Shettima does not have the expertise to categorise or classify the effectiveness of any weapon.

“We state categorically that the Nigerian military is one of the best equipped in Africa and that in 2014, the Federal Government made budgetary provision in excess of N1 trillion for the military and other security agencies, an amount, which is about 22 percent of our entire national budget for this year. This definitely belies the suggestion in certain quarters that the Federal Government is not doing the needful in prosecuting this war.

“The statement on low morale and lack of motivation is equally unfair and misplaced. Whereas insurgents are usually motivated by ideological fanaticism, on the contrary well-disciplined militaries like ours are spurred by patriotic sense of duty, national pride and strict adherence to professionalism. Therefore, the morale of troops engaged in this war is high and ought not to be dampened by unsavory and certainly untrue comments of low motivation.”

Okupe also hinted that certain international conventions are impeding the terror war in the country.

“The Nigerian military is prevented from pursuing them into these foreign territories by law and international conventions and this obviously gives continuous respite to the insurgents,” he said.

“We must note that as far back as over 12 months ago, the fighting machinery of the insurgents had suffered major decapitation. They have therefore resorted almost exclusively, to attacking soft targets such as schools, women and children and sleeping communities in the early hours of the morning....

“The obvious location of these villages close to the mountains affords the insurgents opportunity and facility to launch strikes at night and sneak back across the border into neighbouring countries. But the Nigerian military and security agencies have taken up this challenge and like every facet of this struggle will put an end to these incursions in the shortest possible time.”

In a reaction last night, Governor Shettima said Okupe’s statement “was rather unfair and insensitive to the sorrowful plight of Borno people and its government.”

The governor’s spokesman Isa Gusau said in an emailed statement it was sad that Okupe did not find it worthy to speak on the recent killings but found it urgent to react to Shettima’s honest comments.

Gusau said Shettima has “the highest regard” for the President and the security forces, and also appreciates their efforts to contain the insurgency.

But he added that the goovernor “is the person on ground, he knows exactly what the problems are. As most Nigerians would testify, Shettima had been very patient before he aptly opened up yesterday and the sole aim was for Nigerians to appreciate the situation on ground.”

He said also the governor was “optimistic that with continued commitment through sustained deployment of the right military resources and men, the Boko Haram insurgency will come to and in the soonest of time in sha Allah.”

Gusau added: “At the end, it is Okupe that would attract ill feelings of the people towards the Presidency and not his targeted prey.”