Eneche:GettingInformationfromLocalsis Our MajorChallengeinWarAgainstBokoHaram
Major General John Enenche, Director of Defence Information at the Defence Headquarters, in this interview with ARISE TV, a sister company of THISDAY, spoke extensively on military operations against Boko Haram in the North East, the recent US report, and
The military recorded some commended success in decimating Boko Haram, so what actually went wrong with the recent ambush?
Nothing really went wrong, that’s what the public see and tend to believe. Why am I saying so? Where did we start from with the whole of this problem, when you talk about Boko Haram insurgency? Insurgency is now at the level of terrorism, Abuja was affected, Kaduna was affected, Kano was affected, Okene was affected, Jos was affected, Potiskum was affected. But where are we now? It got narrow down to the epicentre in Maidugiri and the surroundings. If you analyse it, realistically, factually, statistically, Boko Haram is not on the rise. Nothing has gone wrong; it is because, if you permit me, the man who is not trained in war will not understand the dynamics of what has happened. What has happened is that their centre has been busted, and that was what happened December last year at Sambisa Forest, Camp Zero. There was a concentration there, it got busted and they are spread now. What are the Armed Forces doing after that? We called Clearance Operation and of course to show relevance, an enemy must seek relevance. But be that as it may, the general public will look at it as if something has gone wrong. Nothing has gone wrong.
Perhaps, we can tolerate the comments of the general public due to the fact that at a point in time we were told that as a terrorist group, they had been technically defeated?
They were insurgents, they took territories to themselves, they had command and control over particular places, particularly Adamawa, Yobe and Borno States, They were collecting taxes, in Borno State, they had control about 21 local governments that were under their total control and with their flags hoisted. But now it’s not so. So, they were technically defeated, the Commander-In-Chief was right. Are they holding any territories now, the answer is obviously no.
But there are a lot of questions that are supposed to be asked?
That’s the way it goes, how many Nigerians were monitoring terrorism outside this country? Virtually none. But we monitor it; we study it, from Afghanistan, from Iran and Iraq and all over the world. Even when we talk about the problem they had in the United Kingdom, Irish problem, that was how it happened. There is a pattern. I am telling you and assuring the general public sooner than later, by the time the Clearance Operation is cleared, you won’t see this happen, this is the tail of it.
The Presidency is dispatching the Commanders and Service Chiefs back to the North East, what is the situation?
Yes, I was there, we were there on Tuesday to review the situation, what that translates to is to review the strategy and the operational plan, and the strategy had been reviewed and we have put in place ways and means on how to achieve our operational objective. The operation is being reviewed, that is why the Chief of Army Staff is there, you will also begin to see the Chief Air Staff more in Yola where we have concentration of our air assets.
Will it be fair to say you have waited for the Presidency to have this reviewed and then actually return back?
You see, people will not understand, there is nowhere in the world where you have ever seen the Service Chiefs in the war front, right from the history of the world; let’s go back to the World War I and World War II, Nigeria is an exceptional case, and that is what I want people to know. You don’t even have the Service Chiefs sitting in the war front, no. Here is an exceptional case; it was not that they waited until they were ordered back. When they say take command and control right to the theatre, most times in history, it was even done from the rear headquarters. Now, what it translates is that there is a forward headquarters that is where they are, and that is where they would be going from time to time. It is not even to go and sit down there, no, that is not the interpretation.