Why we can’t stop Boko Haram –Army chief.

Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, has identified sour civilian-military relationship as a major hindrance to the army’s effort to stop the insurgence of the dreaded Boko Haram Islamist sect.

Ihejirika said the Army needs information to ascertain the sect’s centre of gravity.

He said the task before the Army and other security agencies were premised on intelligence, which was largely dependent on information supplied by the civilian population, which were not easy to obtain.
The Army Chief stated this at the closing of one-week capacity building workshop for Commanding Officers from 1 and 3 Divisions held in Kaduna at the weekend.

Ihejirika said it was unfortunate that the same civilian population who expected the military to perform magic by wiping out the terrorists group at once was not ready to provide them with information. Represented by the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 1 Mechanized Division, Kaduna, Major General Garba Wahab, Ihejirika added that, “without those information, we cannot determine the centre of gravity of these guys, that is the unique problem we have.

“This is why we are appealing to the public, because the essence of the whole thing we are doing is premise on information and intelligence. The same people who want us to come out and perform magic are not ready to give us information.“We have two ways of doing our job. It is either we go attrition or maneuvering. If we go attrition, the whole world we call us and say we have killed one million people in Bauchi and 1, 000 in so, so place.

“If we go maneuvering, what we are looking for is the centre of gravity; what is that thing that makes this organization perform?” he said. He therefore tasked the participants (commanding officers) to embark in psychological operation in collaboration with the media and the entire citizenry to be able to obtain information that would aid them in the task of ensuring the safety of every Nigerian. “You must therefore go out of your various offices and socialize. I mean, you must go out and relate with people who matters, who will provide you with information to help you perform your job. These you must do, no matter how low or high the person is,” he said.

While he reminded them that the task before them was that of terrorism, Ihejerika told the participants who were the commanding officers of the various military formations and troops in the North-east and North-west of the country to always be prepared and form alliances among themselves. “You must be prepared; prepare your personnel, prepare your material, prepare your doctrine; how you want to go about it. In addition, form up alliances; liaise with people. Nobody will come to you with any information. Nobody will come to you with anything; you must go out and look for it.

“You must prevent what is undesirable if you are not to be disgraced or embarrassed. You must protect everything within your domain; civilians, military personnel, resources, materials and whatever. And at the same time, you must be ready to pursue the adversary, if you don’t, you will give the man the freedom of action,” the Army Chief warned. Ihejirika told the participants to accord importance to motivation of their soldiers to ensure the accomplishment of their mission, adding that, they were the eyes of the Nigerian Army in their respective domains.