Help! We Are Losing the War Against Boko Haram

By Femi Aribisala
We need to admit the truth; Nigeria no longer has an army worth its
salt. The Nigerian army of today is a pathetic shadow of its glorious
past. This explains why it is proving grossly inadequate at checkmating a
Boko Haram army of some 10,000 men. As a matter of fact, ranged
against the insurgency in the North-East, the army is now staring abject
defeat in the face.
Gone are the glory days when the Nigerian army was at the forefront of
international peace-keeping efforts, only surpassed by Pakistan,
Bangladesh and India. The C.V. of Nigeria single-handedly initiating the
ECOMOG (ECOWAS Monitoring Group) and orchestrating peacekeeping
and peace-enforcement operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone is now in
a dismal state of disrepair.
Coup-proofing the military
The Nigerian contingent sent to Mali in 2012 was disgraceful. It lacked
equipment and training. Assessing their capability, a source told London
Guardian: “The Nigerian army is in a shocking state. In reality there is
no way they are capable of forward operations in Mali- their role is more
likely to be limited to manning checkpoints and loading trucks. The
Nigerian forces lack training and kit, so they simply don’t have the
capability to carry out even basic military manoeuvres.”
Now the chicken has come home to roost with the Nigerian army
deployed against Boko Haram. When you have a military that specialises
in overthrowing civilian governments, you don’t empower it after
civilians finally manage to come back to power after donkey years.
Therefore, it is not surprising that, since the advent of civilian rule in
1999, the Nigerian military has been intentionally starved of funds and
diminished by every successive administration.
Today, it is a shell of its much-vaunted past. From the height of a
350,000 man army during the 1967-70 Civil War, the Nigerian military
now has only 76,000 malnourished men lacking motivation, training and
weaponry. While the military budget has been beefed up in the last few
years of the Jonathan administration, much of this has been pocketed by
the military top brass, as usual.
Counter-insurgency deficit
The earlier plaudits of the Nigerian army were in fighting conventional
wars. But counter-insurgency is something new requiring new sets of
skills, tactics and equipment. Lacking this, the Jonathan administration
declared a classical state of emergency in the North-East, and then
embarked on a scorched-earth military strategy.
Attacks on the innocent; illegal searches and torture; extra-judicial
killings; wrongful and indefinite detention of suspects without trial;
random burning of homes and farms; and revenge attacks on the
innocent was the order of the day. This became a veritable blueprint for
losing the war. As a result, the military successfully alienated the local
population it is sworn to protect; making it all the more difficult to fight
the insurgency.
Western governments would not sell counter-insurgency weapons to
Nigeria given the dismal human rights record of our army. Indeed, the
sale of lethal weapons to Nigeria is specifically prohibited by law in the
United Kingdom because of such concerns. A 1997 law also prohibits
American forces from working with foreign military units that have been
accused of chronic human rights violations.
There is also a problem with sharing highly-sensitive intelligence
information with Nigeria because it is widely understood that the
Nigerian military includes a fifth column of local Boko Haram
sympathisers. The means the Nigerian army cannot even be trusted to
safeguard sensitive information from falling into the hands of the
insurgents.
Politics of insurgency
President Jonathan has been caught on the horns of a dilemma. He is a
minority South-South president facing re-election in 2015. No Republican
has even been elected president of the United States without winning
Ohio. No Nigerian can be elected president of Nigeria without getting a
substantial number of Northern votes. But now a major segment of
Northern leadership is insisting six years of Jonathan presidency is
enough.
This makes the handling of the security situation in the North-East a
very delicate matter if Jonathan is not to lose vital Northern votes and
support. Indeed, it has put the president in a Catch 22 situation. When he
declared emergency rule and clamped down on the insurgents in the
North, his Northern political opponents accused him of genocide. They
maintained his Chief of Army Staff was mischievously from the South-
East. Some even threatened to take the matter to the International Court
of Justice. But when Jonathan soft-pedals on the insurgency, he is
accused of incompetence.
It has not helped that Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, the three states in the
fore-front of the insurgency, are all controlled by the opposition APC
party. In declaring emergency rule, Jonathan was careful to leave their
APC governors intact, as chief security officers of their states. However,
they have not been inclined to cooperate with the federal government
and, until more recently, have tended to see the insurgency as a means
to undermine it.
Resurgent Boko Haram
In the middle of all this, the Boko Haram has gone from strength to
strength. From a rag tag group of ill-equipped local thugs who engaged
in hit-and-run bombings, it now operates with armoured personnel
carriers, rocket launchers and advanced weaponry that match, if not
best, those the Nigerian military has to offer. Indeed, it is Nigerian
military that has now become rag tag, as the Boko Haram has continued
to build up its arsenal of weapons. It even attacks Nigerian police-
stations and military-barracks whenever it needs a new cache of arms.
One of the initial sponsors of the Boko Haram was Muammar Gaddafi,
who wanted Nigeria to be balkanised into a Christian South and a
Muslim North in his bid to promote Libya regional supremacy in Africa.
The decision of the United States and its allies to overthrow him further
succeeded in unleashing radical Islamic terrorist groups in North Africa,
including the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, now armed with
Gaddafi’s cache of sophisticated weapons.
These groups moved down the Sahel from Libya; through Algeria into
Mali and Nigeria, where they have linked up with their “brothers” in the
Boko Haram. Today, the Boko Haram has come of age. In the last few
weeks, it has become so emboldened that it has embarked on a new
daredevil strategy different from its guerrilla warfare of the past. Its
fighters have come out of their hideouts in the Sambisa forest and
Mandara Mountains to establish a foothold for their Islamic Caliphate
right on Nigerian soil; according to the horrific blueprints of the ISIS in
Iraq.
New Islamic Caliphate
Last week Monday, Boko Haram militants seized control of Bama, the
second largest city in Borno State. They put up their flag over it, forcing
an estimated 26,000 of the residents to flee, according to the U.N. Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The remaining residents
were then force-fed with a strict diet of the Boko Haram version of
Islamic law, on pain of death.
They did not stop there, but are also now reported to have taken over
other major towns including Damboa, Gamboru Ngala, Banki and Gwoza.
As a matter of fact, they are now reported to pose imminent threat to
Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, which is barely 65 kilometres (40
miles) away from their new acquisition of Bama.
Australian hostage-negotiator, Stephen Davis, who is currently making
waves as a result of some controversial pronouncements, says: “When
(the Boko Haram) attack a town, they empty the treasury of the banks.
That is another source of funding for them. They are gradually
depopulating many villages in the state, taking them over and foisting
their flag.
They are very well organised and becoming very good strategists. By the
time they are done with the villages, they will have a very good base
from where they will launch attacks on Maiduguri, with the aim of taking
it over and proclaiming the caliphate that they desire.”
Army in disarray
Instead of putting up a fight, Nigerian soldiers are reported to have fled
into Cameroon, with the army making a face-saving declaration that it
was a tactical manoeuvre. A recent report by Chatham House, a London-
based think-tank, points out that soldiers in the North-East are bedeviled
by equipment failure, low morale, desertions and mutinies.
The military budget has been increased and increased, but the money
has clearly not made its way to the military rank-and-file in terms of
equipment and supplies. The government is talking of taking a one
billion dollar loan to fight the insurgency. Why would we need as much
as that to fight the Boko Haram? What has happened to all the monies
spent till date? In spite of the huge outlays, the report from the foot-
soldiers remains the same: inadequate weaponry and poor logistics.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s sovereignty is now at stake. An eye-witness reports
that: “In Bama now there is no single police, soldier, civil defence, or
state security service personnel. They have all run away for fear of being
killed, even the civil-servants are not spared from attack, if you are a
government worker they kill you.” Apparently, no less than seven emirs
have fled their palaces in Borno and Yobe States.
New map of Nigeria?
Andrew Noakes of the London Guardian, who co-ordinates a so-called
Nigeria Security Network of Analysts, warns that: “Unless swift action is
taken, Nigeria could be facing a rapid takeover of a large area of its
territory reminiscent of ISIS’s lightning advances in Iraq. If Borno falls to
Boko Haram, parts of Yobe and Adamawa can be expected to follow.
Parts of Cameroon along the border area would also probably be
overrun.”
This means it is wake-up time. The PDP and the APC must stop playing
politics with the Boko Haram. Neither can the insurgency be filed away
until after the election. If we are not careful, the damage would have
been done long before then. Nigeria is in danger of becoming a banana
republic. As Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. Assistant Secretary for
African Affairs warns: “The reputation of Nigeria’s military is at stake.
But, more importantly, Nigeria’s and its children’s future is in jeopardy.”

How I was raped by soldier for 5 hours under a tree — Student

By Ola Ajayi
IBADAN — A 23-year-old National Diploma, ND,
student of Mass Communication Department,
Ibarapa Polytechnic, yesterday, narrated how she
was raped under a tree by one of the security men
attached to Operation Burst set up by Governor
Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State to check criminality in
the state.
The incident was said
to have happened in
Eruwa from 10.30 pm
on August 29 this year
while she was
returning after seeing
off a friend.
She said she was raped
repeatedly for five
hours before she was
let off the hook by the
rapist soldier.
How it happened
According to her, the soldier allegedly ordered her
to climb the motorcycle while threatening to stab
her with a knife.
She said: “It happened on Friday, August 29, 2014. I
was coming back to my room after seeing off a
friend. He accused me of being a cultist for moving
about around that time, but I denied it. He then
ordered me to climb his motorcycle, but I pleaded
with him that he should let me go.
“He removed a knife and said that he would stab me
if I refused to obey him. So scared, I climbed the
Okada and he took me to the Operation Burst office
in Eruwa.
“When we got there, he forcefully led me to a dark
area under a tree and ordered me to remove my
dress to enable him see if I had tattoos on my body.
“I told him I did not have tattoos and that he should
let me go. He then removed the knife again and said
that he would slaughter me like a ram if I failed to
‘cooperate’ and that I would be buried like many
other girls who had failed to cooperate in the past,
and nobody would trace my death to him.
“Sensing danger, I removed my clothes. He ordered
me to lie down under the tree and had sex with me
several times while I was crying.
“He raped me till 3.30 am and I complained of
catching cold. He entered into the office and brought
out a bottle of beer. He gave it to me to hold for him.
“Later he said he was going to bring a blanket for
me to cover my body. I waited for about 30 minutes,
but when he did not return, I dressed up and ran
away.”
Case reported at Police station
The victim’s counsel, Mr. Adeosun, confirmed her
story, saying: “In the morning of Saturday, August
30, 2014, the victim called her parents on the
telephone and told them what happened. It was the
parents that came to brief our office. We thereafter
advised that the victim should report to the Police
Station at Eruwa, which she did.”
When the matter was reported to the security outfit,
the girl identified the rapist among other security
operatives paraded before her.
To worsen her ordeal, the Eruwa General Hospital
where she went for test did not help matter.
According to her, on arrival in the hospital, the
doctor she met told her to buy hand gloves which
she did.
She said: “The doctor told me to lie down and use
his phone torchlight to examine my private part and
wrote a report that although there was no trace of
semen, the private part had been tampered with.”
It was gathered that the doctor claimed he could not
carry out test on the inner part of the vagina
because the hospital did not have the facilities to
carry out such test.
The victim’s lawyer said a soldier called him at 8.25
pm on Sunday informing him that the Army had
commenced court martial trial on the indicted
soldier, but that the student must appear to testify.
Suspect recommended for disciplinary measure
Responding, Special Adviser to the Governor on
Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo, quoted the security
outfit as saying it had recommended the suspect for
disciplinary measure for abandoning his duty post.
In a statement issued by the outfit’s Second in
Command, CSP Elijah Bawa, “immediately the outfit
was informed of the allegation of rape against the
said soldier, he dispatched an investigation team to
Eruwa.
“The team met with the Divisional Police Officer for
the Eruwa Division, DSP Kayode Adigun who
disclosed that the 23-year old Mass Communication
student of the school lodged a complaint with the
command that she had been raped by the soldier
who was also an operative of the anti-crime outfit.
“The outfit’s Second in Command and the DPO took
the complainant to the Eruwa General Hospital for
medical examination, the result of which they said
proved negative.
“The soldier will, however, be charged for
abandoning his duty post in the night without
permission against standing instructions in the
Operation Burst’s code of conduct,” he said.

MEET The Man who has Fathered Over 34 Children With 17 Different Women! [Photos]

Guys, meet Jay Williams an Atlanta-based video
producer who is currently making headlines
thanks to his personal life.
He is the biological father of 34 children by 17
different mothers!!
Yes, you read those figures correctly! Jay even
has 9 additional children that he has embraced
or adopted, which means he has a total of 43
children.
Two of his 17 babymamas were best friends
and got pregnant for him at the same time!
His youngest child is 3, while the oldest is 26.
In a revealing letter written to spiritual and
relationship expert Iyanla Vanzant, of OWN's
Iyanla: Fix My Life fame, 44 year old Williams said
he wants to be a better father. Williams told Iyanla
that his relationships with his kids range from
excellent to non-existent, and even Iyanla Vanzant
was almost at a loss for where to begin.
The first thing Iyanla had done was confront
Williams with a physical representation of his
responsibility by bringing him 34 dolls. She
asks Williams to hold as many dolls as he can,
to feel the weight of what he's created.
But he could only hold 14.
"Let me ask you this question, Jay. Thirty-
four children. At any point, did it dawn on
you [that] this is too much?" Iyanla asks.
"No," Williams answers evenly.
When Iyanla asks Williams about using
protection during sex, he insists that he did.
"I probably would have 200 kids if I didn't
use condoms," he says

Why I tore Bishop David Oyedepo’s book – Pastor Bakare

By Editor
Founder of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde
Bakare has explained what led to the standoff
between him and General Overseer of Winner’s
Chapel, Pastor David Oyedepo, some years back.

In a recently published interview he granted the
Punch, Bakare when asked his take on anointing oil,
mainly used by Christians for prayer purposes,
responded: “People like to create their own Tunde
Bakare. I love God, I love people, I love the godly
and the ungodly and I try within my God-given
ability to teach the truth.
“The reason I fought with my friend, Bishop David
Oyedepo, and tore his book, I remember when we
resolved this problem in London, we came out of a
plane, he took me aside and said he was angry with
me because I tore his book. I said I didn’t tear your
book, I tore my book. That is fine, you wrote it, I
bought it, so it was my book I tore.
“I saw errors in that book because he said the
anointing oil is not a symbol of the Holy Spirit, that it
is the life of God in a bottle. How can you write that
and I would let it pass. No! If the anointing oil is the
Holy Spirit, then Jesus is a lamb walking on four
legs.
“These are metaphors and when you have the real,
you leave the shadow. Besides it is for the sick in
the New Testament. So, you can anoint the entire
church if they are sick and I would wonder how a
sick church can bring healing to a dying world”.
On his description of Nigerian churches as being a
theatre where one man performs and the others are
just mere spectators, he said “If you quoted me
correctly, I said the difference between the cinema
and the church in Nigeria is that for the cinema you
pay a gate fee before you enter, but in the church,
they let you come in before they take from you.
“When the youth pastor was ministering today (day
of interview) I said wow, if I am out of here today,
these people can continue”.
Explaining why his church has not established its
own university like others have done, Bakare said
he was not called to do that.
“I do not judge those who are doing it, because they
are contributing their quota to the system and they
are helping the society in the area of infrastructure.
“But I would have a question mark on the whole
thing if part of what is going in there are the
offerings of the people and their pastors’ children
and members’ children cannot attend that
university. Almost all the top universities in the
world started from Christian organisations.
“My daughter graduated from Emory University in
Georgia, United States, which is owned by the
Methodist Church. Oxford and Cambridge were
established by churches.
“If their real intention was mission and to educate a
crop of leaders that would share the light, I
commend their efforts. But if it is money-making
and profit-driven, then I don’t know what to say”.
Responding to a question on why Latter Rain has not
staged conventions like other big Nigerian
churches, the running mate to General Muhammad
Buhari in the 2011 presidential election, opined that:
“It is not wrong to have an annual convention, it is
not wrong to have Shiloh or Holy Ghost Congress.
“I have been invited to the congress about three
times but I just didn’t have the time to go. Up till the
seventh year of the Latter Rain Assembly, we had
what we called Annual Believers’ Convention, but I
stopped it after then. Look at the population of
people in church today and we have negligible
righteousness. So, something is wrong.
“I am not condemning what people are doing. If they
are called to do what they are doing, God would
reward them. But if it is just a clever ploy to
continue to control and manage people, one day
they would say ‘to your tent oh Israel”.

20 Boko Haram’s militants killed in army general’s house

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014 BY KAYODE IDOWU,
MAIDUGURI
Over 20 suspected members of the deadly Boko
Haram sect were on Sunday killed in Buratai town
during a siege to the residence of the former
Commander, Niger-Delta Special Task Force,
Major General Tukur Buratai, an indigene of the
town.
It was learnt that the insurgents also attacked a
primary school in the town, Buratai Central Primary
School.
Buratai is a lonely town in Biu Local Government
area of Borno State, which is a distance of over
200 kilometres from the state capital, Maiduguri.
Mallam Idi Buratai, a resident of Buratai, told
journalists on Monday in a telephone interview that
over 50 gunmen invaded the town on motorcycles
and Hilux Vans and attacked the residence of the
army general and the primary school, which they
succeeded in razing down.
But they however met their waterloo as they many
of them were killed while a few others fled in
various directions.
Idi said, “The soldiers, guarding the residence of
the former task force commander, in collaboration
with their colleagues from Biu Military Barrack and
some members of the vigilance group, repelled the
attackers, killing over 20 members of the sect.”
Idi added that the terrorists set on fire all the
telecommunications masts in the town.
He explained that the terrorists, who stormed the
town at about 9.30am on Sunday, came through
Buni-Yadi, a Yobe town, which is under the sect’s
control.
A resident of the town, who fled to Biu, Bukar Buba,
also told journalists on the telephone that the
soldiers, guarding the general’s residence,
successfully repelled the attackers.