Popular social media expert and political commentator, Mr. Japheth Omojuwa, has posited that the Boko Haram group has informants within the Nigerian military establishment who regularly supply them information and that this may have been responsible for the setbacks being recorded in the war against the insurgents.
He also criticized the Nigeria Police Force, alleging that the law enforcement agency is virtually ‘dead’ in the performance of its constitutionally assigned role of guaranteeing internal security in the country.
He however noted that the police must be brought back to life because it has a role to play in ending terrorism and insurgency in the country.
Speaking to SaharaReporters, Omojuwa faulted the military for not having a structured system which allows them to restrict some information from all of its personnel.
He said, “We need to also do better with our Intel. It is quite obvious that over the years, with respect to Dapchi, these people (Boko Haram) have people inside the military system that give them information, it’s just quite obvious.”
Omojuwa said Boko Haram ‘moles’ inside the military may have instigated and orchestrated the withdrawals of troops from Dapchi town few days before the 110 schoolgirls were kidnapped.
He therefore urged President Muhammadu Buhari to filter the military if he wants to record success in the fight against Boko Haram.
“Why is it that about the time the kidnap was about to happen, the military are deployed elsewhere, that’s not a coincidence, we need to do better with our intelligence.”
“We also need to do better with filtering the system in such a way that those who are not supposed to have access to information do not get it,” he noted.
Commenting on the poor state of the Nigeria Police, Omojuwa reiterated that police is in a ‘mess and dead’.
He opined that the ineffectiveness of the police has led to the overstretching of the military which has in turn shortened the capacity of the military.
He said, “The Nigeria police are weak, they are in a mess and are dead. That has led to the situation that would have required the police to manage, now requires the military.”
He added, “Nigeria is one of the most militarized countries in the world. We have our military in virtually everywhere in the country and that has meant that the sort of military might that we would have deployed to these enemies (Boko Haram), have now been dissipated across the country.”
Omojuwa further noted that the country needs the police to be effective to fight terrorism because if the police are effective, then the military would not be doing its job.
Omojuwa also said Nigeria has a long way to go if terrorism is to be fully conquered in the country.
He added that the federal government needs to understand that the battle is asymmetric and the nation must think about completely defeating Boko Haram and not containing them.
He asserted if the country continues to negotiate with the Boko Haram sect, the terrorist group would continue to strike.
According to him, if at all the federal government would negotiate, it should employ another means and not give money to the terrorist group because that would mean continuing to empower the insurgents.