Speaking in a special interview with select journalists in Abuja, the army chief stated that about three to four key factors were responsible for the dramatic turn of events against the insurgents.
According to him, the game changing factor was the change of military tactics, enforcement of discipline through the court-martials, procurement of new and appropriate weapons, and the agreement with the neighbouring countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) to join the war.
Minimah added that the obsolete weapons and the difficulty in acquiring the right kinds of arms and ammunitions marred the counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency war in the North-east.
He said: “It is a common knowledge too that the Nigerian Army has been demanding equipment from the government, it is a common knowledge that part of the seething problems of the war against the insurgency has been requisite modern equipment for the Army and the Armed forces.
“It is a common knowledge that the equipment the Army had, were old, aging, obsolete equipment and that we were doing local repairs to maintaining them. It is common knowledge too that our troops were running away from battle. It is also common knowledge that the government was doing everything it could to buy equipment for the army”.
According to Minimah, “the equipment that arrived changed the battle dynamics, changed the battle platform, everything reversed, the terrorists started running. That is what happened.
“The personality of the chief of army staff, utility of the equipment that arrived, changing the dynamics, changing the individual soldiers itself, that is what we have done. So, for the common man who does not understand, let him have his rights to free speech, he can interpret it any way he wishes”.
On the court-martial of some officers and men of the Nigerian Army, Minimah made it clear that the gale of desertion from battle field, cowardice, sabotage and general state of indiscipline was more damaging to the counter terrorism efforts than even lack of arms and ammunition.
“What you do not know too is that the battle had been turned before the equipment arrived, because the average officer realized that if he runs, he would be court martialed.
“The soldier knows that if he runs away he will be dismissed. So everybody was prepared to stand and fight and die, because if you run back there is nothing. And for the fact that they stood and fought back for hours instead of running caught the Boko Haram by surprise…and terrified them”, he said.
In the same vein, the COAS noted that “at one point these equipment came in, and with my personal effort of ensuring that officers and soldiers were court-martialed, dismissed for running in the face of adversaries, for abandoning the equipment we have and running away and so forth, the psyche of the Nigerian soldier changed”.
In a related development, the army chief commended the efforts of the Nigerian military in the just concluded general elections.
He said that despite the initial fears and opposition in some quarters over the deployment of soldiers for election duties, they performed credibly well with a 100 per cent performance score.
“I think if you ask me to score myself, I will score myself 100 percent, because for our state of political development, we cannot expect to see our elections held as it is done in the most advanced nations”.
by Greenstarnetwork admin..
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