Security analyst Dickson Osajie, has criticised the Nigerian military over what he described as a politicised approach to the fight against terrorism in the country.
Osajie made the remarks on Monday during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief.
He said it was disheartening for Nigerians that the Army, Navy and Air Force had been unable to decisively defeat a small number of terrorists, despite the hardship insecurity has continued to impose on the larger population.
“The Nigerian military has been so political with this battle for a very long time. It is so disturbing that we need to have the Americans come all the way from the United States, even though they activated the United States Africa command to carry out the strikes.”
His comments followed recent airstrikes carried out by the United States on camps belonging to ISIS-linked terrorists in Sokoto State.
The Federal Government disclosed that 16 GPS-guided precision munitions were deployed during a joint Nigerian–United States operation, using MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial platforms to target terrorist enclaves.
Osajie said the ongoing security challenges were largely due to what he described as a “conquer and abandon” strategy adopted by the Nigerian military, stressing that such an approach was ineffective against terrorist groups.
He said that “Conquer and abandon in the sense that each time you conquer any territory, don’t abandon such territory to these terrorist groups. When you abandon such territory, they will go back and regroup.”
The analyst added that despite military gains, terrorists often return to their familiar environments, prompting the need for repeated airstrikes in the same locations.
“So the government should look into the conquering and abandoning technique currently being used.
They should ensure that whenever the Army conquers a territory, they should take it, hold the territory, and build the territory. There should be a structure of governance within that given environment,” he said.
