Why Terrorists Have Outclassed Nigerian Army–Presidency

The presidency has reacted to comments made by the governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, claiming that members of the terrorist group called Boko Haram are better equipped than the Nigerian Army.

Shettima had on Monday said, “I made it emphatically clear to Mr President that the Boko Haram members are better armed and motivated [than the Nigerian Army],” asking, “have we ever succeeded in thwarting any of their plans?”

“They went to Konduga and did what they wanted to do, they held sway for over four hours before they left. They were in Kauri, Idzge and I don’t blame the Nigerian military honestly, we the leaders should be held responsible for our failure in leadership,” Shettima had also submitted.

Reacting to the governor’s confession, the presidency, on Tuesday, at a press conference in Abuja by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, expressed dismay over Shettima’s remarks and stated that the “Nigerian Armed Forces and Security Agencies are on top of the situation.”

Okupe, while rubbishing Shettima’s comments, observed that the governor “does not have the expertise to categorize or classify the effectiveness of any weapon” to enable him conclude that the terrorists are better armed than the Nigerian troops,” while boasting that “the Nigerian military is one of the best equipped in Africa and that in 2014.”

The statement noted that, “the Federal Government made budgetary provision in excess of N1 trillion for the military and other security agencies, an amount, which is about 22 percent of our entire national budget for this year. This definitely belies the suggestion in certain quarters that the Federal Government is not doing the needful in prosecuting this war.”

According to Okupe, the major reason why the government is yet to conquer the insurgents is because of the new tactics employed by the terrorists, where they run to neighbouring countries after every attacks.

“The new trend is for them (insurgents), after sporadic attacks, which are usually launched at night, to quickly cross over to neigbouring countries for safety.

“The Nigerian military is prevented from pursuing them into these foreign territories by law and international conventions and this obviously gives continuous respite to the insurgents,” Okupe said.

He, however, assured Nigerians and the international communities that, Boko Haram’s “sporadic attacks on soft targets is being contained and will be halted,” concluding that, “we state authoritatively without any fear or equivocation whatsoever that Nigeria is already winning the war against terror and the activities of the insurgents will be terminated within the shortest possible time.”

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