100DAYS: CHIBOK GIRLS STILL MISSING AS BUHARI TACKLES BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY

During the campaigns and after he eventually won the March 28 presidential  election, President Muhammadu Buhari on several occasions stated that he would focus his attention on three key areas: insecurity, unemployment and corruption.

To show signs of his seriousness in handling the Boko Haram insurgency which has led to the death of about 20,000 people, Mr. Buhari’s first policy statement on the matter was a directive to relocate the military command. He gave the directive in his inaugural speech on May 29.
The newly sworn in President, who acknowledged that progress has been made by Nigeria’s security forces some weeks prior to his coming into office, argued that “victory cannot be achieved by basing the Command and Control Centre in Abuja. The command centre will be relocated to Maiduguri and remain until Boko Haram is completely subdued.”
The President’s directive was carried out swiftly and the Command centre is already on the ground in Borno State. Also, most of the communication and logistics problems that characterized the prosecution of the war in the past are hardly heard of at present.
Although, many Nigerians wanted Mr. Buhari to promptly sack the Service Chiefs he inherited from his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, the president chose to “work” with the heads of the military services for six weeks before finally announcing their sack. Those close to the government said the President took his time to get a good grasp of the goings on in the armed forces before taking a decision to bring in his own men.
Mr. Buhari announced the appointments of new service chiefs on July 13, the same day he sacked the ones he inherited. He appointed Abayomi Olonisakin, a Major General, as the Chief of Defence Staff; Tukur Buratai as Chief of Army Staff; Ibok-Ete Ibas as Chief of Naval Staff; and Sadique Abubakar, an Air Vice Marshall, as Chief of Air Staff.
Mr. Buhari also announced the appointment of Babagana Monguno, a Retired Army General, as the new National Security Adviser, NSA, while Monday Morgan, a Air Vice Marshal was appointed as Chief of Defence Intelligence.
Before the sack and replacement of the new service chiefs, President Buhari had also within six weeks of his administration undertaken a diplomatic shuttle to countries such as Chad, Niger, Benin, and Cameroon. The President also attended a meeting of the G7 countries in Germany. He was also in South Africa, all with a view to firstly finding a common ground with the country’s neighbours in the war against Boko Haram and to also seek the attention and help of the world powers.
His efforts appear to have paid off after countries in the Multi National Joint Task Force, MNJTF, agreed to step up their cooperation to deal with the insurgents across borders.
The president’s first financial approval was the release of $21 million to enable the MNJTF come back on board while a new headquarters for the force was set up in Ndjamena, the Chadian capital.
Nigeria’s current Chief of Army Staff, Mr. Buratai, was first appointed to head the MNJTF, before he was replaced by Iliyasu Abbah, also a Nigerian Army general, upon his appointment as COAS.
The president’s efforts also yielded positive result at the global stage when the U.S. government announced the release of $5 million to help fight the insurgency.
The president also never minced words in stating his resolve to deal with Boko Haram. That resolve and the renewed vigour by the country’s armed forces led to the killing of many insurgents in the battle field. There has hardly been any news of Nigerian troops being subdued by Boko Haram in any all out gun battle since Mr. Buhari assumed power.
Some may argue, albeit correctly, that suicide bombers killed many people in the early days of the Buhari administration, but, the president, his handlers and the military continue to state that the insurgents resorted to suicide bombing because they have been subdued.
The Defence Headquarters claims that Boko Haram simply decided to activate its sleeper cells among ordinary citizens to create the impression that all is well with the group contrary to what is going on in the battle field.
The President has also vowed to end insurgency before the end of 2015. To this end, he has already given the Service Chief a target of three months within which to win the battle against the insurgents.
Already, the Nigerian troops on Tuesday recaptured the strategic town of Gamboru Ngala in Borno State which had remained in the hands of the insurgents.
On Thursday, the Nigerian Army reaffirmed its stance on ending terrorism in three months as directed by Mr. Buhari.
The Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, made the affirmation while giving an update on the counter-insurgency operation, at a news conference in Abuja on Thursday.
Mr. Usman said the recent offensive carried out by combined forces, had decimated the central command and leadership base of the insurgents.
He said the military offensive had left the terrorists with no formidable force.
The spokesperson said the objective of ending the reign of terror in North-eastern Nigeria in the shortest possible time, was not only feasible, but a reality that Nigerians would soon come to live with.
He said troops involved in the operations have been directed to pursue the insurgents to their hideouts in line with the general objective.
“I have no iota of doubt in my mind that our troops will wipe out the insurgents in the shortest possible time and we are committed to this target,” he said.
Clearly, the days of Nigerian troops waiting to be attacked before trying to repel appear over as the armed forces now take the battle to the insurgents.

Not much on Chibok Girls

Despite the seeming victory of Nigerian troops and several commitments given by the President, there has been no progress in the search for the 219 girls from Chibok community who were abducted from their school hostel over 500 days by Boko Haram.
Of all the atrocious acts of Boko Haram, none has captured the attention of not only Nigerians but the entire world as the kidnap of the school girls. However, the Army and the APC administration of Mr. Buhari appear handicap in rescuing the girls alive.
There has been no clear indication that the government even knows where the girls are at present. Also, neither the President nor the Defence Headquarters appear willing to share with Nigerians the strategy being adopted to rescue the girls.