General Christopher Musa, Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, has claimed his country’s challenges from terrorism will be a thing of the past in two years time.
Musa was a guest on Talk to Al Jazeera, discussing the 15 year struggle against Boka Haram and other terror groups in the country. Host Neave Barker, perhaps a bit perplexed by the his guest’s bullishness, asked whether 15 years from now, the country would be facing the same security challenges. An over confident Musa said “we will be done in two years”.
This won’t be the first time Nigerian officials gave themselves an unrealistic deadline for defeating terror. Former president Muhammadu Buhari did something similar only to end up declaring that Boko Haram were “technically defeated”. The terrorists didn’t get the memo and carried on regardless.
Musa put the continuation of terror down to the fact that the Nigerian military was trained for conventional warfare and not the “asymmetrical” version presented by terror groups. He insisted things “were better than before”. Reality begged to defer as mass kidnappings, atrocities from terror groups and the military continue.
Barker reeled off a host of atrocities committed by the military including airstrikes that killed hundreds of civilians, children dying in military detention, the military being accused of holding children under five at the Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri, Borno State in northeastern Nigeria.
Musa mounted a robust defence of his men with a tactic of denial, deflect and bluster. He said part of the problem was that Nigeria didn’t manufacture the weapons needed and some countries were not keen to do business with Nigeria in procuring the necessary hardware. He even suggested that some of the allegations of misconduct against them were due to wanting “to demoralise my troops”.
Barker mentioned that Transparency International reported the wasting of billions of dollars of public funds in procurement of military equipment, while Musa insisted the military he headed were just “a few good guys trying to do some jobs”. He was asked about a court ruling in the offshore island of Jersey that $8.9m was moved to the island in 2014 by Nigerian officials ostensibly for military equipment. Musa said that this was all before his time.
Naja’atu Muhammad, a politician and activist, alleged in 2018 that “terrorism was a multibillion dollar industry” involving politicians and the military.
But Musa was having none of this. He also denied that there were foreign military bases in Nigeria. Niger’s junta leader, Abdourahmane Tchiani, alleged last month that France has built a military base in Nigeria intent on destabilising his country. Musa admitted to “joint training” with partners but “no boots on the ground”.
While it’s hard to establish who’s telling the truth, it won’t be difficult to know in two years if insecurity from terror in Nigeria has been consigned to the dustbins of history.
