Soldier and Civil Defender strip and reassemble their weapons at the CTCOIN Centre, Kachia
• Terror: A day with Nigeria’s
Special Ops unit
DAILY TRUST
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
• Comrades in arms: Civil Defenders partner Army in new terrorism fronts
Nigeria’s armed services have expanded
beyond prosecuting the Civil War and
keeping peace across Africa. Presently, it is dealing with homegrown insurgency and terrorism—and now runs Special Operations unit to deal with the problem.
Special Ops might be the stuff of blockbuster movies, but across hills and
forests in the country, hundreds of men
and women of military and paramilitary
background train in the programme in
hopes of keeping the country safe.
Fagite Valentine completed four weeks
of basic counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency training the Nigerian Army Base Camp in Kachia, and says the rigours could prove the “final stopping
point against crime.” “With this I can assure that Nigerians can sleep with their two eyes closed, because we have been given everything within the itinerary of the Nigerian Army as regards fighting crime and terror,” he boasts.
“Unforgettable hijack”
The birth of a wing designated Special
Ops came more from terror—a recognition that the terrain of modern-
day are not as clear-cut as the jungles
secessionist and federal troops forayed in the 1960s war. The Wing initially had five divisions:
• Jungle Warfare and Combat Survival
• Mountain Warfare, merged with jungle in 1987 to become Special Warfare,
• Airborne
• Amphibious, upgraded to a Wing in 1986 and moved to Calabar, where it is semi-autonomous as a training school
• Desert Warfare.
The early 90s wasn’t a period seriously
associated with terrorism. Even
September 11 attacks wouldn’t come
until a decade later. But the “unforgettable hijack” of a Nigerian
Airways Airbus A300 in 1994 was a wakeup call, according to military
literature. Hijack of the flight from Lagos to Niamey in Niger Republic was blamed on the Movement for Advancement of Democracy. The army’s response was to upgrade Special Ops to a centre, the Nigerian Army Counter Terrorism and Counter Insurgency Centre, on June 10, 2009. It has since become more popular as CTCOIN.
Winging it
CTCOIN still runs the army’s special warfare wing and counter terrorism wing. Both are becoming increasingly important in how the military deals with battles in terrains where jungle are more concrete than vegetation. Also increasingly important is Nigeria’s
need to throw its paramilitary services
into the programme, including the police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. The fourth batch of trainees to graduate from CTCOIN included 60 civil defenders and 154 soldiers.
The absence of the police, to which both
army and paramilitary hand over terror
suspects after capture, came under
questioning. But officials insist it is “a policy issue way beyond” them that Abuja has to decide.
Command and Control
Those in training must master new scapes in urban patrol, hostage rescue and clearing multiple houses. The army is careful about its activities flying all over the place so much journalists using
mobile phones are not allowed to take any images.
The demos, which Daily Trust was allowed to capture, are meant to inspire
confidence in a nation edgy about routine terrorist attacks and whether its security forces can stay the course of countering attacks without going overboard.
In one image sequence, a detachment of soldiers and civil defenders leap off a
roaring jeep and storm an urban building—similar to the sort of areas beset by clashes and bombings in Kaduna, Kano and Maiduguri.
The urban patrol lasts anywhere from minutes to hours but the goal is to stay effective and minimise casualties.
Hostage rescue is a trickier business—
and “losing hostages is normal accident,”says Maj-Gen Amnon Kwaskebe,
Commander, Nigerian Army Corps of
Artillery. “It is not one hundred percent that when you go for rescue ops, you rescue all the people taken hostage.”
This year,alone prominent cases of
abductions and resulting rescue operations which ended in the death of
the hostages. But there is hope that training could push up standards and “their performance in the field will be better than before,” he says.
One area their performance is improving
is in weapons handling, beginning with
attempts to dismantle a rifle in a record 4 seconds, and couple the same weapon in 7 seconds flat—even in blindfold. The hope is that “there will be limited
problems of misfire or misuse of
weapons,” Kwaskebe remarks.
Minutes later, security teams storm a
replica of a multiple-room house,creating a scenario in which terrorists are holed up i a large house or a hotel. The gunshots as soldiers and civil
defenders open fire on “terrorists” over a stretch of green bush are deafening.
The teams manage to shoot down some
terrorists, but not before some go down
in the shooting. In pairs, the troops maintain a “buddy system”—two soldiers or a soldier and a civil defender—when in advance or in retreat. The pairing helps them watch out fo each other, and ensure each mate in a pair has someone to evacuate them if they are shot in crossfire.
Assistant Commandant General Bartholomew Ezeigbo of NSCDC zone B says training targets “capability and impetus.” “You should expect improved services to the society. And as they give us more, we will give more in return,” he adds. Civil defenders, since they were legally allowed to bear arms in duty, have recently taken thousands of rifles in fresh delivery from the army. The ACG says arming civil defenders is ongoing and “as time goes on, the government will see whether we have need to receive more.”
Women like Akinwale Abimbola are
among defenders handling the rifles. She has being taught to handle weapons “in such ways as to protect my fellow women and young ladies coming up,” she says.
But CTCOIN isn’t all about counterterrorism. Some of the soldiers it trained this year are the balance of troops scheduled for deployment to Guinea Bissau, said CTCOIN Director, Brig-Gen Tijani Golau. Their job will be to enforce peace when they deploy, but the civil defenders fanning out across the country will “enforce peace or rescue people who are distressed by terrorists and insurgents.”
And, for your peace of mind, their
training “included recognising improvised explosive devices and how to handle them anywhere discovered,” said Kwaskebe. That should ease your mind, especially with a motto that reads: “No Impossibility.”
If the police is excluded then, where do red berrets get there training from?
Anti terrorism training at Kachia, Kaduna.
What’s your take?
Well its a demo so lets not read too much in to it but if that is their COIN or even basic infantry drills and tactics its a little bit short of the mark. Firing over or in front of cover? Everyone moving at once? People crossing each others line of fire? I guess they just wanted to put on a show for the journalists but from what I saw I was not impressed. I trust operational units are better
F.M. come man it is demo
Fellow bloggers, I came across this piece (from Africa Defense Journal). Don’t know what to say but I don’t think its baseless. It’s sad knowing there’s some truth to it.
Nigeria: Failing State, Fading Peacekeepers
Recently, this column analysed Nigeria’s defence spending and raised concerns about the poor levels of equipment of our armed forces. The write-up reflected pride in the Army for its various peace-keeping roles from the 1960s to the recent ones in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Somalia and concluded that our military deserved credit for stabilising and democratising Sierra Leone and Liberia in the 1990s. This, my brother Sanusi Lamido Sanusi once tragically observed, is a peculiar Nigerian tendency of exporting what we lack (like true democracy, internal security), while ironically importing what we have in abundance (like petroleum products)!
Since the publication, I have received diverse responses from informed Nigerians. Many confirmed the alarms raised about the state of equipment in the armed forces, while others disagreed with the claims of Nigeria’s stellar peacekeeping roles. The one point of agreement was that the deterioration of the quality of governance in the country has equally reflected on the peacekeeping capacity of the Nigerian Army and the police. Is this administration bent on destroying one of the areas where Nigeria established a global competitive advantage?
The United Nations was formed after World War II to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”. Peacekeeping is undertaken under the auspices of the UN and other regional groupings like the African Union (AU) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to end violence between contending parties, restore peace, build social capital and physical infrastructure destroyed by conflict, and get the ex-combatants to respect any agreements and commitments made. The UN has led nearly 50 peacekeeping operations since the 1950s, 40 of them in Africa.
Nigeria joined the UN in October 1960 and a few weeks later offered our Army officers and men as peacekeepers to the Congo; Yakubu Gowon and Olusegun Obasanjo cut their military teeth as young officers on this mission. Since then, we have been involved in over 20 such operations in and outside Africa, largely under the UN. The notable exceptions were the ECOWAS monitoring group (ECOMOG) which we led in the 1990s to end conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone – and reportedly spent between $8 and $10 billion.
The Army is hierarchically organised starting with a ‘section’ consisting of about 10 men (and women!), with a corporal or sergeant as section commander. Five sections make up a ‘platoon’ commanded by an officer – second lieutenant to captain with a staff sergeant as the second-in-command. Three platoons make up a ‘company’ of at least 90 men led by a Major. Three companies make up a battalion which is made up of at least 270 infantry officers and men, with support staff like military police, intelligence, medical, supply and transport, imam and chaplain raising a typical battalion size to at least 500, and as many as 1,100.
A battalion is usually commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel. Amongst the various corps of the Army, the Infantry and Armoured are organised as battalions, while the Artillery, Engineers and Signal Corps are organised as regiments, so battalions are often larger in size. Three battalions make up a brigade in the Infantry Corps – the heart of the Army. The size of a brigade differs from corps to corps, depending on the mix of equipment and human resources. A brigade is commanded by a brigadier; three brigades make up a division commanded by a major-general. Nigerian peacekeeping contingents have ranged from a platoon to a division.
The Nigerian Army’s 60,000 officers and men are distributed across five divisions and a special brigade. The major equipment of the Army include battle tanks, reconnaissance vehicles, personnel carriers, Howitzers, field guns and rocket launchers, as well as anti-tank guns and surface to air missiles. Like every institution in Nigeria, the levels of equipment holding and state of preparedness of the Army have deteriorated to a level that it can hardly meet its constitutional role – a decay that is directly affecting our competitive edge in peacekeeping roles which was one of our few successes.
We have every reason to be proud of our peacekeeping record. Some of the peacekeeping operations that we have been involved include sending a battalion to Congo (ONUC) 1960-1964; military observers to New Guinea (UNSF), 1962-1963; battalion to Tanzania by bilateral agreement, 1964; military observers during the India-Pakistan conflict (UNIPOM) 1965-1966; battalion and staff officers to Lebanon (UNIFIL) 1978-1983; battalion and staff officers to Chad (Harmony I, via bilateral agreement) 1981-1982; brigade to Chad (Harmony II under auspices of the OAU) 1982-1983; military observes during Iran-Iraq conflict (UNIIMOG) 1988-1991; division to Liberia (ECOMOG) 1990 to date; military observers for Iraq-Kuwait (UNIKOM) 1991, and to Angola (UNAVEM II) 1991-1992; training teams for Sierra Leone (NATAG) 1991; company to Angola (UNAVEM III) 1992-1995; military observers to Namibia (UNTAG) 1989-1990; to Western Sahara (MINURSO) 1991; and to Cambodia (UNTAC) 1992- 1993.
We also contributed a battalion and staff officers to Somalia (UNOSOM) 1992-1994; battalion and staff officers to the former Yugoslavia (UNPROFOR) 1992; military observers to Mozambique (ONUMOZ) 1992; a battalion to Rwanda (UNAMIR) 1993; training teams to the Gambia (NATAG) 1993; military observers to Aouzo Strip (UNASOG) 1994; and to Israel (UNTSO) 1995; and more recently Liberia – ECOMOG where a Nigerian General, Suraj Abdurrahman, is Liberian Chief of Army Staff; to Sierra Leone – UNMIL; and finally Dafur – UNAMID, which we will discuss in some detail as it is an ongoing operation. Our hope is that we will learn from the current failures to retrieve our national image and our reputation in the global peacekeeping community.
The achievements of Nigeria’s peacekeepers in Africa and elsewhere led the UN to entrusting us the lead role in global peacekeeping; since 1999, Nigeria’s successive ambassadors to the UN have chaired the UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping. The Head of the Darfur Mission and Joint Special Representative (JSR) of the UN Secretary General, Ibrahim Gambari, is Nigerian. Until 2009, my brother and former Nigerian army and defence chief General Martin Luther Agwai commanded UNAMID, and Lt-Gen Chikadibia Obiakor was the UN military adviser on peacekeeping operations for two years until 2010. In UNAMID Darfur, Nigeria was the largest Troops Contributing Country (TCC), with four battalions, one Military Hospital, Military Observers, and Staff Officers.
However, the poor equipping of our troops has resulted in the total loss of confidence of the UN and other observers in the Nigerian Army. In fact, the UN has recently questioned the operational capacity of our troops in Darfur. The government of Sudan in March 2010 and January 2012 protested to the UN Security Council over what it considered “the deliberate re-arming of rebel groups in Darfur by Nigerian troops”. This may not be unconnected with the ease with which Nigerian troops, out of the 53 participating armies, are easily captured, disarmed or killed. In the five years of UNAMID, Nigerian troops have never won any fire fight or fought back in self defence, resulting in the highest casualty recorded by any contingent.
In February 2010, a Nigerian military patrol of a company strength was intercepted by a rebel group and disarmed completely with their Armour Personnel Carriers (APCs) seized without any resistance. In January 2012, another Nigerian patrol was waylaid by a small rebel group and disarmed. Apart from taking their weapons, the commander was killed. From these failures, the humanitarian community in Darfur and International NGOs prefer being by other national troops; the Sierra Leonean forces that were trained in 1990s by the Nigerian Army are now more valued than our troops!
The February 2012 visit of the American Envoy to Sudan, Ambassador Smith to our Minister of Defence was principally to do with the poor performance of Nigerian troops in Darfur. What are the reasons for the decay of our peacekeeping capacity? Poor equipment, corruption, poor personnel selection and training, inadequate feeding and welfare of officers and men seem to be the reasons – symptomatic of the general malaise in governance in Nigeria under Jonathan.
Our equipment holdings are disgraceful and totally unacceptable; every country earns money from its Contingent Own Equipment (COE) – from uniforms, boots, face masks, compass, rifle, mortar, RPGs, APCs, power generating sets, kitchen equipment and even furniture. They are inspected every month and payments made, but our military and police contingents cannot meet up to 20 per cent of the COE required by the UN. Out of over 45 APCs for four battalions of 800 troops, less than seven are serviceable.
Some of the problems of the APCs are as basic as batteries and tires. The equipment available to our troops is enough to demoralise them when compared to other countries. The Nigerian government is supposed to earn $6,000 monthly for each APC. By contrast, each Rwandese battalion can boast of over 50 vehicles. Rocket Propel Grenades (RPGs) is today the weapon of deterrence to wade off ambushes, but it is rare to find any with Nigerian troops.
The process of selecting troops to peace missions is also flawed. Some battalions are loaded with clerks, cooks, batmen and orderlies who can barely handle a weapon, but are well-connected! It is not unusual for legislators, retired military officers and traditional rulers to influence the selection process, so competence and capacity get compromised. Some of these ill trained soldiers simple take to their heels when under attack. The end result is the high casualty rates of our officers and men. Similarly, poor feeding also affects the performance of our troops.
The UN pays for the feeding of the troops but in our case, the money is provided to the home government to ensure the inclusion of local content. What is ultimately provided by the MOD/Presidency contractors never meets the expected international standards. The Rwandese government allows the UN to directly feed their troops and so four Rwandese soldiers share one whole chicken during a meal. A Nigerian soldier is not likely to see a piece of chicken throughout his or her six months tour of duty in Darfur.
How is the money paid upfront by the UN for our participation in peacekeeping spent? Other countries use the funds to sustain their military and add value to their national economies; in Nigeria, such funds and even the income tax deductions from the earnings of military officers are not remitted to the treasury but supposedly re-channelled into the armed forces – with no accountability! The monies earned from peacekeeping are not recognised as revenues, the procurements not subject to rigorous ‘due process’ scrutiny on spurious security grounds and therefore often looted by the Ministry of Defence and the Presidency.
Many observers opined that the policy changes introduced by two former Chiefs of Staff, Agwai and Azazi to transform the army into an American-type institution destroyed the British military tradition of valour, honour and integrity. These two army chiefs between 2003-2006 introduced the policy of achieving C+ at the staff college as the main criterion to earn promotion and command appointments. This was abused and mediocre officers were able to buy their way and move up to command positions.
The poor performance of our troops today is a direct consequence of deficits in command capability. Currently, over 90 per cent of those who placed Nigeria on the world map with their extraordinary feats in Liberia and Sierra Leone are out of service due mainly to the C+ policy. It is time to correct these errors, equip our armed forces better and restore our nation’s reputation in international peacekeeping. It is not too much to ask of a real commander-in-chief.
By Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai
That diatribe has been discussed here before. El Rufai does not know what he is talking about IF he can look us in the eye and tell us that the Otokar Cobra APC is made in China.
He is merely writing to excite his CPC crowd of malcontents and that stuff is impressive only to those who get their kicks from digging dirt.
El Rufai knows his macroeconomics. Militarily, he is a clueless Joe.
He is concurrently at war with the people of Anambra State for having comprehensively rejected the CPC at the polls. Go and read Ochereome Nnanna’s last riposte to El Rufai’s outbursts and he would sound less impressive and credible to you.
Next..
Oga beeg, the messenger might not be reputable, but the message is not far from accurate.
El Rufai, may be be using facts to serve his selfish purposes, but they remain facts.
However, nigerian press needs to step their game up.
The press is often called the 4th branch of government or the 4th estate, after the executive,legislative and judicial branches.
They ensure that the electorate makes informed responsible decisions out of facts and not rumors or manipulated fact presentation.
Furthermore, the press should function as a checking function, ensuring that elected officials upholds their oaths of office.
So, our news agencies should have correspondents embedded with our troops in darfur to reveal exactly what is going on.
Our press, should aggressively task the legislature to demand information of the executive branch and the Armed forces brass of a history of illegal & unnecessary secrecy concerning performance, equipment serviceability,casualty records and troop welfare.
Nigerians should be careful to uphold the rights of our troops and see to their welfare, if we expect them to die defending ours.
Is it true that nigerian soldiers were disarmed in combat???its surprising,i dont agree with most of the points raised except there is corruption in the military and they r ill funded and lack enough equipment,we all know this is true but what is being done about it
Can you give me a link to that? Would like to read it (Nnanna’s riposte)
http://vanguardngr.com/2012/06/anambra-el-rufai-and-poverty/
O di egwu. He really bashed my state but the response from Nnanna was bulls eye! However, Beeg we know like Doziex said, he took advantage of certain practices in the Nigerian military (which are not untrue) to purport his own/party agenda. Good news is that the military is gradually taking steps to sit up.
@Deway, my brother, this is what happens when lack of transparency becomes institutionalized in our armed forces.
No records are kept, even though NA employs record keepers. The waters are deliberately muddied, making it impossible to assess performance, what is effective, and what is not, the real deserving heros vs the connected officers with godfathers.
Till today, nigeria does not know how many of it’s soldiers died or were maimed in ecomog operations in liberia and sierra leone.
We don’t know the number of our KIA(killed in action) in the niger delta war.
Casualty information is also not forth coming in the ongoing COIN OPS against boko haram.
For the longest time, upwards of 80% of NA equipment were unserviceable. NAF was a grounded force, but for a handful of air crafts. As for the NN, the current deplorable security situation in nigeria’s territorial waters can tell the story better than I can.
It has taken mutiny on foreign soil, for attention to be brought to the deplorable conditions of our service veterans.
Not even active soldiers deployed on HIGH VISIBILITY, HIGH PRESTIGE deployments such as the UN darfur operation are immune to this level of inexcusable incompetence in welfare provisions.
Nigeria is a society that is inwardly sick. Our inhumane greed and corruption seeps out thru our pores, and have become impossible to cover up, even when we attempt to SHOW OFF our so called giant of africa status.
THE SOLUTION TO THIS MORAL MALAISE, BEGINS WITH TRANSPARENCY. LAY IT OUT ON THE TABLE FOR ALL TO SEE; WORTS AND ALL.
Put the good, the bad and the ugly on display, and hopefully, the resultant national disgust would convince the nation of the value, and absolute necessity of ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE GOVERNORS AND THE GOVERNED.
Read details of the previous discussion here:
http://beegeagle.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/ecowas-council-asks-regional-leaders-to-approve-mali-force/
This man just sat inside a library to produce a diatribe – not out of sync with his long-running antecedents of knocking down every pawn since he fell from power. The cheap attempt at populism coming from the same man who told us that Abuja is not for the poor remains a hard sell to me. The man is just playing politics and the military is the convenient plank this time.
Nigerians are inclined to believing the worst and that was why NOBODY , even for a minute, would have believed that the UN are indeed responsible for conveying peacekeepers back to their home countries.
If the UN had not actually flown back some 115 peacekeepees about three days ago, El Rufai would have been quick to make political capital and eureka of that.
Sorry, neither star-struck by the ratings which he enjoys in the West nor am I impressed by the fact that he is being the consummate Nigerian political opportunist.
What is liekliest to have happened is that he sat before Buhari who regaled him with tales of “how we used to do it” and interspersed it with “barracks gossip” and then, El Rufai, the CPC’s bull in the China shop who happens to write better than his master, was drafted to do the rest. Or you think El Rufai really gives a hoot about the military? As President, he would be as stingy as any of the current Economic Team who, if they had their way, would not acquire a rifle for the next five years.
We know what Shagari was acquiring for the military every year. Since it is Buhari talking and El Rufai echoing in all of this, what did Buhari who signed two defence budgets during his time.acquire for the military – bla blabbing aside?
Elsewhere, what has he said about equipment which we have not said here every week – Bo-105s, Su-27/30s, Leopard 2A4s, Mi-24V/Mi-35P, MRAPs?
It is interesting that since Messrs Marshpearl of Ireland and Expoma of Austria commenced the refurbishment and upgrades of armoured vehicles since 2003, hundreds of armoured vehicles have been given a new lease of life. For the sake of objectivity, why did he not mention that?
The non-tropicalised MOWAG overheated and stalled in Darfur and it was pulled back for more rugged Otokar Cobra and MT-LBs to replace them (you have seen photos of those in Darfur and Liberia here – yes? no? ). Why, if he was not merely trying to be prankish, did he fail to mention that fact?
You can even read a more comprehensive compendium of Nigerian military engagements here
http://beegeagle.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/chronicle-of-nigerian-military-engagements-1959-2011/
Demola, as of December last year 6,000 MOPOL and ATS had undergone CTCOIN training at the hands of Israeli trainers in-country. 105 K9 team trainers too.
The first batches of cops who formed the AYS were trained at the CTCIC Jaji by the Nigerian Army. They reportedly now have an ATS training facility in Rivers State. Perhaps that is why they have left out the Police from this even as I posted a photo of defenders, ATS and soldiers training together last March at Kachia. It appears that they have since then not participated in this useful course taking place at Kachia.
We shall have the details handy in no time. Watch this space.
wow, just realized in that picture that they were blind folded
I for one do not believe a single word this fool is saying and by the way eating chicken is not why you are sent on peacekeeping .
Fact the last peacekeepers that were ambushed in SUDAN were not NIGERIAN . Did that mean they were not trained or they did not eat chicken?
Fact #1the fool has not stepped on sudanese soil so he can not really justify what is equally HEARSAY at BEST
Fact#2 NIGERIA does not send cooks and Illitreates to SUDAN because one of my best FRIENDS in the US HIS BRIOTHER NAME WITHELD FOR security reasons IS a well trained MEDICAL DOCTOR served two tours no local ruler begged for him to go to sudan he was commanded to go AS a medical doctor AND NO HE IS NOT FROM THE NORTH HE IS FROM THE EAST
Fact#3 EL RUFAI it makes for a good story FOR Nigerians to GNASH THEIR TEETH but we don’t do that on this blog UNLIKE HE WE PERSONALLY KNOW PEOPLE who HAVE SERVED IN SUDANIN AN EDUCATED capacity.
FACT#4 THE REQUIREMENT for you to attain a minimum passing grade of c is not an american way of doing things soley it is embedded in the BRITSH army also that is why one of the late princess diana’s boyfriends at the time wasbooted out at the rank of captain
FACT#5 IT WAS NOT ROOTED THIS POLICY IN AZAZI OR WHOMEVER YOU WANT TO THINK IT WAS BECAUSE THERE WERE CERTAIN OFFICERS WHO IT WAS WELL KNOWN COULD NOT PASS THE EXAM FROM MAJOR TO LT COL I WONT MENTION their namesTHAT LATER BECAME GENERALS GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT THAT EDICT CAME FROM OBJ
Fact#6 intially things were tough for the nigerians yes we know what you should also disclose is how omar bashir according to the la times witheld landind right for everything that had to do with the african contingents
Speaking of accountability, the buried details of the freetown debacle is now making it’s way into the consciousness of nigeria.
Watch and weep.
( personally have always seen rufai has a cheap populist who rides on the wave of popular discontent with government. He comes and pretend like he never served in government and he is not responsible for rendering millions homeless in his quest for restoring the abuja master plan. Though allocations where not made to provide cheap accessible housing for the poor. Heck he said abuja was not meant for poor people.
I don’t know about the truth of matter concerning the disarming of Nigerian troops. But I do know that such case is on uncommon in peace keeping operation especially one with a very weak rules of engagement as the mission in Darfur where the peace keepers are required to show absolute restraint unless fired upon. Some 5 years ago the South African contingent where also disarmed by rebels. They could not fight back without breaking the rules of engagement and that is the truth of the matter. I bet our man rufai is the either ignorant of this or internationally misleading. Someone who tell him peace keeping and peace enforcement are not the same.
@Bigbrovar, from what I can gather, El Rufai is a despicable excuse for a politician. And he is hardly the only one in our beloved country.
But the inhumane manner in which various administrations have treated nigerian soldiers, is a subject matter I have being following for damn near 2 decades.
Nigerian soldiers wouldn’t threaten to act up in darfur, unless they were at their wits end.
* Soldiers have stormed civilian factories in the southwest due to poor welfare conditions.
* Ecomog wounded veterans mutineed in egypt to protest the much delayed and substandard care they were getting.
* We have read various accounts of inexcusable neglect our peacekeepers are made to endure.
*Tattered uniforms, crossing rebel lines to buy pain killers. And the list goes on.
The UN system is different from that of our ecomog efforts. They require participating nations to acquire what ever it would take to get the job done properly, submit and expense report, and get reimbursed.
So, in such a situation, how come our soldiers are always left twisting in the wind ?
I wonder if someone has more info about Jimmy Carter having to buy emergency medical equipment to treat NA casualties flown back from SLR but were hidden in an ill equipped military hospital and not sent to our various govt & private hospitals. Just to keep the press in the dark about NA’s casualties.
Oh boy I have read my own fair share of terrible way our soldiers are treated in foreign missions, the corruption, like how NA officials were selling diesel meant for military hardware to lebanese business men in Sierra Leone while heavy hardware could not be transported to front line where they are needed. How their basic allowance were shortened or not paid.. The deplorable feeding which meant soldiers had to fend for themselves I can go on and on the all these are documented for anyone who cares to look. I was hoping that things has improved under civilian rule but the Darfur debacle shows its still the same shit different place
I really do not care much for El Rufai and I’m also of the opinion that he might have spiced this up for political reasons. But, let us pause and think for a minute;
1) All the facets of out national life are corruption ridden. Are we now saying that the Armed forces are immuned from it?
2) If we could have less electricity ( after spending USD16Billion)
3) 1.7 Trillion to subsydise non-existence fuel
4) Embezzle N172Billion pension fund.
5) Punish ex-service men by not paying their pension/gratuity for years (a lot of them have died while standing on queue).
6) Over N20 Billion Police pension fund disappeared.
7) Making of Billionaire retired Generals (who never held any political office and never took any contract). How then did they get the funds?
If money for transformers were collected and items never delivered?
Money for roads/dedicated were collected but never built?
Contracts for school buildings, textbooks and lab equipments were signed and mobilization fee paid but such were never done?
If Nigeria missions abroad gave become eyesores
Are we saying that our military has been left untouched by this scourge called corruption?
Are the officers in logistics and procurement ” angels”?
Are we saying that
Bros Jimmy na demo true enough but the purpose of a demo is to showcase your abilities so you drill your soldiers to do it perfectly, there are so many stupid things in that video from an infantry point of view I don’t know where to start, I could start listing them frame by frame if I had time but the general view from a professional perspective is bad.
Kudos to them for getting a media package and starting to showcase their skills but they can and should do better, the unarmed combat videos from the CT COIN pass out demonstrate that.
The soldier’s drills were poor, bunching, poor fire and movement etc. ITs easy to bluff a demo so its disappointing to see such a poor effort, maybe they used new guys who weren’t well drilled but I hope they do better
okay F.M.
Iwill take your word on it because you have the experience let us hope some one in authority is reading this blog so as to relay these comments especially about the poor bunching sequence that much to a non experienced guy like myself i saw
@BEEGEAGLE, Cant locate my comment here with two links. What might hav happened?
…Or was it a fantasy……such that you can withdraw it from the blog??
@BEEGEAGLE, Cant locate my comment here with two links. What might hav happened?
…Or was it a fantasy……warranting an withdrawal from the blog??
Send again. Since when did you queue up for approval and how did you end up there from commenting and seeing it reflected.
Like this one did not need my approval before it showed up in the comments log.