VANGUARD
27 September, 2014
About 1,200 Nigerian security personnel including members of the Armed Forces,the police and members of the Department of State Services, DSS, have so far left Abuja for anti-
insurgent training in Russia.
Their departure for training as Special Forces, security sources said, followed alleged snub or nonchalant attitude of both the United Kingdom and United States towards Nigeria in her fight against Boko Harm terrorists.
Saturday Vanguard gathered that 400 security personnel left the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in a chattered
aircraft at about 5pm weekend, accompanied by top security officers as well as Russian instructors who had been in the country as part of the initial selection process for the officers and men that would take part in the training.
It was further revealed that two other batches of 400 troops each had earlier departed for the training,
bringing the total number of officers so far to about 1,200.
Saturday Vanguard had exclusively reported that following the dithering of some western nations especially, notably Britain and the United States of America over the training of
Nigerian security personnel to confront the Boko Haram insurgents, the Federal Government had decided to turn to Russia to meet some of its immediate security needs pending the resolution of the diplomatic difference between Nigeria and the
two Western countries.
According to sources the latest batch of Nigerian security personnel are
joining three batches of their
colleagues who had left for training in Russia earlier this year.The last group would be in Russia for four months
before returning to the country early next year to form a nucleus of the Special Forces Brigade to be set up
by the country.
A similar scenerio played out when Nigeria faced sanctions following the
annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections won by the late Moshood Abiola by the then military
government led by late General Sani Abacha as the Federal Government turned to China and India for its
miltary needs.
The emerging scenario in the fight against terror and the steps Nigeria’s government has taken would have resulted in global sensation during the Cold War as the West would have fought to keep her allies to the then
Soviet Union as now represented by Russia which has, although, embraced free market economy.
Nigeria, for years, enjoyed close ties with the West and was seen as a US ally. But the seeming nonchalant attitude towards it by its traditional
allies has reportedly compelled the country to turn to Russia and China for the training of its military as well as acquisition of military hardware to fight Boko Haram.
However, highly placed military and intelligence sources told Saturday
Vanguard in Abuja that the decision to turn to the other two world military powers was an interim measure to roll back the advances made by the Boko Haram insurgents who have gained some grounds in seizing and controlling some towns and villages in the northeastern
states of Borno and Adamawa before the latest defeat suffered by the insurgents in the last two weeks due to the increased performance of Nigerian troops, leading to the killing
of the insurgents leader, Abubakar Shekau.
Following the increasing sophistication of the tactics employed by the Boko Haram terrorists, the Nigerian government had reportedly
approached both the US and British governments to procure arms for its armed forces in order to effectively
counter the insurgents but the two governments continued to dither, a situation that might have been responsible for some of the gains recorded by terrorists in recent times.
A senior security official told Saturday Vanguard: “the United States and Britain appear unwilling to provide
arms to our armed forces. It is surprising because these are two friendly countries to Nigeria which is under threat from terrorists. We have no option but to look somewhere else for our needs pending when the
issues are resolved at the diplomatic level by our government.”
However, Russia which has always been willing to supply weapons and some other logistics to Nigeria when
other western countries are not forthcoming readily accepted the Nigerian proposal as the Nigerian Air
Force, NAF, has several Russian fighter jets in its fleet.
Already, Nigeria has entered into contract with Russian arms manufacturers for the supply of high calibre weapons to the Nigerian Army to combat the insurgents in the Northeast and has also begun
discussion with the Israeli government on possible supply of military hardware.
“When the Chief of Army staff said recently that the Nigerian army would soon take possession of weapons that would reverse the trend in the Northeast, he was referring to the deal between Nigeria and some
Russian arms manufacturers. We are also in discussion with Israeli companies. We don’t want to be held ransom by our traditional allies. That is why we are expanding our sources of supply,” the source said.
Beegeagle's Blog 
Nigeria need to stop exhibiting gut-wrenching naivette on the big stage. Even if that is what our establishment, always to happy and eager to be pushed around by the UK and USA, actually feel, we CANNOT afford to continually make very important and diplomatically astute nations such as Russia and China feel like we are using them as stop-gaps in our perennial squabbles with the USA and UK over arms supplies.
How could someone have let go of that Freudian slip that this is an ‘interim measure?’. You are in effect telling the most reliable sources of arms supplies to Nigeria that, like sadomasochists who derive pleasure from being abused, we cannot wait to go back to be treated in a discourteous way by Western powers?
Think what the steadfast and hardworking brother felt when their father threw a party for the returnee prodigal son and then you might feel what Russia and China are bound to feel when they read distasteful reports such as this.
It is such brazen acts of simple-mindedness which has left our military neither here nor there since we always forego the attainable and hanker after the elusive.
In any case, the West always sell stripped down weapon systems to us whereas Russia and China sell them to us in the sternest possible form? Even for export quality items, the West sell second rate systems to us. Is that what we are too eager to return to, so much so that we want to spite those who are more faithful and less whimsical military suppliers?
Sometimes, we need to watch what we say before we talk ourselves into a real spot of bother. Someday soon, this our denigrated OPTION B which we cannot wait to run away from, shall be unavailable to us and then we might only be able to get arms at crunchtime from Pakistan and Iran.
Good morning, gentlemen.
Whatever is written here, I blame it on the correspondent that wrote this story. Again, a very unprofessional and uninformed piece. I wonder when our news outlets would start employing people who actually know their salt as defence correspondents.
I am not sure FG would have said this is a stop gap approach, again he said the training is geared towards pushing Boko Haram back…this makes the training sound like an emergency thing, they quickly want to go and learn what they do not know and come back to use it to fight a boko haram war. It is evident that this is not the case, on the contrary, this could be a foundation for a new brigade, this would be a long term thing.
Finally, how many of the Nigerian airforce Russian made jets are still flying? I thought our MIGs were grounded long ago? To the best of my knowledge, NAF does not have even ONE active fighter jet from Russia but the article claims NAF has several fighter jets from Russia! Are helios fighter jets?
I also think someone needs to tell the DHQ and all our reporters and blogging Nigerians to stop crying over spilt milk. Enough of the excuse of “the West did not train us, the west did not sell us weapons” over every little thing. It makes it appear as if we have always depended on them all our life and now that they turned their back, we have lost all and we’re desperately sinking and we need the west savior to come to our aid NOW! The more such stories keep going around, the more the feel good effect it creates for them. Even when something is being used as an instrument of black mail, the fewer times it is used, the better and more effective it is.
If we move on and stop lamentation and turn to Russia and China for HUGE procurement, military training and joint excercises, as well as development of our local defence industries, the “West” will come seeking us!
I agree, it sounds uncharacteristic for the Nigerian Armed Forces to say something that silly, and to concede to Boko haram, that’s not something I’ve ever heard mutter from any military mans mouth. The military simply do not see Boko Haram massing in certain parts of the country as having taken over that particular era.
So I personally think it was hearsay, and this report has just simply copied and pasted it.
I also think someone needs to tell the DHQ and all our reporters and blogging Nigerians to stop crying over spilt milk. Enough of the excuse of “the West did not train us, the west did not sell us weapons” over every little thing. It makes it appear as if we have always depended on them all our life and now that they turned their back, we have lost all and we’re desperately sinking and we need the west savior to come to our aid NOW! The more such stories keep going around, the more the feel good effect it creates for them. Even when something is being used as an instrument of black mail, the fewer times it is used, the better and more effective it is.
If we move on and stop lamentation and turn to Russia and China for HUGE procurement, military training and joint excercises, as well as development of our local defence industries, the “West” will come seeking us!
True talk
Preach Brother !!
Who in his right mind thinks a “high ranking intelligence officer” would be granting unauthorized interviews ? I am sick and tired of these useless newspapers always claiming to have an “anonymous source”. They don’t need to do their actual job these days, they don’t need to do a real interview with pictures and video, all they do is write whatever they want and then claim they have an anonymous sources, no proof needed. First of all the decision doesn’t belong to the military, it belongs to the president. So unless they come out with an anonymous president they should stop fooling their readers. This paper seems to be trying really hard to please the west.
I agree with you sir…International diplomacy is very fluid and dynamic. There is really no such thing as ‘traditional allies’.
Oga Beegs,
I feel differently this could be Disinformation from FG, wen dey keep same news going daily, US/UK will be pressurized to act , wicheva way I dnt tink this is interim, I feel they want to get hardware from all sides.
If at this point we are still waiting for US/UK then we are in great trouble.
I sincerely think it is the news paper which is obviously very pro-western (guess why: funding perhaps) and who prints whatever he wants.
I am still waiting for when they will start claiming an interview with an anonymous serving president of Nigeria.
@Ola, Igbi and Tope, I think someone in the establishment let out the info that this is ”an interim measure.” That wouldn’t be the thinking of the reporter, regardless of how naive or uninformed he or she may be. Secondly, as Gen Beeg alluded to in his post, there is a fundamental problem with the management of public information in our country and it is particularly worrisome in the way it is manifested by and within government. Today, the focus is more on ‘reputation management’ where perception is said to be everything. How would the Russians and Chinese perceive us through that report? From the days of the unfortunate Nigerian civil war, the West have never bothered to support or sstrengthen Nigeria. We had to turn to the Russians who responded favourably, even when we were a non-aligned State. Some people in government should think deeply, consult widely, and after they’ve decided on what to do, allow professionals to issue the appropriate public information material. They should stop making a laughing stock of us all.
Excuse me, but I totally disagree with your statement. The news paper made all this up and the fact it claims that it is quoting “high ranking intelligence officers” comes as testimony that the news paper is into fiction writing. There is also the fact that the paper calls US/UK “friendly countries”, like if being friendly had nothing to do with their actions but rather to do with their privillege. And please do you have a reason to believe the article is genuin ?
Let me also let you know that the decision making is from the politicians, not the military so the paper is quoting the wrong “anonymous people”. Indeed, Nigeria has not been a military dictatorship for more than 20 years. But for unsuspecting people this paper will look credible, i just hope our allies in Moscow and Beijin will not be fooled. I urge the president to react to this, the politicization oof our papers goes against democracy, the western funding of some of our papers also goes against democracy.
This is my point as well. Maybe a metaphor helps here – If you are divorcing yourself from someone, do it quick and immediately. Don’t keep complaining to the world and planting stories that you are about to sleep with his enemies. Just do it. All the huss and fuss is unnecessary. Nigeria’s internal security and geopolitical destiny is not going to wait for a change in American policy. They are already our competitors in oil and gas and their imperial ambitions in Africa will soon put us at logger heads if our leaders don’t even sell out on that. Long and short, the affair is over. Move on. Go East and start making your own stuff.
@Igbi, sir, sorry for the late response as I’m just seeing this. No, I do not believe most of the article is genuine. I surmise that the reporter got a snippet of info (note my word sir, ‘snippet’) which includes the number of personnel going for training, in Russia, and might have included the suggestion by whoever gave or relased that info that the current intervention is ”an interim” measure. Its a speculation, but I think that the level of sophistication of that reporter fell terribly short of what is required to be a defence reporter. Further example of this was quoting so-called ”high ranking intelligence officers.” What you and I agree upon is that stories like this are not good for Russo-Nigeria or Sino-Nigeria relations.
@Manny Aydel, (you responded on the wrong place.)
Actually, there are other papers who reported that 1200 soldiers were going to train in Russia. And That was certainly not a secret. So what you have is this paper copying a fact (1200 soldiers going to train in Russia) from an other paper and then making up other things like the “anonymous high ranking intelligence officer” and its claim that we are just waiting for the west to change its heart on us. Most probably that is the mindset of the “journalist” talking. Because the “journalist” like many others still believes that “west is right”.
So I am sorry but the “journalist” certainly got no snippets of anything, he’s just a liar, a rumor monger like most of our journalists.
I concur
That is clear to me. But the wording could have been put differently.
A SIMPLE…
‘we approached the USA and UK for armaments but they dithered interminably and fortunately, as has always proven to be the case in situations such as this, the Russians and Chinese offered to sell us advanced systems which will have the same impact on the tide of battle’
…WOULD HAVE SOUNDED LESS CONCEITED.
It tells the sanctimonious West what they need to know about why we chose to call their bluff and explore our options and more importantly, it ASSURES our more faithful Sino-Russian allies that we are not merely using them yet again while affirming our implicit confidence in the hardware and training support which we are getting from them.
That way, EVERYONE is happy and we leave our Sino-Russian partners knowing that they are appreciated…not that they are mere OPTIONS B. In any case, we have always got more beefed up, full options hardware systems from them.
In our desperate bid to needlessly curry the favours of Western partners, we must not denigrate or alienate our more dependable allies. You can only bite the fingers that feed you so often and hope to get away with it all the time.
Word enough..
Oga beeg, while i share your sentiments, Tope might have a point, there was a bilateral meeting between the Nigerian Foreign Minister and his Russian counter part,what struck me was how the meeting was reported. Let me quote part of the report : “Following the successful bilateral meeting between the Nigeria and Russia in New York, the countries’ foreign ministers agreed to convene the next Session of the Joint Commission “without further delay”, underscoring the vital role of the Commission as “an instrument for fostering relations between Russia and Nigeria.”
Also, by consent yesterday, an official visit by Lavrov to Abuja meant to deepen the new understanding is now imminent.” (end of quote) . For me this is not just a mere meeting but i think there may be moves to start something really concrete. That said there should have been a better way to report such news no doubt.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201409260547.html
Sublime, brother Ola..SUCCINTLY put. You definitely understand what I am saying. We need to wean ourselves of this needless focus on the West.
Algeria have leapfrogged Nigeria, Ethiopia and SA in the latest rankings of the global firepower index. Why not? It is the same Algeria with MiG 29s and Su-30s, Kilo submarines and T72+T90 tanks and S-300 missile systems. Ethiopia are also armed by Russia in the main. How about that for the hyperventilation about overhyped Western systems?
We need to stop whining about any NATO systems. Even our Jags and Vickers tanks were second-string, export grade quality. What are we thinking? Compare the fullness of the options on the Jaguar and our much derided F7s? Which came packed with as much punch as is possible for the aircraft type?
We need to wake up and stop whining. We need to play the politics as it is. Pakistan and Egypt know how that works.
Nigerians need to back down from that slavish mindset which seeks to advance the myth that we are doomed without Western hardware. Nothing can be farther from the truth. The Taliban are armed with Chinese weaponry while the Vietnamese were armed with Sino-Russian weaponry against a superpower. Go figure.
marshal beegs, you couldn’t have said it better. brilliant. its a shame we have been reduced to this state. Nigeria of the past used to have a very independent defence and foreign policies. we used to be very pro active and focused. today we have been reduced to butt kissing and making tentative gestures.
just look at our recent action at the UNSC. why did we have to vote in favour of western provocations and actions in Ukraine? why did Nigeria vote against the Russian action. its not because Ukraine has suddenly become our bff. its simply our clueless foreign ministry that took a stupid decision in order to be seen as western democracy lite.
the best thing would have been to behave maturely and simply call for all sides to seek diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine. we don’t have to go voting with our hands and feet and taking sides. not since the shagari era (that shagari was showing weakness in our frontline policy towards apartheid SA in order to curry favour from clueless reagan) have our foreign and defence policies been in this form of shambles and western stooge-like
we need to pursue was good for Nigeria with vision and zeal. not playing stooge to any nation. we have always been a strong non-aligned nation, we should keep it that way. we are neither pro east nor are we pro west. nigeria comes first, then Africa, others would have to queue behind in the priority lists. these clueless foreign ministry peeps know nothing about pax Nigeriana
Nigeria must stand aloof in the face of the Russo-Ukrainian spat. We have warm relations with both fraternal countries BUT of all the hardware systems already cascaded or on the cusp of being sold to us by Ukraine, only the ultramodern Oplot MBT and BTR-3 IFV/APC are originally Ukrainian. Even at that, they drew extensively from Soviet/Russian ingenuity.
Compare that to ownership of Russian-made BTR 70s, Mi-24V, Mi-35P, Mi-17, Mi-171Sh Terminator, Mi-35M, T55 and T72 tanks, 122mm/130mm/152mm arty and you would agree with me that our relations with higher tech Russia are infinitely more important.
Nigeria remains a non-aligned nation. Our minders must never forget that. All our top brass who trained in the Western world must wake up to the reality that their training can only be actualised using Category A Sino-Russian/Israeli hardware. At most, what we have always received from ‘traditional partners’ is Category B weaponry. We can do better than that.
“…… It is surprising because these are two friendly countries to Nigeria which is under threat from terrorists………”
Friendly country? Funny, does such a thing exit?
I only know of mutual interests.Our interest is the Unity of our country, the protection of the lives and property of its people and their ability to flourish. Any nation whose interest clash with ours AT THE PRESENT MOMENT should be rejected. When our interest align again we can do business.
The problem with the west is political correctness (populist morality).These spineless politicians will sacrifice world stability to look good before their voting public.They are afraid of overtly helping a legitimate Government because of what CNN and AI would say if its military is negatively viewed.They live in a bubble.
Rather than supporting legitimate governments against violent illegitimate groups they are arming illegitimate militias against Government that have been painted as evil by populist media.The result has been the collapse of world order. Just tell CNN/BBC to paint a leader as evil and watch the tanks roll in.
Russian and Chinese arms will do nicely to secure our independence and security for the next 30years while we (hopefully),develop local capacity.
I have said this before and I will say it again,we cannot expect to rise economically and diplomatically without some sort of covert attempt at sabotage. A rising Nigeria means another country is losing or will lose influence. Also, a powerful non-aligned state is a headache for world politics.
All current world powers are aligned to West or East.
Independence from their influence while maintaining growth is going to cost us a lot,we must be prepared to pay the price.
What all these “anonymous sources” point to the is the lack of openness from the Ogas at the top, which in turn leads to stories that are half baked at best.
Everyone understands the need for some secrecy in procurement when necessary, but surely it would have been better had DHQ said what helicopters where expected from the US in the first place and would surely have put the US in a more difficult position in justifying stalling deliveries.
What made me laugh was when DHQ withdrew the monikers representing the armed services from their webpage when I drew attention to the T-84 Oplot tank. Now, that was totally unnecessary.
I suggest the president reacts to this article, because it could be damaging to our new alliance and fight against terrorism.
Oga rka,
I concur.
I wonder if our senate and House even have an idea of the weapons we are acquiring with the money. This lack of accounting gives room for a black hole in acquisition.That is why Congress is not enthusiastic about funding the Military.
If our Generals had come out to say what they want and how much it will cost then Congress won’t think it is for politics or graft. The Military will probably get MORE funding if the acquisition process was clear and open.
*Assembly not congress.
Oga Drag_on, hopefully continued highlighting of this will bring a change in attitudes.
Good talk. But the monikers are still intact on the webpage.
Oga Obix, it must have been my computer not loading the page properly if still intact, although I have tried on 2 different computers with the same omission.
I stand corrected about the monikers although the sentiment expressed about secrecy still stands.
Gentlemen officers, very illuminating perspectives as usual…only on beegeagle!
It is going to take time before everybody realizes that Nigeria was let down once again by the west. We need to move on. First accept reality, then move on. Now the Russians and chinese have proven several times that they are reliable while the west has been letting us down (each time we were in a crisis). So eventhough some people in the public and papers can’t imagine Nigeria without the west, just open your eyes because those days are gone. I read the recent speech of President Jonathan at the UN general assembly. It called for nuclear disarmement. Believe me times have changed, we have to change with it. We are no longer a lap dog to the west.
Chinese
For God’s sake, why are we still talking about these two-faced hypocritical Januses in the west.
We should consign them to the dustbin of history.
They have nothing to offer Nigeria but tears, sorrow and blood…
Our brass hats need to realize that the melanin pigment does not confer subservience on us.
9ja no dey carry last, especially when the chips are down.
Look at the Ebola situation- I was totally impressed with the way it was curtailed and controlled.
That tells you what we can do when we put our minds to it.
But can i also put it to the top brass that they should send competing 5 units of 1000 man special forces battalions to various other countries at the same time for training…
Specifically Algeria, Srilanka, israel,pakistan, malaysia, indonesia and india
Of this list, I think the people we really should send our special forces to train with with are Algeria, India and Sri Lanka because of their struggles and hands on experience with insurgents, terrorists and rebel groups, Israel due to their experience in dessert warfare, and it’s actually good if DSS and NSA could work more with Mossad rather than a conventional army to army relations. We should look at joint military exercises with places like Pakistan on counter terrorism while again NSA and police do training and exercises with Pakistan and Indonesia on curbing religious radicalism.
And at these places, we do not need large numbers to go at a time. Sending 50 people to each place to garner ideas and bring them home to be brooded is sufficient enough.
One more manufacturer of air-superiority fighters might be in the works.
I wonder how this could change the defence procurement landscape.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Trends/Japan-again-looks-to-get-domestic-fighter-jet-off-ground
The Japanese don’t generally sell weapons to other countries as far as I am aware. There might be local legislation preventing this, although as usual, I am happy to be corrected.
There is a local legislation but it has recently been modified, but any weapon made by Japanese will have a lot of American technology in it so they will be constrained in selling it to anybody that is not friendly to Usa
You guys have done a splendid job of covering all the angles Oga rugged,ogabeegs,Rka,Obix ,even oga Igbi una well done.
Some of us who leave abroad experience this from time to time whereby no matter the compelling evidence to the contrary west is always better.When the news was released by the Dhq that the shekau version 2.0 was dead some Nigerians on Facebook did not believe it till someone angrily wrote if it was first published by cnn You would then believe it.
Unfortunately this still the mindset o
Oga Beegs I honestly believe those who hold the purse strings have moved on.It is unprecedented to have on the sidelines of the UNGA a meeting of such substance we on this blog should obssess about those who are reliable.Weneed to make sure that the meeting between the foreign affairs of both countries take place Asap.This in all honestly needs to be followed by a productive meeting between both countries NSAs.
Critically important to this is that .Nigeria needs to make a deal.All members of this Special brigade should be very familiar with the Russian made AK74.
The deal that I am referring to involves consigning to the gates of history the obj-006 it needs to be replaced by an initial order of 50,000 Ak74 as the standard rifle for the Army.This rifle is already being used by the police.This 50,000 should then be followed up by a licensing agreement to manufacture them at Dicon.
Oga Jimmy, I agree in principle with what you are saying – the specially trained should be well equipped.
Considering the costs of selection, flight to Russian and back, and training in Russia, the members of the special brigade should be equipped with a good infantry combat system.
Regarding the AK-74 as a replacement for the obj-006, why buy 50,000 from Russian?
The manufacturing process for the AK-74 is almost identical to the obj-006. IF we are to switch to the AK-74, we should manufacture ALL of them locally. The technology for this has been around since the 40s.
Also, why the AK-74? It has a lot of the drawbacks of the AK-47 or AKM. Can we instead look at a modern derivatives of the AK-74?
Finally, regarding the entire army, if you are asked to choose between standardized body armour + communication gear versus a new rifle, which would you choose?
I ask this because the AK-74 chambers a 5.56mm round while the current OBJ-006 chambers a 7.62mm – for the entire army to switch to Ak-74 might not be as trivial as it appears.
Let me see if I can answer your question please correct me if I am wrong. The 50,000 is as a gesture of good will to the Russians so we can secure in good faith the license to manufacture the AK 74. My uneducated impression was that the Ak 74 was of much sterner stuff.The reasoning is because of what we have seen in this conflict.It is not that the Ak47 is a bad rifle it is just that the infantry man needs a sterner version. The brigade to be formed from scratch will be the first brigade formed since the cw,it is absolutely impotant that they are well equipped because they are going to be put in very dangerous situations. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
As long as Oga Minimah, Amosu did nt issue such statements they are fabricated LIES. Nigeria has moved on Military Wise all bet is on the East, Politically the West still favours Govt due dia Deals….so we should be more concerned with the Tea Leaves, at the end of the day it is what goes on behind closed doors that matters, FG is spinnin tall tales so USA n co can rest wen Sterner Nigeria/ Russia deals begin coming to fruition…best believe those 1200 soldiers and Intel Agents are not comin to wear Khaki, I believe 100% that we are now Partners with the East and we are playing Crude Janus Politics….everyone has realized how USA works and hence are formin a wide berth….best believe wen platforms begin landing US deUSnce contractors will not be happy, Money talks in different languages, its aitsw Dawn for us.
Unrelated: Russia has Supplied Pantsir S21, S24 Grinch and 3rd batch of Mi35M Helicopters to Iraw, also MANPADS were supplied…..Iraq are nw turnin East.
Beeg, for all you have been doing for this blog and for putting Nigeria on a positive stead, it shall be well with you, your immediate family and to all beegeagle bloggers. So said , so shall it remain.
Don’t worry, the “journalist” his speaking his own mind and expressing his own wishes. The trend nowadays is to claim that you have an “anonymous source” to make people believe what you say.
As you can see almost all our papers are claiming to have an “annonymous source”.
it has become a writing style.
This turning to the East is all good in the interim but my Ogas for the long term (and by long I mean in 2 to 4 years), we should seriously assemble a elite team of engineers, scientists, metallurgists, electrical engineers, computer scientists, software developers and industrialists and begin what I would call ‘Project Change’ were we reverse engineer every vital equipment, factory, foundry etc. so that we can be finally self reliant.
For the Army: Putting a 90mm gun on Igirigi.
For the Air-force: Design and production of an engine for a Light fighter/Trainer.
For the Navy: Production of corvettes.
@drag_on
This is a good challenge you are throwing out there but what is your time frame for all these commendable things. The Igirigi wont take 90mm cannon anyway so it needs to be redesigned again, made bigger and stronger and fitted with an actual working turret.
Also we can’t design and produce a light combat aircraft engine now, we have to develop one or reverse engineer an existing Russian one since US or western Europe wont even allow us near any of their stuff – at least six years of serious engineering work, all hands on deck. The third one about the corvette is actually possible and probably within the Navy’s short term plans.
The main thrust of your post is supported. Nigeria needs to get serious about technology development. Every effort we make will yields some gain that is the justification. It is a win situation.
Cameroon is not being honest in this war,
http://www.nampa.org/index.php?model=categories&function=display&id=12604389
By the way, cameroon media seems to be living in an other universe. I guess it shouldn’t be surprising, indeed cameroon is under dictatorship and it has been so since its so called independence, and since Biya threw all his opponents in prison, the only people left are his boys and the cameroonian media is made up of biya propaganda boys.
Can you imagine this: I just read a cameroonian article which claimed that Kano is boko haram’s major stronghold stronghold, and it also claimed that kano was a border town between Nigeria and cameroon ! So this means that the guy writing that could even acces a map to make sure his lie wasn’t too obvious. All one needs to disprove him is to bring out a map. Or to Have the emir of Kano take journalists on a touristic trip to Kano.
There is something really wrong with our neighbours in cameroon.
the link above is not related to the new lie coming from cameroon. The link was about the fact that all is not well in cameroon. And I am holding my tongue because we are allies.
*couldn’t even even access a map*
Oga Dragon:
AFIT Has already produced a Light Trainer called FARAWA 2 wich they say they need funding for, i believe once the AFIT Bill goes through we should push for NAEME, DICON and a Navy Counterpart that way we have 4 Military instituitions designing, producing, maintaining and regulating Military Gears with an Objective.
NAEME : MBT, IFV, Scout and Recoinnaissance Armoured cars, Sterner APCs,
AFIT: Fighter Jets, Heavy and Medium Lift Fixed Wing n Rotor vehicles, UAVs, Radars, Weather Baloon, Precision Guided Missiles, Transport Aircrafts
NAVY Engineers: FPCs, Missile Boats, OPVs, Frigates and Destroyers
DICON: Sterner Version of AK 47 , Tavors, Artilerry and SAMs, IBMs, Mortar and Designs for Export and Tenders from Private Military Hardware Designers
I’d spin off NAEME manufacturing arm from the Army entirely so that they can do unfettered R&D and smart young engineers can be employed who don’t necessarily want to be soldiers. Managing production is different from laying pontoon bridges during war time.
AFIT has so much to do but it is not making combat aircraft and other stuff commercially. The FG really needs to sit down and set realistic goals for our nascent military industrial complex.
You cant spin off NAEME it is the maintenance arm of the Army for heavy equipment. R and D for them is just a side activity.
The army needs to set up a proper R and D arm.
Well said!
“The manufacturing arm of NAEME” was what I posted. The outfit turning out Igirigi should be made independent of NAEME but still under DHQ control so there are no protocol limitations to employing civillian engineers. They would also be more commercial and efficient. Finally the critical link to universities and relevant existing R&D organizations would become more possible. This is the route every other country has passed through. Army engineers are for performing engineering services to facilitate military operations not for manufacturing stuff.
@AreJames, very good point sir. Perhaps NAEME can learn a thing or two from Naval Dockyard that already has a template for working with civilian outfits?
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/09/boko-harams-ict-expert-arrested-opens-links-tube/
GOOD NEWS
No wonder that bastard callin himself fulan nasrullah has been silent for some time ,hope he’s the one that was caught
Haha.
Fulani was a BH lie-machine. Sowing doubt, confusion and hysteria.
He claims to be a retired Maj in d NA and his FB page is filled with extremist friends , I hope he is one of the kondunga BH casualties
Interesting, article, I bet this is just the beginning of a lot more news to come.
http://www.punchng.com/news/60-soldiers-face-trial-for-mutiny-today/
I Believe the COAS really means the biz. I think unfortunately an example of these troops refusing to fight or becoming lawyers before Soldiers is about to be made. This is a very tricky, sensitive position and we can see now that. The army REALLY MEANS BIZ when it comes to the 7th no more running away from it.Indiscipline is being stamped out hard and fast.
This is even more important than weaponry acquisition as far as I am concerned.
Take note of the transparency, the open way that all this is being done with all unreasonable barriers to information removed. The trial will not be held in public but at least we are assured this is an institution on the mend and military discipline is being protected.
FSB SPETSNAZ, here we come.
The Russians seems to be setting up something special in Nigeria.
With candidates from the DSS, NA and police, it seems to be something along the lines of their FSB.
The FSB is the successor of the KGB, and encompasses both intelligence and counter terror agencies.
The world reknown SPETZNAZ , is an outfit within the FSB.
SPETZNAZ is “special purpose force” most branches in ex-Soviet and Russian security organizations have Spetznaz units.
Maybe Nigeria will now have a Spetznaz unit – and to think we would actually include “Spetsnaz” in the unit name – 341 Spetznaz Battalion, Konduga or 341 Spetznaz Regiment.
The Anglophiles in us wouldn’t let that happen!
We might end up naming our Russian trained regiment 341 SAS Regiment.
After seeing the success of the Igigiri, I think they should go all in and develop IFV’s. My only fear is what chassis to use?
Thought, why not just use the T55 as a base/chassis and then work on developing it into a sort of troop carrier,upgunned and uparmoured.
The other is to develop a sort of 8 wheeled rugged ifv in the moulds of the Btr, which I don’t think would be far fetched considering Igigiri, andoni and so. The only problem might be developing a chassis for it.
They could use the pinzgauer, he NA already it in it’s inventory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinzgauer_High-Mobility_All-Terrain_Vehicle
Also, there’s the new Mercedes 6×6 chassis, I will try and look that up.
Bloody good idea. Abacha as COAS got us assembling these stuff many years ago I remember.
Yes indeed, there’s the Btr-T,Azcharit based off the T55. I’ll still rather an 8 wheeled chassis. Since we have a few truck manufacturers in the country, let them tinker with a sort of robust base using our BTRs as a guide. The Mercedes 6×6 can be used for a mid level stuff ; like the British Coyote vehicle.
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The Russians currently have a Naval, Army and Air force units of SPETZNAZ, is that the direction DHQ is thinking? I think that is a good idea as that would mean that each of the arm services would have something to bring to the table when it comes to COIN as well as search-and -destroy operations.
Spetsnaz is good, but its doctrine is totally different from ours.
What training are they going to get? Is it in recce, urban ops, rural ops, desert warfare, patrolling,calling in fire?
There are alot of gaps in this.
We need to understand what capability we are trying to develop here.
If we are looking for long range patrols I would suggest the Sri Lankans, South Africans, Brits or Americans would be better choices.
Definitely something more than ‘stop and search’ capabilities even though we have a considerable number of police thrown in here. LOL.
My imagination tells me it is going to be a lot of urban anti terror training – storming buildings, storming hijacked aircraft and boats, parelling out of choppers (which brings some concern for the police amongst them), …all that and some espionage field craft which is a little more than just recce.
Where I tend to agree with your concern is that all this should be related to doctrine and even the hardware we are acquiring for them.
Or alternatively we just want a wide range of basic training for them and when they come back they get to deliver their own unique TTPs and match a mix of Soviet and Israel weapon systems to those TTPs which would be excellent.
My Ogas, the word SPETSNAZ is a short form of Voiska SPETSialnogo NAZnacheniya (Special Purpose Forces). There is no single unit called SPETSNAZ. Right from the Soviet era, every branch of the armed forces and the Interior Ministry has it’s own Special Operation Unit and in some cases not one. Now you even have a lot of them. Though the GRU Spetsnaz is the most elite followed by the Alpha. With the make up of our contingent, i believe they ‘ll be grouped accordingly and then sent to the relevant training centers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spetsnaz
@ Jimmy,
The Russians don’t need a gesture of goodwill to sale a manufacturing licence of the AK-74 – lots of countries already manufacture the AK-74.
If we want to, we could buy AK-74s’ for the new brigade – that would be about 3000 rifles.
Just saying that if we want to replace the Army’s main rifle, we should manufacture locally.
Doing the numbers, if the armed forces and the police were to standardize on the AK-74, we are talking 500,000 new rifles.
If we are to require 500,000 new rifles, then DICON has to manufacture these – this is the only way to have a defense industry.
DICON has to start making profits from the work that it does, that is the only way for it to move ahead – the lure of profits.
The manufacturing of 500,000 rifles could be turned into a 6yr project for DICON.
But before that, DICON has to be listed in the NSE. To make it an attractive offering, the FG should package the listing with some juicy contracts.
The 500,000 rifle contract being one of them. Another pre-listing contract should be the manufacturing of 500 IGIRIGI APCs for Army, police and other para-militaries.
This is how I would break up the manufacturing of 500,000 rifles
Year 1 – 30,000 (SF units in army and police)
Year 2 – 50,000
Year 3 – 100,000
Year 4 – 120,000
Year 5 – 100,000
Year 6 – 100,000
Planning out our defence procurements as listed above would create visibility for business people and could turn a company like DICON into a profit center.
By the end of year 3, as an example, DICON could start sourcing for outside contracts and start getting ready to replace the lost revenue that would occur after year 6.
The manufacturing of the IGIRIGI would be spread over a few years as well.
In short, our weapon manufacturers should be viewed as businesses and businesses need visibility to function, plan and invest.
Enough said.
Good estimation on your part Oga Aso. Like you said lure of profit from such a big project becomes the ‘fuel’ DICON needs to grow.
My little contribution.
Nigerian military should continue to diversify training. We now have 4 year COIN war experience and we can have ‘exchange’ training programs with other countries. They come get our knowledge, we go get their’s and no need of much cash exchange/payment. Mutual benefit.
Army should have infantry training with Nepal (Said to be the best infantry foot soldiers worldwide), also infantry training with Sri Lanka.
Army could try break language barrier and have amour (MBT) training with Ethiopia.
Air force should train on our new Su-30 Flankers with India, then try break language barrier and train with Ethiopian Su-27 pilots that have the very rare BVR air to air combat that most super powers don’t have by real combat experience. Algeria has one of the best Su-30 Pilots on planet earth, he is a Colonel by rank, language could be a barrier we need to break.
The lack of friendship in military matters between Nigeria and the conventional war masters Ethiopia, is a mystery I don’t understand…..language barrier ?
Navy should train with China, Pakistan, and Brazil that has very deadly submarines.
SSS-DSS should train with MOSSAD of Israel, learn how to handle COIN war.
Police should train wherever their mentality and attitude can be changed from what it is, after which the government should pay them rent to live in rented homes and not keep breeding brutal and bitter men who are housed in rotten barracks and squalor of the highest order. If you cannot afford tens of billions of Naira to build clean and humane barracks for half a million policemen, close down those houses of horror called police barracks and pay them enough rent allowance to live in simple but healthy and clean environment. You won’t produce nice men and kids from those decayed police barracks.
Immigration should train where they can learn to differentiate a Malian illegal immigrant from a Nigerian Hausa man.
Customs should train where they will learn how to live on their salary without doing deals with smugglers.
Thank you.
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HAPPY…INDEPENDENCE… DAY… MY BELOVED NIGERIA !!!
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Almost no way we don’t already have some Gurkha traditions already since the bulk of officer training used to be in the UK. Now the British guard this Gurkha infantry techniques the same way they guard their national technological secrets so don’t expect much from there. Maybe we actually are better in a few areas than them anyway.
This other idea of training with Sri Lankan forces may already be the works if what we read in the papers is anything to go by.
SU 30 training with India, bloody good idea.
In recent times they have actually contributed to the matutity of that aircraft as one the best operating platforms as much as the Russians themselves technologically and operationally.
DSS MOSSAD cooperation – already on.
Police attitude change – not in our lifetimes.
Immigration attitude change – next century.
They are still giving free passage to Boko Haram up north as we speak
Customs attitude change – Now you are really asking for too much.
Oga Augustine,where Africa is concerned we have a problem.
Remember we are the big brother and therefore neutral 🙂
The two African nations you mentioned Ethiopia and Algeria have issues with their neighbours.
Ethiopia has what can technically be called an armistice with Eritrea,even now they still exchange fire every now and then. If we start engaging in exercises with Ethiopia our neutrality in conflict resolution between the two will be lost,giving South-Africa a diplomatic 1up.
Same thing between Algeria and Morocco, remember the sand war,and western-sahara?
That area too is a diplomatic pit for us to engage in military drills.
I have an NA connect, that linked me up by phone to a young NA major today.
We had an interesting conversation.
I was surprised that he didn’t know about this Blog. He is the 4th officer I have spoken to recently that has not heard about us.
I just felt like if you are interested in NA, and you use google, beegeagle’s blog is hard to miss.
Anyway, like the other officers I have spoken to, he was wary of my intent.
So, I availed him of the link to this blog.
He said if he finds our mission none threatening to NA, he would become a contributor, and encourage other colleges to do likewise.
We all know, that this blog can do NA a world of good.
NA needs more transparency and more communication about what it is, and what it is not with the Nigerian people and with the world at large.
It is said it’s better for one to define himself. Otherwise, your enemies would define you.
So, Oga Beegeagle just letting you know what I have been up to with your blog.
And Oga General Minimah, we mean well, and ain’t looking for no spies. (LOL)
54 Gbosa for Nigeria. Happy anniversary!
Esteme cyber chiefz happy commomoration.
Happy independence day all.
Happy independence people. Building a prosperous Nigeria depends on us doing our parts and holding our leaders accountable, irrespective of Creed, ethnicity, religious or party affiliation.
We have a growing $522 billion economy, the largest in Africa and the 25th largest in the world. It is every course to celebrate.
Hypocrisy of the west…
Happy Buffday Nigeria!!!
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/30/isis-bomb-muslim-world-air-strikes-saudi-arabia?CMP=fb_gu
Happy Independence Day.
A better write up below;
http://allafrica.com/stories/201410010275.html?viewall=1
Reading through this, I am loving this Jumping General o. How you see am?.
The jumping General is a true leader and knows how to inspire his troops. It shows the importance of having a skilled General in charge with a track record.
Yea, the man shows that he knows what is going on and how to move forward.
Oshe O Baba! Nagode Allah! Chineke nna I mena ! THANK GOD!! FANTASTIC!! FANTASTIC!! – I had to read and re-read and re-read yet again the vangaurd article. Generally well written. What struck me was the fact taht all the things we have been advocating on this blog are being implemented- be it (1) dedicated medivac transport (2) equipping the troops with needed equipment (3) reading the ‘riot act’ to all military commanders (4) court-martials to install discipline (5) battlefield promotions of deserving officers and men (5) adequate provision for welfare of the troops. Lt. Gen Kenneth Minima- Na you biko!! A general who inspires and leads his men. The only thing I will say if I may is that the PR machinery of the DHQ/Army has to be revamped. Post good news in video format on you-tube/internet /give press releases with photographs. Run crash courses for most of our clueless defence correspondents so that they are familiar with millitary terms/equipment and can differentiate between an APC and an IFV or between a fighter Jet and an attack helicopter. WELL DONE. and HAPPY INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY to our brave men and women in uniform.
During the visit, Minimah told the troops that “although what we are fighting is asymmetric warfare, one in which we had not been trained, one where we do not have the specialised weaponry and one where we do not have the doctrine, we just have to learn on the job.”
Is this man a straight talker or is he a straight talker?
Another good quote:
“The COAS told the troops, you are Infantry men; do not retreat if they use anti-aircraft guns to fire. Yes, the sound and impact is scary. But stay and wait for them to come to you”
So, there is a leader in this war!
He definItely says it as it is, I take my hat(beret) off to him.
Happy Independence Ogas, may we see peace and prosperity in our great country again.
Oga Doziex ,interesting that your contact was unaware of the blog but not surprising.
As I’m sure Oga Beeg would tell you the most avid followers are Westerners as I’ve had links sent to me when people know I’m Nigerian and follow West African or Nigerian defence news.
It speaks to the Oga Augustine says. We have 4 year COIN experience but we are yet to institutionalise it with a coherent COIN doctrine.
There need to be a push for military intellectualism so as to define a coherent doctrine.
As peer the Ghurkhas, they are awesome infantry but that is because of their special ethos. The Nepali Army fared quite badly against Maoist guerrillas, however Indian and UK Ghurkha Regiments continue winning glorious battles, infantry training, is infantry training.
Anyway lets see what comes out of this Russian adventure.
I think they make the best weapons particularly for Africa but I am not a great fan of their doctrine or tactics although they hav massively changed and improved since the Chechen wars
http://www.naij.com/299078-boko-haram-nigerian-army-receives-new-military-equipment-ngozi.html
Am still trying to figure out what “a multi barrel t-55 tank” looks like
http://www.naij.com/297560-troops-overpowers-boko-haram-scores-killed-weapon-seized.html
HAHAHAHAHAHA
OGA ASOROCKWEB. I RESPECT YOUR HUSTLE SIR.
Mehnn, people ehn, multi barrel t-55? that one na octopus na, abi… hehehehe
Let me know when you find out. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
Oga Jimmy, I usually call on you when I am visually challenged, abi this one pass you?
Hey Guys, let me take a stab at this Nigerian journalistic military jargon. (lol)
The mentioned T-55 “serge” tank, is clearly a reference to 2 systems.
The T-55 tanks which were lost in Gwoza and the ERC-90 Sagaie one of NA’s old ecomog war horses (an IFV) with a 90 mm gun famous with the French in their African ops.
The T-55 multi barrel tank could again be the merge of 2 different weapons systems
A Multi Barrell Rocket Launcher and again a T-55 tank in the case of an audio mistake, Or may be A SHILKA ZSU-23-4 in the case of a visual misnomer. It looks like a quad barreled Tank.
Boy it’s becoming impossible to glean any information from our present day journalists.
This issue of proper nomenclature is a serious one.
Haha, you really gave it a good shake.
A very happy Indipendence day to Nigeria.
Thank you Oga Bharat, hopefully in a few years we will be celebrating our own Mission to Mars as well!
Augustine. Nigeria has a diversified training programme. As we speak, two of our NDA cadets are at the Nepalese miltary academy where they are going to complete their trainings. As at last year, we had a cadet at the greek military academy. Most of our conels do their war college courses in US, BRITISH, PAKISTAN, CHINESE, INDIA and other countries. So we have officers who are grounded in doctrines of several countries and present a good mix. All we need do is do more standard trainings, conduct military exercises, step up our weapons production and improve our intelligence gathering capabilities. We have the Generals that are good enough to do it. Many of them are staff officers at the army headquarters. Oga beeg knows them. I hope that by december when the next postings will be done, we will see some of them at command positions. You guys are doing a great job. Keep it up!
It appears that the mayor of Fotokol is a boko haram member and he has been arrested.
Interesting. I wonder how long he has been mayor
For how long has the Camerounian govt known?.
Well at least we now know our neighbours have dirty hands in this matter.
@ Oga Asorock, before cameroon woke up to its responsabilities, I remember Oga beegeagle stating that Fotokol were a boko haram rear base.
I hope Nigeria still has “trustworthy people” in cameroon, we need to know what the hell is really going on there.
It is funny how western media rarely mentions the failings of cameroonian military. And it is also funny how the same western media rarely mentions the success of the Nigerian military. The cameroonians are claiming to have taken back some of their territories seized by boko haram ! But the seizing of that territory was never broadcasted !
It is also funny that the cameroonian media (more like biya propaganda boys) can’t say anything good about the cameroonian army without trying to belitle the Nigerian army. (why are these guys so obsessed about us ?)
I meant: “boko haram taken over that part of cameroon was never broadcasted !”
taking
Greetings and Happy 54th Independence to everybody. I’d little to digress a little from the discussion on this thread. As we celebrate this year’s Independence anniversary, there is so much cynicism in the air as usual. The general perception, if you look at the articles, news, and discussions in the media, is that there is nothing to celebrate about Nigeria. Yet this is a mere perception driven by the erroneous nostalgia the yesteryears were the glorious days of this giant called Nigeria.
But we need to look beyond the cloud of our current challenges to really appreciate the fact there is a lot to celebrate in Nigeria. In 1948, we had one University College at Ibadan. In fact many Nigerians then had to travel to higher education colleges, and universities in England to continue their education. Today, we have at least 90 universities, this number is still of course not enough. In the past, we could only point at the groundnut pyramids as one of the most outstanding structures of national pride but today merely pointing at one agricultural or economic structure would be unthinkable. We no longer count such structures but rather the skills, the personnel, the investments, the wealth, and the market that fits into a global world.
In the last 4 years or so, Nigeria has been engulfed in a number of challenges including a violent militancy in the resource rich Niger-Delta, a savage insurgency in the North, mini-civil wars between one ethnic group against the other in many local areas across the country. In sports, we became the laughing stock in the only sport that many Nigerians interest which is Football.
But like the great Daman Miracle of ’88, slowly but steadily we are coming back, like a trainee plumber often unsure of his skills but determined to fix things, we are coming back. The pace is painfully slow but steady.
In the past, our country was a paper giant, today it is not yet the giant it should be but it has gone beyond being a paper tiger. Boko Haram, which a few weeks ago placed a once feared Nigerian military on the sort of situation that reminds one of a child exposed to an unfamiliar playground, has suddenly realised that the Nigerian Army may have played the game with it like the proverbial elder who could see sitting down what a careless boisterous stranger could not standing up. The battles in Konduga are chalk marks of this historical lesson.
As a resilient people, we have the right to doubt our abilities, to question our strength, and even denigrate our standing, yet we should never remain in that stupor of self-doubt because it can only become a powerful means of self-destruction like a viral infection with very high mortality rate. We should appreciate the things we could do well and work harder to improve on the ones we are yet to master. Boko Haram may have caused the death of thousands, a humungous economic loss yet the actions of these individuals, as unsavoury as they have become, has in fact roused the Nigerian political establishment to think in a different way. It has also caused our armed forces to start thinking in a way we have never done in the past. The insurgency has equally led to the biggest re-tooling of the Nigerians armed forces since the time of Shagari.
Someone said, in thirty years of under the Borgias, Roman had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but it produced Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Renaissance. But in Switxerland, five hundred years of democracy and peace and they could only show the Cuckoo Clock as the prize. The bottomline is, great nation states are formed out of adversity not peace and tranquillity.
Happy Independence to all
Okay hold it there. This is where we disagree. That very first paragraph. There is nothing erroneous about any perception. We congratulate ourselves for being together and indivisible as a country which is good ….however on all developmental indices we were at the level of many Asian nations when we started out and we should have been at the level of Singapore or South Korea now. Don’t forget it doesn’t get much better than what we have in terms of resources and trained manpower. So the graph has not been straight at all. Let us not forget that. Corruption is the major big one now. If we dont fight that one moving forward in real terms is going to be near impossible. At best we’ll be a cash and carry backwater under developed country where people make money to spend elsewhere and claim positions on Forbes billionaires list. Take it from me. Maybe we should bet on it and compare notes again in five year’s time.
The current victory over BokoHaram is commendable but manners ago this sect would not have gotten past the Nigerian Police Special Branch alone not to talk of the more hard core national security agencies so there was a lot of ball dropping by key actors.
Anyway we congratulate ourselves and hope that bitter lessons have been learnt.
*many years ago*
Oga Are James, if you could do the math and tell me how a nation without a full-fledge university in 1960 could possibly be at the level of South Korea in 2014, I will appreciate it.
Remember, educating the children usually means that someone else has already educated the teachers.
You talk of corruption in Nigeria, but you would never even imagine the level of corruption inside some of the most progressive countries in the world such as America, France, Germany, Spain, UK, and even China yet China is nearly about to overtake the Americans as the largest economy in the world. In the UK, the level of corruption there is child’s place when you compare the value of what is taken albeit smartly: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/9893943/Bungled-West-Coast-rail-contract-to-cost-taxpayer-50m-say-MPs.html to what we see in Nigeria, the only difference is in the UK government officials don’t do ‘broad day light’ magomago, rather they plan it well in advance, it hardly gets into the public domain, even when it does, you’d be suicidal to bring it in the open: liquidation is instant. Dr Ruth Kelly is still a reminder to those who are silly enough to try to expose it. Same in China: Google the Neil Heywood death and Bo Xilai’s connection. This is not to say, corruption is acceptable in any form. Yet, to be honest, corruption is not the central problem in our stunted development. We over-hype it instead of the main issue which is the lack of institutional foundations of planning ahead.
In the UK, the government recently talked up saving one billion pounds from its austerity measures by cutting down on budget, staff, and departments within public road construction and maintenance yet recently it was revealed the same government had spent over a billion pounds just tinkering with roads. For outsiders, it looks benign, but the truth is this is just another scheme to ‘steal’ public funds. The roads which would normally take a few months to complete go on for years, so a contract that would be awarded for say 1 million pounds stretches to about 10 million…government insiders know it is a smart way to take money and no one will complain. In America, you could ask around, their Senate is a ‘stupendous milk factory’ for the connected. Do we talk about Italy, Spain, France etc? So corruption is a human thing, ours is as bad as what obtains elsewhere yet these other countries are doing ok and we are not doing so well. Why? The difference is, in other places, everyone knows their role and play it according to the good of everybody but then they also ‘pilfer, steal, loot’ just whatever you call it. So we need to find a balance between ‘working and chopping’…we seem to concentrate more on the later. In the UK parliament, there is talk of some members showing up for a few minutes just to clock in for the daily £300 sitting allowance. MPs have been known to claim for a second home which they don’t even own or live in in a ‘free for all’ quest to get their hands on public money which some tabloid termed as a ‘freebie mentality’. Many were charged with fraud, but instead of repaying the whole amount, they were let off lightly…
Corruption is big problem for us but so it is everywhere. What we have never asked ourselves is, what then is the difference? What are we not doing right in spite of the corruption?
You guys are getting it very wrong. Corruption is the only issue. If it were not then you are compelled to admit erroneously that the problem is one of collective IQ or some racial defect in being black which would not be true. The whole corruption thing is ingrained into national life and hits you first at all points of entry into the country like an unnwitting advert ‘welcome to Nigeria, what do you have for me massa?’. It is in the roads with the traffic police et.c. Haba, What about universities and commercialisation of grades?. So you are not even sure f engineers, scientists and doctors passing out of your institutions. What about a political culture of open godfathers and public sector contracts that never get executed year in year out?. What about an EFCC with unattended case files?.
Boko Haram was able to build an underground network, arm themselves, recruit jobless youths with some active participation of the political class and what do you think made all that possible, …lack of planning ahead?. Abeg, it is the only issue. We actually now have a tier of government called the LGAs where nothing is dine for the people because of the institutional corruption that must loot all their funds at the state level. So what is that one?.
In Japan, the rulling party for many years were using infrastructural contracts to fund them selves and their top people but at least the roads were built, usually to nowhere and there were more roads than villages at a time but at least you could see the job done so eventually it is a matter of scale and most times retribution came to all the people involved. Here everybody is losing the passion to fight the thing. The most dangerous culture now even amongst young people is one of “it is acceptable even necessary to chop but watch it and don’t be too greedy”. What kind of doctrine is that and where do you put the bounds?.
Nobody is saying there is no corruption elsewhere but the level is actually lower if you are going to be honest, the sums involved are relatively benign, more importantly it is not done from a standpoint of entitlement like it is here and finally people do get punished.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/house-suspends-nysc-n4000-fee/190251/
Like ive said, the Mood of Minimah is to Retool the Army, BH is a phase that will pass let us begin to think Post BH for now, we can see that China/Russia Partnership is about to bear Better fruit, Keep it up General Minimah, God bless you and Nigeria.
To the Beegs himself, Happy independence Sir.
This must be Nigeria’s next transaction with Russia after the end of Boko Haram war.
Stop all this talk of NO MONEY, complete this project, let it end like that of India and Pakistan, but don’t make mistake of shouting your plans on the rooftop like we did and lost the chance of getting ballistic missile technology from North Korea when America the master blocker blocked Nigeria.
http://voiceofrussia.com/2011/08/07/54312600/
Do this Nigeria make your NUCLEAR WARHEADS LETHAL WITH ICBM , and America, Britain and France will stop kicking you around the field !
I am not getting comfortable with the way things are going, I I’ve been watching a number of videos on YouTube on atrocities being committed by our soldiers. From the clips I see it is no wonder Boko Haram are able to recruit these boys. Jeez, I swear I nearly shed a tear, it’s 3:10 am as of this writing and I am regretting watching those videos. If the United States wants to distant themselves from suh blatant human rights violating I do not blame them. The people our soldiers are trained to protect are the direct victims. Our young boys run when they see Nigerian soldiers coming, they run when they see Boko Haram, they are juxtaposed in such a dangerous situation that frankly it makes more Fucking sense if out of fear they join Boko Haram. Wtf ! Soldiers killing the age boys right in the presence of their crying parents. In most cases the villagers attest they are not Boko Haram but jeez, they don’t listen. The mothers being flogged with machetes as they try to protect their children. It’s madness and plays exactly into Boko Haram plan. I did not sign up for this, neither should we allow patriotic sentiments cloud our sense of judgement. We are far away witnessing this from the comfort of our homes but I tell you North East Nigeria is like alien country.
Weapons alone cannot defeat Boko Haram. To defeat Boko Haram the Nigerian army needs the support and goodwill of the local populace, the Americans found that out the hard way in Fallujah. If we do not stop these human rights violations or stop these videos from leaking out the United States will not be the only country gradually distancing itself from the Boko Haram mess.
What are you going on about?
Nigeria soldiers filmed themselves flogging mothers with machetes? Open your eyes
I tire o I tire a Naija soldier will actually film himself with officers in tow T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
Oje there is something really wrong with things you keep saying. Oga beeg I urge you to watch Ojje very closely.
And for the video, perhaps you are talking about this one:
I am very sure you know there is something called propaganda, the said videos don’t not confirm that the atrocities were committed by the NA, BH were and are in possession of stolen NA uniforms. It doesn’t make sense that even after being on the radar the NA will be filming itself doing such things. Pls be careful what you view
Meeeen fucm fuck fuck !
Dude civilians film this shit. Civilian job. , this is 2014, anybody with a 3000 naira camera phone can shoot videos
Bro take it easy, the civilians filming these so called soldiers… do you think any reasonable human being in this time and age would commit a crime and allow some one else to film him? Especially when there has been reports of HR abuses?
Come, I know what you are trying to do, label me alarmist abi? I am intelligent enough to decipher propaganda videos from genuine ones.
Do not tempt me to post the video here. I will not. But while we are here reveling in the gallantry of our heroes (our soldiers are heroes) we must not delude ourselves. The human rights violations I’ve seen will make the Nazi Holocaust look like a birthday party.
“…Soldiers killing the age boys right in the presence of their crying parents. In most cases the villagers attest they are not Boko Haram but jeez, they don’t listen. The mothers being flogged with machetes as they try to protect their children…”
@oje, this is blatant falsehood. No video of this exists. and i seriously question ur judgement.
The video circulating(which i assume is what u are referring to) are of dead boko haram- some young boys who were killed in the most recent incursion into konduga. Their is no video of young boys being killed by Nigerian army in front of their parents or women being flogged by matchetes.
U don’t have to post any link here. But i challenge u to reveal which website u saw this video on…
Sometimes I wonder if this oje guy is just looking for attention.
It’s high time we start pushing for accountability of 9 ur service men. Non combatants should not, I repeat should not be treated like enemy combatants, neither should summary executions be encouraged.
@ Oje
I am not going to say you are right or wrong but what I would like you to realize is:
1) We have won series of battles against BH and it would be prudent to to take that away from the Military at this time
2) We also have won the psychological warfare and we need (I repeat need0 to maintain the momentum.
3) There is always casualties in war (even though we pray against it)
4) There will come a time for accountability but that time is not now.
5) Now our troops need our total support
Oje is the same guy who didn’t know the difference between a Nigerian soldier and a Malian one. Give hm a black man wearing any uniform, he will say it is a Nigerian soldier. Perhaps he doesn’t even need to see a uniform.
I want you to think of the premises behind this post and tell me if you know the implications. Please think really hard about it.
for 1) I meant it would not be prudent
They have my support.
I was going to make the suggestion the last time someone posted such a video here that the DHQ removes all smart phones from the rank and file in the theatre. The war has many dimensions and you cannot claim victory in one battle and lose the next one in the media. All bloggers reporting the war effort should stop posting videos involving captured terrorists that are not approved by DHQ. We are absolutely not interested in how prisoners are treated and processed but we hope it is according to international best practices.
All I and most other people want to watch are videos of a professional army using high tech weaponry wielded by trained personnel to clear out Boko Haram from my country with the minimum of effort and the most economy of time. After that we may want to see ‘re construction, de radicalization and resettlement. Chikena.
Here we go again, another Shekau?
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news-feed/02-10-2014/67654-abubakar-shekau-dismissed-nigerian-military-claims-of-his-death-in-a-new-video
If he’s still alive, WHERE IS THE VIDEO? Why is it hidden? Also, why would he wait 3 weeks to release a new video?
The new shekau has no boss on his head, I was waiting for someone else to notice it, and I am tired that things as obvious as this don’t get noticed by many.
Hmmn…slightly embarrassing. Seen a few stills, even the debris of the crashed Alpha jet.
Not good.
The NA better switch on their media offensive.
Where did you see the stills of a crashed Alpha Jet, please do share?
Here’s purported debris from the jet…
Note the full NA camo worn too by the Boko Scums.
A minute long video has surfaced on YT.
Another pointer; when a criminal is wanted, I hope the Army knows they can source dna from his family, kids or relatives. No one should daresay we don’t have forensic scientists or bioscientists in the Army. Very useful for identification when captured dead or alive. Continued false positives would erode credibility.
Yeah stills are there. Video will be public soon, if not already.
No cause for alarm.
It was generally presumed the plane was either shot down or went down behind enemy lines.
The resurrection of Shekau as well is no biggy. As has been said before he is a cipher, the dynamics behind the battles of Fotokol and Konduga are more important than the life or death of Shekaau
Where is the video??? No video there..
Let us wait for DHQ’s statement on this new video claim.
We can only wait for AFP to release the so called video if it exists.
-Shekau 3 emerges after 3 weeks training
-wreckage of NA Alpha Jet seen in video
-Another cloned Shekau (shekau 4) seen in the background
-New Shekau is a trained Gunner
-Shekau APC missing
Links
news.yahoo.com/boko-haram-leader-dismisses-claims-death-video-092321171.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x94Zr5wzLmk
Can we tell when the video was made?
http://defenceinfo.mil.ng/the-purported-shekau-video-in-circulation/
Oga’s them. please analyse this video
vnd.youtube:x94Zr5wzLmk?vndapp=youtube_mobile&vndclient=mv-google&vndel=watch
The new shekau doesn’t have a boss on his head, and he tries realy hard to hide that.
I bet you guys that boko homos it expert has an AFP badge. You can only guess his papers from there.
boss:= swelling
Can you write without giving us the assignment of trying to understand what you mean?
Third shekau to be sent to his 72 virgins very soon. Everytime we notice differences.
Shekau 1 – look taller and speaks aggressively, Speaks inside a room, sits with 2 or 3 men or 2 AK 47 rifles by his side. Shekau 2 looks shorter and speaks foolishly like a drug addict, does same as shekau 1 but added outdoor casting showing fighters, weapons and heavy equipment, demonstrate firing skills in full view and maintains camera face recognition range(videos usually very lengthy). shekau 3, look very slim, quite tall and camera view looks blurred. @ Oje I admire your passionate concern on certain videos you watched on NA atrocities as claimed but tell me, there are hundreds of videos about massacred civilians and drone firing on humans in gamelike manner carried out by HE which you know. I had expected their citizens to feel same as you do. Soldiers operate under officers in sections and above and NO officer will approve of such act and even allow video coverage. The coverage is not hidden, meaning the killers in uniform and the camera are working together to send a message. If only we know what Sri laka or in particular what Gen Founsaka did to save their nation then we rather love and support our troops no matter what. The terrorist are smart, they use your laws against you and set u up against the world. This is not to support brutal killings of civilians but to note that the army consist of citizens from the same areas and others.
Also, there are no date markers (no way to know when the video was shot)
http://defenceinfo.mil.ng/the-purported-shekau-video-in-circulation/
I was thinking the same thing. Thanks for this observation.
SSS can find out any video date stamp I think that technology exists. However two things will help in the analysis to determine a probable date;
(I) no armoured car in the video so it must have been post Konduga 1 (or 2)
(II) a still picture of the air force jet with the uniformed BH and youth corps boots.?
Looking like a few weeks ago when you take these two things together.
Which Shekau did we kill is one important question here. The Shekau in this video has similar mannerisms with the Chibok girl child slave trader.
Yea, regarding the crashed jet, what was the color of the jet?
The BH pictures shows what appears to be a blue jet
Thanks for the smart observations…
It might not be the jet,since it has blue it might be the mh35 helicopter that crashed
Honestly a lot of things do not add up
1) Why Expend so much energy , men and equipment to retrieve his body if he is still alive?
2) The ANTI AIRCRAFT firing gives him away as a gunner which shekau 1 and shekau 2 were not.
3) Does anyone notice something as being extremely odd with the wearing of youth corps boots? what his previous military shoes got too small in three weeks? or are they seriously running out of equipment, in most of the recaptured Toyota Hiluxes, i have repeatedly noticed empty Jerry cans in the back.
4) Why no mention of current events like the other shekaus used to do?
5) Where is the APC, I know where it is it is with the army.
6) If he is indeed standing on the roundel of the plane why not show pieces of the equipment this is your crowning glory right? unless a recovered piece was dragged there,
7) What is the correlation between the downed aircraft and this video this is something the DHQ needs to thoroughly investigate. the plane crashed in Adamawa State a week before the second battle for Kondunga
8) I hereby will no longer call this piece of scum shekau, I hereby give him or the latest version of him his real name DEAD MAN WALKING ( D.M.W) .
Good morning Gents.
Lol jimmy dis is serious…i saw the video 2.poor attempt at trying to convince us…my only concern is the aircraft in the back ground.but ur D M W description fits the bill
Thank you sir
I hope you enjoyed your birthday.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/10/army-inaugurates-court-martial-panel-try-97-soldiers/
One thing that is becoming very evident that by the time the army is reorganized completely the 7th will “look ” completely different from its original out look. I keep going back to the the COAS warning for the senior officers that mutinied and are being court martial this is a very different story than a wretched corporal.
The army can be very , very severe when it comes to senior officers for purposes of privacy , Iwill not go into details but folks, we are going to have to brace ourselves for this army to get into serious ruthless fighting shape there are grim times ahead, the transparency that is being shown by the army i.e. giving out the names of the personnel and the numbers is for a reasons. Transparency.
OGA DOZIEX had a personal story recently , i have one too recently I was approached by a friend of mine whose cousin had just graduatedfrom a Nigerian university in one of those language ( French) sought after by the NA he wanted me to help his cousin to get a job. I told him to tell his cousin for the type of educational background she has she might be useful to the NA, He said he would get back to me, he did she was interested, I told him there are female officers serving in the most dangerous parts of Borno state and she would in all likely hood be sent to the most dangerous places i.e the french speaking parts near the border let us say between “Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria” I also gave her a warning if I recommend your cousin after maybe 9 moths training you know she will be shipped most def to the North East it is now on the application, I am yet to hear from him but when I do I will keep you guys posted, but the moral of the story is this: When approached by our cousins / friends / family we on this blog know a lot more than the average Nigerian and we should ensure that those who want to apply to the armed service really want to serve Nigeria, it is not a job it is a lifetime commitment.
I apologize for being preachy .
Regarding the article, please note the excerpt:
“The Nigerian Army on Thursday inaugurated a General Court Martial to try 97 soldiers, including 15 senior officers, for mutiny related offences.
It will be recalled that nine-member military Court Martial, had already found the 15 senior soldiers guilty of insubordinate behaviour…”
Are the “15 senior officers” the same as the “15 senior soldiers”?
A senior officer is colonel and above, a senior soldier is sergeant and above.
The vanguard reporter did not give his name. I personally want to start writing down and calling out these half educated defence/military correspondents. Maybe the DHQ will actually get fed up and organize a one week training for them before they really cause trouble someday with brain dead reporting.
OGA Asorock
The article did not specify their ranks if you have any more detailed information , please feel free. The Nigerian Army in someways is a little different than a western one in that only one person for the last 10-15 years has been promoted to GEN ( AZAZI) the top ranking officer in the army is for all intents an purposes a three star LT.GEN. , This translates to a two tier @ the Major Gen level. Going down the line this makes as a result of this policy a LT. Col The beginning rank of what is considered a senior officer in the NA. you may recall the GWOZA barracks was commanded by a now hopefully disposed LT .COL.
I guess my point was that “soldier” and “officer” were being used interchangeably.
Let’s go by your definition and say that “senior officer” is Lt. Col. What are the chances that 15 Lt. Col as being tried at the same time for related offences? – pretty low I would say.
It is more likely that 15 non-coms are being charged, with ranks ranging between corporal and sergeant
Again due to our inept defense journalist we are not sure.There is a chance though of at least one maybe two.The commander of the Gwoza battalion.Second it could also have to do with the recently mentioned officer /officers attached to the 101 which has had more than it’share of problems no factual evidence from me I am purely speculating. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
More info on the trial.
15 Officers, from Lt. Col to 2nd Lt
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/10/4-lt-cols-major-92-others-face-court-martial/
Thank you very much, this is also very likely that some of the officers listed here were in GWOZA, More to follow, I do not know whether the CO of gwoza is listed but the fact that you have 4 X LT. COL you can draw your conclusions.
The bottom line is this Soldiers who leave equipment do not belong in the army, Soldiers who become lawyers do not become good Soldiers, There ia a very good reason why this trial is being made transparent and I shudder at the request of the appointment of Falana a well known wind bag.
These are some of the most serious charges that a lt.col can face and can result in the death penalty. Falana is a civil lawyer and his experience though he has won on appeal in a handful of cases is limited in Military law, it however is assuring that on the defence team they have a retired Major, I will stop here for now.
It seems to me that a junior officer is a lieutenant or a captain and that a senior officer is a major or above. Staff officers are LT.Col or above, general officers are Brig.General or above.
Ogas we need to see the whole video, I’ve only seen clips and stills of NA type boots and NA type desert camo standing on wreckage with NAF roundels.
Prelim observations:
This is Shekau 2, the guy killed might have done one of the Shekau videos but this is the one who was sitting down laughing like a mad idiot, chewing, chewing stick.
I would need native Hausa speakers to interpret but as he directly refutes his own death it would appear to be after thee 17th.
He is a fucking useless soldier.
He obviously has never handled a weapon larger than a knife or AK 47 (
His weapon handling is poor and he would struggle to hit anything with any of the weapon systems he operated.
The 14.5mm had a stoppage just as he fired, he could not control the weapon nor knew the correct way to time his bursts leading to him losing control of the weapon (I’m curious as to what was whispered to him at 0.01 just before he tried to fire. Notice the video stops/starts several times as the video was edited to remove his errors (hopefully he killed some of his fellow idiots as he messed around with the weapon)
The 12.7mm DshK he at least managed to fire properly, if not without any discernible ability.
He obviously does not use the 7.62mm PKM regularly as he was unable to clear the stoppage on it, the one weapon he should have been good. However you can see the glee on his face like a little child as he fired it.
This clown is not a fighter.
The thrust of the video seems to be to demonstrate their anti aircraft ability, as well as to emphasise ‘Shekaus’ resurrection.
Hopefully we can get a transcript of the full video and when we get to see it, try and take not of any changes in lighting, clothing or surroundings, even the people around and their weapons.
That will tell you if the video is spliced together.
Irrespective, the individual who portrays himself as Shekau is alive.
Shekau the actual fighter is dead
Nice T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
He actually lost control of the DshK as well but covered it up effectively before doing damage to his tough guy image. Notice that the DshK pointed vertically to the sky under its own recoil because the man no get pawa to control de ting.
I don’t believe these guys shot down any jet but may actually have been first at the wreckage site. Even then however, the wreckage picture looks deliberately ‘assembled’ with BokoHaram Private ‘youth corps boots’ in the camo standing un naturally on the NAF rounded without any deformation apparent from his weight on the sheet metal.
Yes one of the Shekaus is still alive and whilst the people concerned are analysing videos, we must continue to move newly acquired weaponry closer to the theatre and perfect the plans to encircle and destroy BokoHaram as soon as possible..
One very gratifying event that escaped comment in the last week was the fact that the MOF, NOI herself was the one announcing the receipt of weapons to tackle BokoHaram.
I think this is very gratifying in terms of stakeholder engagement and support for the war effort and it deserves its own separate thread for discussion as this new one of the Shekau resurrection video.
You mentioned something very important about NOI.Yes this does require a thread of its own,especially as things are moving at such a ferentic pace. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
Oga peccavi, the major problem isn’t even this shekau character, but the fact boko-haram members now have in their possession serious heavy equipment, most likely abandoned by the Nigerian army or camerounian troops. I’ve seen Boko-haram members with T-55 Tanks, ERC 90 sagie, some 6×6 APC’s, SHILKA all though their actual quantities aren’t known, I do believe we’ve made strategic military blunders allowing these sort of equipments active with the insurgents.
This are clear reasons why the Nigerian Airforce require better platforms to effectively tackle this Insurgency.
Amen
Amen to NAF seeing new platforms
No rebel shoot down a jet and take a still picture with it roundel,u are likely to make a big show out of it,I suspect its the mil helicopter cos it has blue underbelly.well one more shekau to go
Yea, I noticed the blue as well.
Its no MIL, we had Alpha jets with blue underbelly with a desert type top layering; tinge of yellow and dark green.
Oga jimmy, the photos of Nigerian women in battlefield NE zone does not make me happy, our women in harm’s way? Are we short of men?
Alpha Jet crash, the roundel can be painted by any average artist and also the scrap sheets of metal, let Boko show us the two burnt engines, both usually remain somewhat half intact after crash.
People say the Alpha jet crash was a ruse, so which one do we believe?
There can be 10 new ‘Shekaus’ manufactured like a brand product. Bearded men are common in the Muslim world. The first original Shekau is dead. The one that posed with our Spartan APC shouting “Jonathans brings back our army” is also very very dead at Konduga.
His body should be embalmed and kept at army morgue. When we get the 200 Chibok girls back, Nollywood experts should be called to make a professional 20 minute video of ‘Shekau’s corpse, all 200 Chibok girls re-united with family, and Nigerian army special forces in their best uniforms and weapons, plus Nigerian army armour and NAF Mi-35 Hinds all displaying what Hollywood will envy, Nigerian flags everywhere, Nigeria’s name and prowess subtitled scrolling on the screen….send it viral on social media across the world, send it to major news media in USA, EU, Asia, and Africa.
Showtime Nollywood + DHQ collabo !!! Rebuilding Nigeria’s image that has been massively assaulted since the Chibok girls saga.
You are wrong on the dead Shekau. The one that was asking for his army was the same as the girl slave trader and is this same amateur gunner in this latest video.
Observe the gait and mannerisms, listen to the voice and then look at the beard style.
Oga Are James, sorry you are wrong. I posted both men’s videos side by side on the thread opened for Shekau’s killing, please refer to it. The slave trader has a baritone voice, big legs, bigger head and face he has the Cobra APC The bring ‘back our army guy’ has a tenor voice and thin legs, with a smaller head and narrower face, he has the Spartan APC. A little patient study of both videos, you will get what I mean and spot the difference. They could easily exchange the Mowag APC or have more than one.
The bring back our army guy is the one we killed.
Oga Are James, so far my observation of the face, voice, and mannerisms of the ‘new’ fake 3rd Shekau shows a different number 3 guy with an alto voice.
One of the ways FBI-CIA identify terrorists when the face is masked or confusing, is by voice recognition. Needs equipment or a trained ear to an extent.
No they signed up for it.Check the pictures on Nairaland . Incidentally it is not a shortage of men. One of my aunts fought in the civil war,nothing new.We have on record the first female airborne paratroopers and we have female tankers and snipers.No worries.
I know a female army sharpshooter that had 100 points of 1oo when NDA standard were getting 70 to 85 points…..
Video of the new ‘Shekau’ (He did not claim to be one, people are just forcing the name on his head) is a dumb dude that cannot shoot better than a cattle rearer ! His cows will probably handle those guns better than the gunner himself….half baked amateur.
AS WAS ANTICIPATED ITS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE SOME CRACKED UP GROUP THROWS UP ANOTHER deranged CLOWN AND AS USUAL BBC and co BEARS the banner.
Anyway the beginning of the END is already here…
Whether dead or alive is not the issue, he should approach Kodunga and see what happens to him ?
Liked
Let all NA and NAF equipment arrive fast, we launch final offensive before Boko recruits a new force and capable leader, time is running, yet we must not run with a poorly planned major offensive….needs losts of planning, training, rehearsal, and coordination to succeed. Then SSS beware of backlash suicide bombing retaliation.
All this confusion about who is whether Shekau is alive or dead shouldn’t even arise. We should use a simple voice recognition software widely available in the market on the internet to try to compare the voices in the video…I know it sounds like I’m saying the obvious, but it might help us even on this forum do the analysis…
I’m sure there are a lot of techies on this forum…we should do our on analysis than just conjecture and assumptions.
I will look for some of those software and post the links on here
I guess the links below explains it a little bit better…
http://www.srahman.de/english/025c53982e011c203/index.html
Oga chynedoo, I agree. That’s why SSS needs to work with MOSSAD.
Also oga I still remember the Air Dog video you posted on the thread you debuted as newcomer on this blog. It will help us get a lot of live video of the ground battles for our army to show heroic victories, and for commanders to study our boys’ field ops performance as well as see how Bokos fights, will help top brass on new COIN doctrine.
Also, the Air Dog can show Boko vehicles not easily visible to all eyes in the battle field.
I guess Nigerian army could experiment with this new emerging Air Dog cheap technology like a mini very short range battlefield point coverage drone/UAV.
Book Haram Air force jet video
Something also looks like an MI 24V rocket pod in the video so some more analysis required.
Was thinking the same thing when I saw that rocket pod. It can’t be the fighter jet. Must have been something they found, and then claimed it was the jet they shot down.
Much of this conflict has been propaganda anyway, so I wouldn’t put it past them.
Cheap propaganda video,.. dont we have people in our army who can run a media offensive about these guys? with the daily successes footages should flooding the mediasphere.. let the world see. Standing on a piece of metal with a NAF roundel in the middle of no where does not mean you are winning the war. If i had the resources iwill go to the frontline myself and initiate a media campaign even at the risk of myown life.
Those bullet holes are fresh and the small holes indicates it came from an AK-47 and not high caliber anti aircraft bullets.. these jobless people BOKO HARAM criminals cant even think.
Oga AreJames, you could be correct, if the aircraft was under fire it would have radioed a mayday and its position at least, unless it was a perfect ambush, it could have crashed behind enemy lines and friendly forces can neither locate the site nor secure it. Either which way we must accept that NAF 466 has been lost and the crew is missing presumed dead, may they rest in peace.
Oga Henry, I agree with you but as I am trying to point out in my next piece on the Ramadan offensive, this is not as big an advantage as we may think. I think the ERC 90 and T 55 have been recaptured, the MOWAG has been recaptured. The others will all be needing spares, fuel, lubricant, ammo, fuel and more importantly reasonable roads.
Remember they destroyed most of the bridges, thus there are very few routes they can take that can bear the weight of such vehicles.
And to be honest beyond shock factor what are they going to use the APC to do. Against well disciplined troops they will be channelled and fixed.
The NAF can do a lot more to react to and destroy these vehicles but it needs a good coherent plan, tying in ISR aircraft, recce patrols and good ground analysis and use of intelligence. by analysing the ground, areas of good going for APCs can be identified and choke points as well. SOF troops can put Observation points on these points with artillery and air strikes on call or else lay ambushes with claymore or command detonated anti vehicle mines.
Again it goes bac t the point that we really have all we need to end this we juust need to use what we have intelligently.
Likewise any commander that loses a soft skinned vehicle should be charged to the value of of that vehicle, any commander who loses an APC without destroying or immobilising it should be court martialled. Anyone who loses an artillery piece should be shot
A point about this video is that one of BHT is seen wearing desert BDU and can pass for a NA soldier, therefore those videos of supposedly NA soldiers seen in some funny videos commiting attrocities should be taken with a pinch of salt. the videos are most likely BH propaganda to destroy the reputation of the NA.
Valid point. Always look at the shoes if you see a controversial video.
I Personally think BH is becoming very disingenuous. Even Al-Qaida didn’t stoop so low to continue claiming that Osama Bin Laden was still alive after he was killed by the Seal Team. I predict that the average life span of every new Shekau from the moment he assumes the identity will be less than 2 years. Good luck to all the Shekau-wanna-bees
Someone has to explain why a set of BokoHaram fighters seemed stuck around Konduga with the effect that they kept attacking NA positions repeatedly and lost hundreds of fighters. Were they surrounded and were trying to fight their way out? Was the air surveillance so intense they couldn’t move around in vehicles? Or was it just foolishness, pride or overconfidence on their part?.
http://www.africaresource.com/rasta/sesostris-the-great-the-egyptian-hercules/nigeria-resumes-rocket-testing/ . found this very interesting. sorry to divert the topic of discussion.
Yes oga G8T Nigeria, the Guardian News version has fuller details, range 3km so far. Nigeria would have been producing ICBM by now if not that FG published the deal with North Korea and America blocked it by threatening Nigeria. 3km range = mortar shell range. Nothing much. However, it could be the source of the nice home made NAF rocket pods of about 3km range displayed on this blog last year. Nigeria should just go to India and buy full missile technology and produce most of our missile and rockets at home.
Back to topic I go.
Final anti-Boko offensive could be delayed by new weapons like tanks hanging in Ukraine, make we go beg them o !
Pakistan and China have a more advanced missile program than india.
The best is to learn the missile technology from Russia, the second best is China, the third is Pakistan.
Oga Augustine, I dey on my knees here for them already oooo! 🙂
Oga Obix thank you o ! Carry Nigerian ambassador to Ukraine from Kiev, make them join you do the appeal. Thanks a lot.
http://www.punchng.com/news/jonathan-meets-security-chiefs-2/
Something is about to happen………
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/national-news/181402-nigeria-china-celebrate-independence-with-prospect-of-better-relations
Unrelated it is crucial and extremely important as trade between China and Nigeria head for the $20b yearly mark, the Military begin to understand it is in Nigeria’s interest to do more than have naval visits.
It is time………….
The definition of shekau seems to be a beard, a bonnet on the head, black skin and claiming to be shekau on a propaganda video. What man haven’t noticed yet is that if you take 2 people with a bonnet and beards and around the same weight and both black then they are going to look alike. What many seem to miss are the facial marks: the last shekau had a swelling on his forehead, this present one doesn’t have that swelling.
bonnet:= cap
The claimed ‘Alpha Jet’ crash site is so clean with fresh green grass like only a pigeon flew over and crashed landed there.
This is also significant. An air craft experiencing catastrophic mechanical failure will hit the ground hard and scatter its fuselage and engine parts over a wide area and some of those parts would make such a soft landing without significant damage to vegetation.
A chopper however would fall down in a spin trimming all the surrounding vegetation with its rotor and airframe but when it comes to a stop most of its parts will be intact and identifiable except if it was downed by a MANPAD.
I don’t really feel comfortable with the posting of terrorist propaganda videos.
I didn’t come on this forum to watch terrorist propaganda video, so I urge whoever is posting them here to stop.
Although, analyzing them to show boko haram homos lies is a good initiative.
Could someone remind me what the father christmass disguise looks like ?
@ igbi, my knowledge of defence/military systems and how they operate supersedes yours so dont give me this self aggrandizing bullshit. It appears that it is still forbidden to speak ill or negative of our armed forces. You discredit what i espouse no problem, let us sing nothing but glory of our armed forces. We should sweep the dirt under the carpet and say only good things. I am finding you bloggers to be hypocritical. Beegeagles blog is not a propaganda media arm of the Nigerian government hence if i have reservations or concern about a growing trend i have the right to post it here. Our military do not have a media management arm and this will prove costly someday, mark my words.
God Bless Nigeria.
Oga beeg why should igbi have the audacity to tell you to watch me? the video i am talking about was aired on PBS and its a 25 minutes documentary. Oga beeg if you allow people like igbi and co to publicly suppress any negative info about this war effort this blogg will be labelled %100 pro government (which will be great if you receive funding or support from them but you dont) and monotonous and predictable and with that credibility and objectiveness will be carefully eroded.
http://rt.com/op-edge/161960-pentagon-nigeria-locked-down/. Oje this will help you.
Russian propaganda machine. its like citing PRESS TV or CCTV.
Or citing CNN, FOX NEWS or BBC
This is an extremely stupid article
Well 2 things I learnt from the recently posted videos
Are as follows
(1) That fool calling himself BH’s leader is still alive. As oga Are james said, observe the gait, and his mannerisms.
Our eyes are not lying to us, the man ain’t dead.
But as oga peccavi said, NA’s battlefield victories in Konduga and elsewhere means much more.
If we no get am today, we go get am tomorrow.
(2) That is the wreakage of an Alpha jet TRAINER.
The military already said they lost the damn thing.
Oga CIC and general Minimah and our honorable law makers,
For the love of God, get NAF pilots out of these alpha jets.
Reasons (1) They are 30 yrs old.
(2) They have been over used in 3 conflicts now.
(3) They are NOT that effective. Too fast, thin skinned, limited loitering time over target, and VERY LIMITED BOMB and ROCKET LOAD.
HABA.
Maybe the CGS, should go to chad or niger and take their SU-25s for a spin, to see the difference.
While i hav little or no expertise in aircrafts and military affairs,i think dat stuff looks like a chopper and not a jet.If it was a jet to my knowledge,d double engines will be prominent nd will be wat d bokos will show.
chief oje I BELIEVE ARE JAMES VE GEVIN SOME GOOD XPLANATION TOWARD THAT VIDEO. YOU RESERVE THE RIGHT TO BELIEVE YOUR CONVICTION… I CANNOT CLAIM ABSOLUTE KNOWLEDGE AUTHORITY IN VISUAL ANALISIS HOWEVER ITS PART OF MY DAILY BRIEF AND I BEG THAT U LET THAT SLIDE. PERHAPS U VE UAD ABOUT SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEVE OR VICE VERSA. THANK YOU
From their propaganda video above, a shot of the roundel shows it in camouflage fuselage.It is probably the Mi35m because most of our alpha’s are in dark grey and blue colours at the moment. I may be mistaken.
[IMG]http://i59.tinypic.com/25s33va.jpg[/IMG]
That what first came to my mind, It must be part of the MI-35 that was destroyed in Maiduguri. They probably came the debris for something like this.
anyways that why it is necessary for the military to communicate with the public factually about situation they have info on. If they had officially reported or gazetted that Boko made away with debris post the Attack at the base in Maiduguri, it would have easier for them to prove this video was fake or the Shekau was fake rather.
How is the Alpha jet drop tank still intact in the Boko video? Fuel in the drop tank will explode in a crash, but if it is empty at that time, it will scatter like the air frame on the ground, yet Boko shows it intact.
Then a whole 2 engines still missing, watch video of the Malaysian airliner downed by a big missile at high altitude in Ukraine, you have the engine block still intact, engine blocks should be made of steel i guess, I am not an aircraft engineer, but shafts and turbines are usually steel made to absorb the heat of jet engines.
Needs NAF to confirm that video for 100% validity.
There is a circulating picture of the pilot, a wing commander apparently.
His right arm is in a sling- it would be easy to ID this pilot if he is in the armed forces.
He appears to have been be-headed subsequently.
Whether it’s an Alpha jet or a MIL helicopter- something crashed….
Apparently the 2nd pilot must still be on the run.
My QUESTION IS- What effort is DHQ making to locate this 2nd pilot?
Search teams??? overflights?? Rescue teams??
http://www.punchng.com/news/boko-haram-beheads-pilot-of-shot-down-jet/
OGA rugged 7
We do not want to see the video but can anyone identify the pilot?
There are online claims that the pilot is Wing commander Chimda Hedima.
See comments on Mr Aye Dee twitter TL claiming a series of events leading to the downing of the plane…
Frontline troops called for airforce support.
During a 2nd strafing run, they were hit by anti-aircraft fire. Apparently they could not return to base b/c of damage.
The pilots heroically decided to kamikaze the plane into a group of BH fighters before jumping at the last minute.
Killed approx. 64 BH terrorists but 1 of the pilots got captured.
I don’t know how factual this is. But that info source is usually reliable.
What is really going on?
How would NAF send pilots into air mission without personal pocket size radio-satellite-beacon locator-transmitter in this modern day 2014?
Pilots should only be long missing if dead or lost location-satellite-beacon or battery died after few days, and should have solar power back up.
What is the level of technology in Nigerian military sef, we dey for ancient days of Robin Hood in Sherwood forest war zone, abi?
It beats my imagination. Most of these equipment are not very expensive.
The fact that a 2nd pilot wasn’t caught by BH indicates that the 2 pilots probably ejected with parachutes- Therefore jet fighter ejection and not helicopter.
One of the pilots must have evaded capture by BH and is probably still on the move or..
PROF. JIMMY NOTHING OTHER THAN THE OBVIOUS… ITS GONA BE REAL URGLY, BAD, BEFORE IT BECOMES ANY GOOD. WE ARE ABOUT TO HIT THE EYE OF THE STORM I CAN ONLY WISY FOR THE FAINT HEARTED ON THIS BLOG A VIAL SOLACE ….LONG LIVES THE FRN.
Ok, so What are the army superiors planning? For weeks now, apart from the victories against waves of boko bastards, there doesn’t seem to be much by way of an offensive. Can not surely be content waiting rather than waging offensives.
I was wandering when the 3 brothers (Fear, Doubt and Suspicion) would grace our blog……they have finally showed up.
Invited by whom?.
Hmm!! Where is oga xnur?
Someone is telling me that indeed that was one of the pilot of the Jet?
Is that true?
YES he is one of the alpha jet pilot. Edima is his name maybe a wing commander.
I do not believe entirely that the Alpha jet was shot down ( Airforce understand AAA risks and plans its routes to avoid them). A possible story line will be that the birds developed an issue and the pilots ejected and in the process of roaming one ended up in hostile territory. I do not believe that the video was shot weeks ago-it must have been recent. The fact that large chunks of the engine parts are not featured possible points to the fact that (1) The was instantaneous mid-air disintegration -however if this were the case the pilots would not have survived. (2) There was a mid air break up after the pilots have ejected and Boko Haram could not locate the bigger pieces (3) There was a huge explosion on impact due to undischarged ordinance after the pilots have ejected-no craters?
This also looks more like an helix with rocket pods than an A-jet. If there is a confirmation that the pilot indeed was in the A-jet then
The facts are
1. The pilots did not defect ( we never for once felt they did)
2. The pilots were not BH sympathisers
3. The Pilots at least ejected- the fact that they were never reported to have called in an hit raises some questions though (NAF needed to tell us exactly what happened)
What to ponder about includes
(1) Were they shot down with something more than AAA-The pilot said they were shot down not hit ( there is a slight difference)?
(2) When they ejected -did they set off location beacons but Special forces were unable to located them till BH did?
(3) Was there proper planning to avoid this risk or we a flying a bit blind?
(4) Could this have been avoided if the platforms were more recent,flies higher and posses more sensors
The pilot is a warrior-a true Hero
DMI, as a matter of diligence, must identify, trace and track those specific boko haram involved in the slaughter of this young air force officer.
When they are caught, those responsible must be systematically boiled in hot oil until they transcend into the next world…
Cyber generals,
could it be that the beheading was staged? Just thinking aloud. The Haramites are no battle field tacticians or weapon aficionados but they are very very skilled in the use of terror and propaganda.
Another British muslim aid worker has been beheaded and as usual in its greed for ratings and money CNN and Al-Jazeera are the first to air the story, imagine the anguish and agony the family of this man will pass through, when they turn on the TV they will be reminded of the pain. Whats worse, im just watching Christian Amanpour saying that the U.S led airstrikes in ISIS sealed the faith of these prisoners, questioning the rationale of America bombing ISIS when they know they have Western hostages.. I CAN SWEAR last month i watched how Christian Amanpour again and again questioned why America is reluctant to act until ISIS is just kilometers away from Baghdad, stressing that lack of U.S involvement in Syria earlier gave ISIS the opportunity to hijack the war from the ”Moderate Syrian militants”. Sometimes i wonder if these Liberal media are paid by ISIS and Al Queada to handle its propaganda machine.
Its high time the world take its gloves off and throw away that word ”civility”. This is a world that stood up to Napoleon Bonaparte, to Nazi Hitler and yet today 6 billion people are cowaered by a bunch of Sand eating criminals, whats worse, the Islamic community is largely mute on this. Just last week a female fighter pilot from the UAE was disowned by her family for bombing ISIS, THESE ARE THE SAME MUSLIMS THAT DESPITE HER ECONOMIC SHORTCOMINGS THE U.S.A IS SPENDING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS JUST SO TERRORISTS HOLD THE ENTIRE REGION HOSTAGE.
Muslims and Muslim alone can end terrorism. Besides lackluster verbal condemnation the muslim world is largely quiet. If muslims were active in the condemnation of terrorists and their hideous crimes groups like ISIS will not be able to make grounds, because you cannot claim to be fighting for muslims when %90 of the very muslims are condemning you. Soon the world will grow tired and intolerant of muslims and when that happens every muslim will unjustly become a target, they will be made to pay dearly, they already cost the global economy billions of dollars a year, they’ve destroyed the economies of countries who rely greatly on tourism.
Where is the NAF Pilot’s flight suit if he was captured in full gear? If he dumped his gear/suit, why could he not mix with civilians in a village and get back to base? He looks northerner enough to me and should easily mix with civilians. Lt.Col Agu just did that in a town fully infested by Boko Haram fighters, he made it back to base.
Maybe NAF pilots should now carry $2,000 Satellite phones and a navigation compass in their pocket when they fly, just in case they eject.
NAF Alpha jets are about 30 years old and they are working extra over-time in war zone ! It is like asking a 60 year old soldier to engage in mountain infantry expedition.
NAF, please stop this Alpha jets and F-7 jets dropping dead from the skies like a six-monthly ritual.
Where is the replacement? Super Tucano since ONE YEAR AGO, we shout tire o !
Somebody bring out the Super Tucano if America has not blocked the sale because they own the engine, Brazil only owns the body.
Where is the Super Tucanoooooooo !
The last time I watched a videos of BH beheading a NAF officer (on Sahara Reporters, as always, they gleefully published the video) I just boiled in anger for weeks. So I don’t think I would want to see the current clip. It will surely churn my stomach with rage to no end.
But there are as usual questions to be asked. This NAF aircraft whether it was an Alpha jet or a helicopter, more could have been done by the military to at least try to help this guys avoid capture, either by creating a cover story until the rescue teams (assuming there was any) recovered the personnel dead or alive.
This type of situation is what the military ought to try hard to avoid especially under the current circumstances where Boko Haram has created fear among the population as well as denting the image of the army and morale of rank and file. I am sure soldiers including those on the frontline and NAF personnel would have seen the vid. It is not good for morale.
Again we have to sympathise with the military and the government who have had to operate under peculiarly frustrating situations especially in terms of procuring weapons and equipment necessary to fight this insurgency. The West led by the Americans are unwilling to sell us the weapons needed. The ones we have ordered from other sources Ukraine and elsewhere are not forthcoming either. So it is a difficult situation. But all the same, we have make the most of what we have. It is easy to criticise when you are not on the frontline or on the hot seat but all the same, the government and the military high command could turn the assets we have on the ground into an exponential force multiplier in this war with a little more creativity, planning, preparation, precision, as well as being able to comfortably forecast different scenarios in any given circumstance.
Maybe NAF personnel flying over Boko Haram controlled towns should carry poison pills and concealed special-forces type ARs like the SR3-M Vikhr. In a worst case scenario, take as many of these boko haram pigs with you than be captured alive, or if you cant, simply ingest the pill as it would be a better death than being humiliated with a beheading. These pilots could even be made to carry a specially made vest (in-house) that if you are about to be captured, pull the cord and go out in a blaze of glory taking as many of them as possible.
We need a little more creativity and attitude in this war like the 3rd Marine Commando showed during the Nigeria Biafra war.
“Again we have to sympathise with the military and the government who have had to operate under peculiarly frustrating situations especially in terms of procuring weapons and equipment necessary to fight this insurgency. The West led by the Americans are unwilling to sell us the weapons needed. The ones we have ordered from other sources”
@Chynedoo
You guys really have to stop these kind of statements. You are beginning to sound ass kissy and insincere. I don’t know who you guys are trying g to hold brief for here sometimes, is it the successive military regimes who did not equip the military but could steal billions and still spent billions of $$$$s any way in Liberia? or the current one that is finally doing something about it when things have almost become too late, and thousands of lives have been lost and BH now probable has the means to shoot down aircraft? Which ones are you sympathizing with?.
Weapons have been available for buying for decades from a multitude of sources. I don’t even believe the govt had a policy not to buy Russian. These are tales by moonlight to fool the un initiated. If they were not buying Russian it must have been because ‘deals’ we’re impossible. All the previous CAS s we have had in this country have been MIG pilots, why did they not buy MIG 27s, ? MIG 29s, . It is unbridled corruption in government that has caused our problems. Also a preponderance of ‘business thinking’ over ‘geo political defence and security thinking’ by people in gov t. I will also take a lack of love for the country over the oft repeated excuse that it was because there was no immediate threat to territorial integrity that softened the army. Why did they eventually become one of the institutional contenders for national political power.
Look at the defence budgets. Have you seen the unbelievable recurrent estimates?. For many years even the capital estimates for barracks construction and mess rehabilitation would be double that for weapon purchases, do we blame the west for that as well?.
Let us stop this “Amerca did not sell us Weapons we asked for” lies now, we have dedicated a whole thread to it. It is not the cause of the problems we are in, it is merely an excuse for failure.
Look, you are start to sound very annoying. You are not the only one entitled to have an opinion on anything. Your brain is probably as big as a bowl of rice, and don’t start pretending that you are wiser, or know anything more than anybody on this forum. It is absolutely annoying when people start being dismissive of other people’s views as well as being discourteous and arrogant.
I don’t know who the heck you assume you are, but sometimes when I read the ignorant stuff you put on here I simply marvel, yet I do respect your opinion. And I expect you to respect mine, you can disagree with me but stop being so bossy. You have never been in government, you wouldn’t understand the layers of interests, the peculiar difficulties, the sensitivities. the egos, the pressure groups, and the countless barriers that needs to be surmounted before anything gets done in government. You could just sit here on the other side of the computer and mouth off against whoever attracts your fancy. That’s your problem.
Next time you start being disrespectful, you should expect the same thing back. Sometime ago America government business was shut down because the Republicans and the Democrats were playing the ego game. You think if it was just easy to buy arms that the people whom using these arms serve first and foremost their own interest more than yours would think twice before buying them? And why is everybody making it look one sided? How many governments we had in Nigeria since 1960, how many have even as much as thought of doing anything about it? Did Boko Haram become an issue in 2014?
It is easy to just sit on a computer and criticise. It is a different thing to be in a position to take the decision that matters.
I don’t care who or what you are, you have no exclusive right to any opinion nor wisdom. Have you ever heard of a tree that is a forest? Or a river that makes an Island? Now imagine what you, as arrogant and disrespectful as you are would have done if you are the chief of army staff, NSA chief, Finance minister, defence minister, senate leader, or even the guy in Aso Rock. With this level of intolerance on a thread, imagine what you would have done if you had real authority. I bet you will spend the time telling everybody to shut up while Boko Haram had a field day.
You should learn to thrive in a community of diverse opinion and stop behaving like you know everything when you don’t even know more than anyone else.
Don’t worry about it, I have resolved to stop making comments again about Nigeria’s problems. You guys can take over. Good luck
The fact of the matter is that it’s not the Biafra War; it’s a conflict in North Eastern Nigeria, which is the least productive part of Nigeria, that’s why there isn’t any real sense of urgency to flush Boko Haram out. Everybody knows that if it were MASSOB, they’d send 1 million soldiers in Igbo land, if need be, and it would all be done in haste too.
That’s the only thing that annoys me about this conflict.
Very true. What about the ND where we have thousands of troops but only a fraction are actually needed for oil theft prevention because of the other agencies working on the same problem.
Recall what happened in the Niger Delta during the height of the militancy under OBJ, at some point it simply felt that no one was really in charge and the Niger Delta militants had become so brazen they could just about walk into Port Harcourt and start shooting at each other or anyone for that matter. Agreed, the government would have reacted differently if it were to be in the East but there could also be other issues. The sheer size and terrain of the North East and the fact that unlike the East people in the North East settlements are quite dispersed unlike the heavy concentration of settlements in Eastern Nigeria where people live in closely knitted settings making it easier to use police action to bring crisis situations under control. Again there are also political dimensions to it going back to the Biafran war.
I guess there is a question of stuttering strategy until probably recently, a lack of political will up the official chain, the legendary fear of the North (whatever that means), political considerations bordering on 2015 or even 2019, political divisions, inter-agency rivalry, sabotage Nigeria’s counter-insurgency operations leaky with moles at every turn in the chain, the daunting size of the North East (land mass) for instance Sambisa forest alone by some estimates is around 60,000 square kilometres/ 23,00 square miles depending on where you officially decide to measure the forest from as it traverses towns in Nigeria stretching up to the borders in the North East with Cameroon. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/29/nigeria-sambisa-forest-boko-haram-hideout-kidnapped-school-girls-believed-to-be-held
Better coordination and deployment of assets where they are likely to have more impact could be key to pushing back the advances of Boko Haram. There was a recent policy change by the military top brass in which deployment of inexperienced soldiers to the front line was discontinued and instead battle hardened, experienced soldiers are now being used in the North East. This has started to make a lot difference in recent encounters with Boko Haram.
Gentlemen lets not sensationalise this abeg, even NATO lost an F-117 in the former Yugoslavia. As for the video, it amazes me how youtube allows such videos to be aired. By December these jets should have been inducted into our inventory, in time to chase Boko Haram into Cameroon and invade Cameroon. Cameroon has 6 Impala jets as an air force, the qualitative and quantitative gap between both air forces is so great its ridiculous. With nearly a hundred helicopter gunships and 20 top line fighters it will take the intervention of France to save Cameroon. That said Nigeria seriously needs to start thinking nuclear weapons.Africa needs one country to be nuclear armed, that way no body can mess us around and plat us against each other. If South Africa had kept her nukes France will know a nuclear attack against any country in Africa will lead to a nuclear retaliation from South Africa.
@Oje
*laughing*. Every time you hear bad news, you must invade Cameroon and develop nuclear weapons. Haba, wetin dem do you?.
Taking a second look at everything- I believe this is a nearly successful scam! nothing seems to add up. We need to wait for DHQ’s response. This might be a “video Shopping” scam.
The DHQ should be under no pressure to release information. “We are studying the videos and pictures” should suffice for now whilst the evidence is being studied and thorough ISR of the areas ongoing.
@Oje is very correct. NATO lost an early-tech Stealth fighter over Yugoslavia because some engineer/scientists on the Serb side were able find a way to predict the position of the aircraft and blanket the skies with AAA fire.
In our own case, BH must have relied only on visuals and the sound of aircraft to guide the intense AAA blanketing fire to bring down the aircraft (if they did actually bring down an aircraft). The question then becomes how many anti aircraft assets do they really have now and what are the ammo levels like?, Since they also use these same weapon system to gain advantage on the ground, what does that mean for their AA orbit?, How many of them have we destroyed and how many would be left?. How do we interdict these vehicles in their hidden stationary positions or whilst they are moving?. What platforms and weaponry do we need to do the detection and engagement?. These are the questions.
*orbat*
Oga Solorex, God bless you, well said.
I am surprised that some of our intelligent and well educated people on this blog swallow Boko Haram videos as if their mouth and throats have no control key. Why do people accept the ‘beheaded man’ as a wing commander of NAF? Do they know him by face and name ID? Why not wait for NAF or DHQ to make pronouncement before jumping to conclusion? Someone even gave the pilot’s name here as Edima, what is the source of that information?
The the new ‘Shekau Alive’ is accepted as the same guy DHQ claimed to kill with photo evidence. Now the dead guy has a less fleshy face and a thinner voice, and speaks a lot English language no matter how may grammar errors he makes…..the new ‘Shekau Alive’ guy is yet to utter one single English word in two videos, and why did it take him about 2 weeks to reappear and claim to be alive and well?
Gentlemen, let us be careful how we swallow Boko Haram information, we have been to university and these guys have not, intelligence and reasoning should be stronger on our side.
My opinion.
Nigeria rejects Boko Haram beheading claim
“Nigeria’s military has dismissed claims that a man beheaded by Boko Haram fighters in the group’s latest video was an air force pilot in a fighter jet that went missing three weeks ago.”
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/world/africa/2014/10/04/nigeria-rejects-boko-haram-beheading-claim.html
Quite an extraordinary claim! even though details have emerged showing him undertaking courses abroad. There’s a picture of him in a Nigerian fighter jet too.
Come on!
I really pray, for the sake of Air Commodore Dele Alonge and the Nigerian armed forces that what he is saying is correct. And that no Nigerian pilot was be-headed.
BUT, if it is actually Wing commander Chimda Hedima; then the spokesman has lost the plot.
Considering that alleged information indicates that the two pilots acted with all heroism in killing 64 boko haram terrorists as they went down in the plane.
It would truly be a poor way to re-pay their heroic efforts. They should be getting silver stars, purple hearts, GCON and their family-The Nigerian flag.
That Gentlemen, is the surest way a responsible people and top brass can encourage and motivate their men in uniform.
Not to deny them when the chips are down.
Or fail attempt to rescue them. My heart bleeds…
Oga rka, thanks for this info. God bless you sir.
I was just about to post another comment. NAF Alpha jet went missing in Adamawa state, the Boko Haram video account says the beheaded ‘Alpha Jet Pilot’ explained that his Alpha jet was shot down in Borno state…..and the bloggers here did not see that before they start saying R.I.P to the ‘NAF Pilot’…So Boko Haram now judges and decides who is a NAF pilot, and people swallow that here?
I think is is high time we have in-house self cleansing on this blog, people should start making open apologies for posting wrong information deliberately without confirmation or for posting strange and questionable sources about what they did not personally see or get a competent person who saw it to confirm.
We cannot just become robots whose minds are hypnotized by every Boko Haram video as if all images are true even if stage managed or photo-shopped. Let all this emotional misfiring cease and let men be men, please. Your head before your heart, or else you mess up on this blog and look like a half wit.
Thank you sirs.
Oga Augustine, I concur, we have been misled on many occasions by half-baked articles, although not posted deliberately on most occasions to mislead.
We must be careful though to try to make sure there are named sources before swallowing hook, line and sinker.
@Oga rka and Oga Augustine i urge u guys to exhibit some restraint.
I believe sincerely that a lot of people who come to this blog are probably more patriotic than u give them credit for.
Providing information even if not 100% accurate allows us to critically analyze such information. Thus proving or disproving it. Either way, i believe this is helpful to our armed forces as well.
A majority of us want the best for this country. I remember when we published an update of the budget breakdown with indepth analysis of recurrent and capital expenditures.
I strongly believe that the subsequent furore on this blog led to financial and budgetary changes at the top, allowing for more funds to be allocated to the armed forces.
A cup of water can be half full or half empty, it just depends on where u are looking from. BUT, a wise man will always look from both sides.
@oga augustine, why is it impossible that the pilot could have been moved from adamawa to borno states?? The chibok girls were moved around, no?
Personally, i don’t think anybody on this blog is more patriotic than i am. But i will not suffer blind patriotism.
I pray my info and analysis is wrong.
BUT, advice no be curse.
The greatest honor a man can bestow, is to lay down his life for his friend…and his country. The story of such people should NEVER be denied nor forgotten.
It is critical that patriots keep their eye on the ball…
Oga rugged7, I am not having a go at anybody, just saying people should be more cautious before jumping to conclusion on any given matter. Nothing wrong in debating and analysing information, but we are too easily convinced by BH propaganda even when it is known they super-edit their vidoes. They know the power of psych ops.
I have been misled in the past.
@Augustine
You are the one misreading the sentiments here. It was the NAF that reported its aircraft missing not Boko Haram. So every knowledgeable observer expected that BH would do all in their power to gain some information management value from the event. I have been scouring the I internet for reactions and all I can see are ‘hero’, ‘hero’, ‘hero’ regarding the supposedly beheaded pilot, not condemnation for the NAF. Please try to understand that.
Some stories circulating regarding the pre downing of the jet in fact would make James Bond jealous. So Boko Haram has failed in its dis information. Don’t get too sensitive and subtract from their pain. What we should be debating here is tactics for taking out the AA mounted vehicles within a week which I think is possible. Recriminations over who to believe, patriotism and/or swallowing or not swallowing BH ‘propaganda’ is unnecessarily feminine and is just adding no value. When are we getting the right jets, how do we bust these technicals, how do we take back territory?. Those are the issues. And btw BH just killed another 75 people in the last two days. So let us quit being Gestapo and be a little more like Wermacht. There is work to be done.
I concur, I cringed when I read the RIP post.
when the man in the video was beheaded, his body was still, no spasms or movement from the lifeless body. Another thought sirs.
You’re aiting for DHQ to confirm wetin? The same DHA that rescued the Chibok girls the next day ba?
WE had Shekaus wife and kids in custody. Did no one think to DNA test his kids (unless of course his wife was playing away match) so that we would have a definitive DNA sample for whichever Shekau we kill.
Oga AreJames you are incorrect, the DHQ has to react and needs to not just react but pre-empt.
The President addressed the Un and then addressed the nation about how we are dealing with the situation, with this video BH has once again taken the initiative from the FGN, not only makin them look like liars but incompetent.
Yet the DHQ statement is correct, they have killed one of the people portraying Shekau. Right now a spokesman should be on every channel emphasising that Shekau No 1 is dead, Shekau No 22 is dead and this is another Shekau.
Why are they allowing BH to dominate the media narrative? Is it completely impossible to create a photomontage of captured BH equipment, Nigerian troops etc and embed meta links so when people search for Boko Haram on Youtube that is what comes up?
LikeI said the fighting at Fotokol and Konduga is imotant an opens a tiny window, unfortunately that window is closing, if Shekaus faction has organised itself enough to get this video out, it means their leadership/ morale issues have been resolved. They still hold territory.
They have not captured or attacked Maiduguri in time for Sallah but they are still on the ground. There is no logical reason that 2 weeks after the Konduga battles the counter offensive has not begun. There is no logical reason.
If we do not start the counter offensive this week then BH will live to fight to th dry season and we are totally fucked because they will regenerate and attack again in time for the elections.
And during the elections the Army and the Police will be completely stretched trying to stop the asshole politician and their thugs from rigging. There are nowhere near enough troops to police the election, maintain security in the Delta and fight in the NE and North Centre.
I am actually surprised we are debating video here when we should be asking when the precision bombing campaign and special forces actions are going to start. Also we all bought in into this thread story of sending 1000SFs on training abroad which is very unfair to the country if it shifts the date for engaging BH in a final offensive to 2015.
Also the story about America not selling weapons is not selling for me as far as removing this cankerworm from our nation. They are killing and raping as we speak and we are here accepting suggestions to the effect that the west is to blame and nothing will be done till June, 2015. I wonder what we are to do before then?. Keep warning ourselves not to be unpatriotic while the Children of the Chibok girls start learning how to shoot AK 47s.
Na wa. bullshit eventually smells no matter how much air freshener you spray.
@Are James, it is good that you have admitted that SENTIMENTS are being posted here as facts, is sentiment = fact ? Let people who have swallowed the wrong pill deal with the public stomach upset they caused for themselves.
Jet was missing in Adamawa, Boko posts video that is INAUDIBLE and tells us the unheard voice is that of the pilot shot down in Borno, is Adamawa and Borno the same place?
That is what guys will get for posting SENTIMENTS in a hurry without even looking for loopholes in Boko Haram’s claims. Anyone who wants to be tutored by illiterates’ cock and bull stories can hand his university degree on a mango tree and resume classes in Boko Haram’s Arabic school.
It’s a matter of choice, people are free to entangle themselves in as much mess as they choose. Babu Ruwan na. Ko si eyi to kan mi.
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/world/africa/2014/10/04/nigeria-rejects-boko-haram-beheading-claim.html
Now let some men with courage swallow the above web link and purge their stomach of Boko Haram’s poisonous dinner. Thank you all brothers and ogas.
My problem is your problem as well and we have to admit it since we are being courageous. So what is the problem?
Scenario: Suppose it now transpires that in a few days from now DHQ posts one of those their funnily cryptic statements on their website that admits in a round about way that everything some people have said here about the crashed pilot was TRUE. What are we going to do?. What if a family member comes out with corroboration.. or a friend?
I personally suspect for instance that they have merely superimposed moving images in this video for instance but that is just my suspicion. The only problem I have with that is that DHQ itself said last week that they captured all the high tech BH guys who make their videos and post them online so that alone is putting my suspicion in the ‘not so sure’ box.. I personally believe for the DHQ, not saying anything for now is the best. What @Peccavi has suggested here however is right on, you have to win the high tech information battles by being proactive and employing the right people at least into the SSS if not the military.
There are so many creative things being left undone in the info battle space and there is zero being done on the battlefield for now, the NA is not so weak that organizing for a major offensive would put a stop to harassing strikes from the air and by SFs on BH positions.
I know there are arguments for and against but judging from past records to be honest with you things are not looking good. I shit you not. Aircraft crash locational difference between Borno and Adamawa is not really cutting it as evidence against and you know that well enough.
The major point again though is why we are still here arguing about videos instead of grabbing at maps in excitement over where the NA/NAF is going to blast next?.
Oga Are James, I had mind for what you said on what NAF should be doing next about air to ground combat ops as next line of action. I could not post it as there was no proper thread with that subject matter. I went airborne for many hours last month for that purpose to see how each kilometer of altitude looks like on the ground and how to identify targets, plus how to avoid anti-aircraft fire from Bokos, we flew daytime and night time in an ATR-42 type of aircraft and I observed things as if I was in a Super Tucano stuck to the window. Can’t post it because there is no such relevant thread yet, it can wait I guess.
lol this guy, you are not without drama.
Meanwhile where are the Su 30s and J 10s….aren’t they operating yet?
@Superboi79, Any confirmation of their procurement?
@Obix,
No real confirmation except the information sometime earlier from Oga Gbash sources.
I think all BH AAA are range restricted. New tactics can be easily evolved and operationalized to mitigate any loss of sensitive information by captured pilots which is just 50-50 anyway. They have no answer to night time operations as far as can be seen. It is a pity the SU 25s we did not buy could have made a difference but the Tucanos would be good for drawing AA fire, noting coordinates and passing them via links to SU 30s, J10s or ground artillery. @Beegeagle posted some super accurate Israeli mortar pictures recently, all these can be brought to bear to bust these AA technicals. When you done that, then the rest of the war becomes a video game as far as I am concerned
Here is what we have and can use- Mid range artillery- Grad 21 & Archer plus new upgraded Uragans. The BM27 are our best bet- with real time fire adjustment for better accuracy as in Smerchs you can hit BH at 35km with impressive accuracy- Then you can follow up with Grads as dispersing agent at closer distances. It we have an eye in the sky,the mission success is will even be better.
Nobody is sure what is coming for the Air Force-it is the most complicated arm of the military. Something bad seems to have happened to the Tucano deal-but it does not appear to have been the fault of the Air Force-Is most likely also as nothing to do with fund availability. The props seen in Makurdi might be a Pilatus afterall! The only thing sure is the Mi24 and Mi35s in droves ( Ukraine-Belarus-Russia). The American/Israeli helix deal is in troubled waters- i believe it has sunk possibly beyond redemption.
The Navy for sure shall get two OPVs and 1 second hand Frigate (Not another cutter)and Andonni II from Naval Dockyard. Proposed Aradu refit has not been funded for years after approval.
The Army shall surely get upgraded and refurbished T72 and Uragans,New BTR3U. No words about the Chinese APC deal-the fact that streit says a west African country ordered 400 APCs for its police ( can’t think of any west African country that can buy 400 APCs other than Nigeria) Suggests that the Chinese APC/MRAP deal might have issues. Conversely-The new hype about weapons from China suggest that the deal might now been funded. Is there a Mad Max guy somewhere buying all available APCs for the Army/Police?
The Police shall receive hundreds of APCs in preparation for ost COIN patrol and next Elections for Sure.
Oga Solorex, the massive increase in number of Mi-35 Hind helicopter new orders and the total silence on the long time Super Tucano after a whole year of hype, has made me suspect the Tucano deal might have hit the rocks temporarily or permanently, I don’t know, but for sure, something is wrong with the Tucano deal. How a whole Vice-President Sambo led deal can ever get stuck for lack of funds is my thought, the problems must be one that money cannot cure. Tucano may have to rest.
Brothers, let us begin to shop for a replacement for Super Tucano just in case the deal is scuttled by the supplier of the engine Saint Yankee Doodle as usual, the self appointed judge of nations and characters of men, the one that removes speck of wood from other people’s eyes while a full size Iroko tree is inside his own eyes.
This is the problem of western equipment, South Africa got a deal to sell her ‘home made’ Denel Rooivalk attack helicopters to a customer and save the project from imminent end, then one of the vital spare part-component suppliers from Europe refused to sell that vital component part for that deal with that particular buyer, Denel lost the contract sale, and the Rooivalk factory has been closed down….dead. Ah ! Oyinbo NATO una wicked o !
This a wake up call for Nigeria to build her own COIN aircraft, they have an edge over helicopters in COIN combat, range, weapons, noise-level, speed, etc. AFIT Farawa should be encouraged to have a version for light COIN warfare and if we pay the Pakistanis for full technology transfer on the 4th generation JF-17 Thunder jet, we can use that newly acquired technology to build Farawa III as a fair but less capable ‘Super Tucano’ future option. Get engine from Russia or China, built the air frame and avionics in Nigeria.
Nigeria lives in this Sahel region of perpetually endemic insurgency with all these northern Islamist neighbours we have, plus our own home grown citizen Jihad forces. We need about 100 low cost COIN light aircraft cheap to produce and cheap to maintain in long time service. Argentina did this with their $4 million per unit Pucara COIN combat light aircraft.
Unfortunately, I see no proper replacement for the Super Tucano in the same class, a perfect fit of a replacement does NOT exist in the world today.
Best option is the Su-25 Frog Foot with it’s short range and noise, however, I may not want us to burden NAF and FG again by demanding for new aircraft if NAF has already received Su-30 Flankers, JF-17 Thunder, upgraded MBB-339 CD, and Mi-35 Hinds. No need to play Oliver Twist.
The answer will be precision guided weapons for NAF and brave NA and SSS ground forces recce/spy target designators to sneak on Boko territory stealthily at night and place laser target designators on vital Boko Haram positons, no need to get too close, just place device 500m away from target and let NAF know it’s distance away from target and it’s compass cardinal position from target (N, E, S, W), NAF pilot can then fly day or night, adjust laser guided bombing, first to target designator position, second by pilot controlled laser targeting pod to the exact target position using the first explosion as marking axis to calculate the real position of target. NAF can also Cluster-Bomb such areas if we want area effect of the exact target position and everything around it.
Who went to sign Nigeria into UN ban on the use of cluster bombs? Same cluster bombs that helped ECOMOG in Liberia/Sierra Leone wars. America and Russia refused to sign it. Some Nigerian leaders can sell this country for personal glory in the eyes of international community. You also signed nuclear non-proliferation treaty to bind and cage Nigeria when fellow non-aligned nations like India and Pakistan refused to sign, why are Nigerian leaders selling Nigeria like cheap Akara inside frying pan?
Now the same America/Europe we were cutting off our own fingers to impress like a gentle man nation that does not fight boxing, are now refusing to sell any lethal weapons to us while Boko Haram is busy rampaging Nigeria, killed 13,000 innocent Nigerians, mass rape our teenage girls, reverse our economic growth by 0.5% of GDP per annums, drive away foreign investors, embarrass every human that calls himself Nigeria by giving us an ugly trademark…..so why are Nigerian leaders signing 177 million people into harmful UN conventions against our own national security interests?
Anyway, back to the battlefield…
JF-17 Thunder with ground search radar is good with that job from 15km away out of reach of ALL Boko Haram anti-aircraft guns. NAF Mi-35 Hinds might not have guided bombs, and ATGM is usually HEAT, it won’t work well on non-armoured targets, then the helicopter needs to be closer like 4km because it has no radar, it depends on FLIR and TV cameras to use it’s weapons, not even sure Nigeria bought any Anti-Tank Guided Missiles for these new Helicopters, we may just be stuck with the 2km to 4km range S-8 unguided rockets, and that endangers pilots facing Boko Haram’s 2km to 7km range anti-aircraft guns.
Nigerian army special reconnaissance SR forces need to do this job together with NAF, it is not a hard job, many countries have done this before in war with a lot of success.
Eygpt- Africa’s third largest economy, which is currently in the midst of economic hardship is splashing out $3.5 billion on Russian arms – sub,aromes. surface-to-air missile systems (S-300VM), jet fighters (Mig-29s) and attack helicopters- Mi-35.
I can confidently say there are no new jets on order. We are getting mostly old Mi 35 (no night vision or FLIR) and some alpha jets…
What a shame …..
Transport and vip Air Force…
In profound respect and deep appreciation of Chimda Hedima, an ex jam like me….
WTF
Please tell me the mofos do not believe they can win this war on the cheap, are you kidding me???? they really believe the sh—t the y are smoking are they really serious,Sorry i do not believe it , the first two helios that came had FLIR ON THEM
Wow!!
For real?
So what about the A/Cs Gbash been sighting at Makurdi?
UFOs?
If true,
Is Nigerian govt arms righted by some external power?
So what is the $2bn going to be used for exactly?
Oga zachary999 you have a source to prove your above claims? Do post it.
Look @zachary999, if that is your personal opinion/observation fine, but try not to portray them as authoritative fact without evidence.
Authoritative Members of this blog have repeatedly sighted aircrafts at Markudi undergoing evaluation.
We have evidence of helios (with FLIRS), aircrafts (combat & VIP jest) and APC’s being delivered.
Even Russia has publicly declared that they will be supplying us “chasis” helios. But of course you cannot pick up “chasis” helios of the shelf, that’s why we went to Belarus to purchase upgraded helios (inclusive of FLIR)
To bridge the gap while awaiting the Russian helios.
Only God knows how you came up with that conclusion.
http://www.punchng.com/news/colleagues-confirm-missing-pilots-death-friends-pay-tributes/
Unless the DHQ can come up with a different story it most definitely appears that the plane OF alpha jet NAF466 was being piloted by
Wing Commander Hedima, He is now presumed dead if his friends and family cannot get in contact with him
May his gallant soul rest in peace.
THE F.G. OF NIGERIA HAS A RESPONSIBILITY TO BUY AIR FORCE JETS FOR THE Nigerian AIR FORCE , THE WAR IS NOT GOING TO END IF THEY DO NOT DO SO.
GEJ THE AIR FORCE NEEDS FIGHTER JETS NOW, THE WAR WILL NOT BE OVER IF YOU DO NOT ACT IT WILL CONTINUE AND IT WILL BE PART OF YOUR LEGACY END THIS WAR BY SPENDING THE MONEY NOW
Okay. Posts have started disappearing again. Good.
I think the Defense Headquarters is deliberately withholding information on acquisition and operational plans because of this blog. Its no rocket science that our military establishment is amongst the most secretive in Africa, You do realise over one million people visit this blog everyday, amongst them are detractors and proponents. The Super Tucano should not even have been negotiated for in any case, we cannot keep retrogressing as a military heavy weight. Nigeria is a member of the UN security council and has by far the biggest economy in the world and its very existence is being threatened by the biggest terrorist group in Africa and one of the largest in the world. Why are we so addicted to cutting corners and buying cheap stuff. The lives of our service men and women depend on our government acquiring the necessary hardware to tackle this new kind of war. We should be talking F-16 or SU-30 and Submarines and precision guided munition
Gentlemen- last time I checked, this was supposed to be a defence blog. Could we please desist from posting “rumours” and “speculative conjectures cloaked as fact”.
@zachary999- as far back as April 2014 the CAS publicly announced that the Fed Govt had approved the acquisition of FIGHTER JETS and HELICOPTERS for the Airforce. In the last couple of days, russian defence industry officials have confirmed that a firm order for the supply of 40 helicopters (Mi-35 and Mi-171Sh variants) has been signed with the Nigerian Govt. Thus I am not sure where you got your confirmation as to the fact that no new jets were on order.
Oga Jimmy- I’ve read the punch article- a lot of things don’t add up- for instance the sorty took place on 11/09/2014, the plane was allegedly shot down the same day and the pilot in the video was executed the next day 12/09/2014- and BH WAITED FOR ABOUT 3 WEEKS BEFORE RELEASING THE VIDEO AND ONLY AFTER THE NIGERIAN GOVT HAD ANNOUNCED THE KILLING OF shekau no. 2? Please I would respectfully suggest that in this instance, we wait for the DHQ to give a definitive statement on the matter. Thank you.
Oga Y Muxh respect for your comments.I have waited for a comprehensive report on the fate of this wing commander and in tge classic case of how not to handle info the enemy has the imitative.His name is all over Facebook. Before I sign off I believe we have the new planes the lack of offensive action during this period is what is compounding my frustration. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
Oga Yagazie, well said, comments you made above are to be taken seriously.
This is where i think Nigeria should borrow a leaf from the Chinese. Give them no media attention, if Boko Haram wants to do a 2 part Series on Youtube fine, our media houses should be galvanized to support the war effort, our military officials should enforce a strict ” no comment” policy and instead focus on a final offensive. Terrorism cannot survive without the fear factor and that fear factor cannot be possible without the media houses.
jet went on a sucide mission.but y cant d troops on missionconduct a search and rescue?.and above all i think dis nigeria version of japanese sucide pilot was an order given from above.d ogas @ d top knw wot happend but never thought does idiots will bring it to lame light.d world is watching
Oga giles, I look from this angle. DHQ says the beheaded man is NOT a NAF pilot, let’s assume DHQ is telling a lie. Now your theory of suicide mission order from above, if you are given such order, will you obey? Kamikaze warfare is not part of Nigerian military doctrine.
Then NAF with all the shortage of jet fighters and experienced pilots, will order a whole wing commander to fly jet into Boko Haram column to kill 63 terrorists with a $5 million jet fighter and two experienced officers that cost maybe $1 million to train over the years.
So if this is the tactics, by next month there will be NO SINGLE unit of Alpha jet left in Nigeria after 10 Kamikaze suicide missions.
Can’t Nigerian spend that Alpha jet price of $5 million on 50 units of laser guided bombs and launch them from 5km altitude and wipe out 500 Boko Haram fighters instead of suicide mission that killed only 63 Bokos?
Nigerian army can get a used Russian T-90 tank for $4 million armed with ATGM missiles plus HE shells and impregnable composite armour that no weapon in Boko Haram arsenal can penetrate, drive it to that Boko territory, destroy whatever the Alpha jet wanted to hit, kill 500 Boko Haram men and drive safely back to base.
Now all the people on facebook spreading this story, about how this pilot spent his last minutes/hours, were they there inside the Alpha jet or inside the Boko Haram camp to interview him and get such vivid details of final mission end/crash and capture/execution details from the mouth of a missing pilot that has ZERO contact with NAF HQ or any Nigerian military man for 3 weeks? How did these NAF colleagues count the 63 dead terrorists that a missing pilot of a missing jet killed on a ‘suicide’ mission? Were these facebook people in the Boko Haram camp to count dead bodies and they themselves were immune to the explosion from the Alpha jet?
Even if NAF lied, I would rather be fooled by NAF than be fooled by Boko Haram.
Good questions.
To the best of my knowledge the only military aviation procurement announced has been the helicopters from the US and Russia yet we have already (in our minds) bought and deployed everything from Tucanos to Su27s to JF17s.
So why would the enemy wait 3 weeks to release the video?
Good questions again. What was happening in those 3 weeks?
What happened on Wednesday and what is happening this weekend?
There was always going to be a video, it should have shown the capture of Konduga and attack on Maiduguri.
But even though that has not happened they have turned a defeat into a victory.
The enemy is winning the media battle because they have to, we seem not to care. How hard is it to produce a photomontage of jubilant Nigerian soldiers? Even when Iraqi soldiers were being spanked by ISIs Iraqi TV was full of cockpit footage and soldiers dancing, same in Syria.
Small time we will cry BBC, CNN, AFP and how much they hate us.
Rather than dreaming about SU 27s, spaceships and nuclear weapons lets focus on simple things and simple questions.
How come the pilots do not have a transponder? Is there no radar coverage in that area and does military radar in Yola not reach that far?
What is our Search and Recue capability?
Do we have one? If not can we not develop a specialised capability with a Squadron of the NAF Regiment that can either be air or helidropped in to rescue pilots and secure crash sites.
Or this one is another American wonder we are going to spend weeks crying about?
An SAR capability is easy to develop, emergency beacons are cheap, cheaper than training a pilot. The 2 AWs currently due to be ferrying our wonderful VIPs would be perfect for this role.
All you need is 2 or 3 sticks of men with strong medical skills who can be dropped in to secure a site and evacuate a casualty.
Let me say it clearly we need to start talking like adults and stop fantasising about different shiny pieces of kit.
If Boko Haram is not pushed back into Cameroun by November/ December they have dry season to run around and wreak havoc.
Then we have the elections in February and we have completely run out of time because they will launch an offensive then and we will have nothing left to counter it.
SO forgive me if I am not falling for the American wonder distraction tactic, we need to start asking the right questions and asking them persistently
N.B.A.
OGA PECCAVI
i am going to eat humble pie and say what you have said repeatedly based on what is going on in ARMED FORCES /f.g. is what you predicted. I have done my patriotic duty and i have kept quiet…… and quiet and i have seethed at what is manifesting itself. This is not about procuring weapons this is not about the U.S. not giving us what we want, let me call it what it is.
We want to beg our way out of this war, we honestly do not , will not have a sense of urgency. No one country buys weapons from one single country, this is how warped our sense of belonging has gotten. A half semi illiterate mob with a few AAA GUNS has occupied 20 cities and we are still waiting , still begging for our f.g. to induce the army and the airforce to take offensive actions to wipe this scum of the face of the face of the earth Meanwhile the enemy waxes stronger not crucially on the battle field but in the media. Maybe if we get some bablawos / some high school drop out like tb joshua/ some prophet who will pray for 90 days then STRATEGIC TOWNS LIKE GWOZA WILL NOT BE IN THE HANDS OF BOKO HARAM and boko haram will surrender.
Words in print Nigeria is going to win this war it already will be since 2007 one of the longest campaigns in the NA history and will be AND WILL BE ONE OF THE MOST EXPENSIVE BECAUSE WE DO NOT WANT TO PAY THE REAL COST TO END THIS WAR.
Let us assume for hyperbolic sake our t-72 tanks are stuck Ukraine can we not go somewhere else , can we not buy weapons somewhere can we not mount any offensive actions to clear them out of ADAMAWA state when do the F.G GO ON THE OFFENSIVE?
When does the f.g take concrete decisive action to end this war. This is not about stampeding into Gwoza this is about deliberate , decisive well planned, well executed orders to take one town at a time and wipe out the scumbags who inherit this towns.
i have a question FOR FELLOW BLOGGERS how much is NIGERIA worth? is wrong to spend $10b to mortgaging our future to secure our own land form a bunch of scum bags to ensure that the future we are mortgaging we actually have one $100b? or is it $1tr.
WORDS IN PRINT This war is not going to end nicely everybody will have mud on their faces because the lack of a sense of urgency we are still buying utility helicopters for very important people, we are not looking to diversify so that if one of our suppliers runs into trouble we can go somewhere else
Where can we go to buy Tanks and IFVs in a hurry AND END THIS WAR
1. RUSSIA
2. ETHIOPIA
3. ALGERIA.
4. ANGOLA
5. BELARUS
6. PAKISTAN
7. INDIA
8. GERMANY
9.SERBIA
10.TURKEY
This is 10 countries that i have mentioned, i want to believe that a bloody civillian like myself who has a sense of urgency knows much less what is going on in the f.g. defence brain trust and i humble enough to acknowledge that however Gwoza has been in enemy hands for more than a month, 250+ girls are still being held in captivity AND IT JUST APPEARS FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSE A SENSE OF APATHY HAS SET IN.
i
Thanks Peccavi for saying it as it is.
N.B.A. stands for ” No beggars allowed”
Oga jimmy, I see your frustration as a patriot, but I think DHQ has fixed it’s mind on the big final offensive and prefers to wait for all needed equipment to arrive before they strike with full force everywhere. No amount of complaints will hurry them up.
Nigeria is paying the price of not building a powerful military in peace time, we did not learn from Sudan, Algeria, South Africa, Ethiopia, Uganda, we thought those countries are fools wasting money on large numbers of sophisticated weapons. When we saw terrorists take over Mali and the Malian army was complaining about lack of equipment leading to their defeat, Nigeria was busy waiting for her own turn to be overrun…Gwoza etc.
Our National leaders messed Nigeria up, and the shedding of the blood of 13,000 innocent Nigerian is only a part of the price we are paying, the list of agony is very long.
All we can do is to keep making recommendations and pray for victory that will come at a very expensive price.
lol Oga jimmi, its AMERICA’S fault.
It must be a cold day in hell !. spot on Augustine. This incomprehensible incompetence shows that %90 of Nigerian politicians and are stark illiterate, trust me this is not deliberate on their path, they are just clueless, empty heads. Its amazing someone like Buhari which represents everything that went wrong with Nigeria in its wasted 4 decades is contesting again in 2014, is this a country? 50 years on we are still recycling the same bunch of lootocrates. A country that puts 5 of the most advanced satellites in Space under 5 years cannot buy high tech equipments like 4th Gen jets because we have no pilots to fly them. Since independence our pilots have been trained to fly the Alphas and what ever bi-plane exist in our air force. The we spend a quarter of a billion dollars buying Chinese version Mig 21. It will take us at least a year and half or two to be able to train enough pilots to fly these advanced 4th Gen fighters, thats why we are buying helicopters in such a disproportionate amount. What we lack in air power we can more than make up for it in sheer size of amour but again, we seem to have people who dont even know what a T-72 is in authority. Weve been embarassed over and over again, now we are waiting to be embarrassed again.
I puzzles me (though I think DHQ knows best) that till date Gwoza and other communities are still occupied by BH. It seems like they rolled into Kodunga and decided to call it a day. I’m confused by the thinking of the top brass.
lol, trust me %80 of Nigerians do not know Gwoza is still occupied by Boko Haram, heck they dont even know where Gwoza is, save for Beegeagle none of us here will have a clue what the fuck is going on. Weird indeed.
Wing commander Chimda Stephen Hedima
Air force military school, Jos
Defense services Command and Staff College Bangladesh, USA etc
Apparently he came from a military family.
Some say his father was AVM steve Hedima deputy commandant NDA 2004; Commandant of NAFRC- Can’t confirm that one.
http://www.dscsc.mil.bd/index.php/graduate/overseas_member/17/Nigeria/30
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Naija-news/conversations/topics/3482
http://allafrica.com/stories/200503140359.html
Consistently his friends who lived with him in yola and kaduna as well as those who went to AFMS, jos with him have been making comments online.
He crashed his plane To save our lives
He lived & died A warrior’s code
Honor & sacrifice From beginning to end
Thank u God 4 Chimda Hedima.
~~~~@aliouibrahim92
In the face of certain death, this man did not flinch, nor did he beg those animals for his life.
A warrior’s warrior.
Nobody has a right to deny this brave warrior his due.
NOBODY.
#IAmChimdaHedima #VictoryForNigeria”
Wing commander Chimda Stephen Hedima
Air force military school, Jos
Defense services Command and Staff College Bangladesh, USA etc
Apparently he came from a military family.
Some say his father was AVM steve Hedima deputy commandant NDA 2004; Commandant of NAFRC- Can’t confirm that one.
Consistently his friends who lived with him in yola and kaduna as well as those who went to AFMS, jos with him have been making comments online.
He crashed his plane To save our lives
He lived & died A warrior’s code
Honor & sacrifice From beginning to end
Thank u God 4 Chimda Hedima.
~~~~@aliouibrahim92
In the face of certain death, this man did not flinch, nor did he beg those animals for his life.
A warrior’s warrior.
Nobody has a right to deny this brave warrior his due.
NOBODY.
#IAmChimdaHedima #VictoryForNigeria”
Sir Beegs, thanks for keeping up this blog, it continues to offer us the chance to rub minds with passionate people, irrespective of which stand they stand. May I take advantage of this to ask certain questions, based on what I have read on the net form various sources?
1. Does anybody know why the NAF is not giving status update with respect to the missing Alpha jet and her crew? Is it that the NAF brass hats are too ashamed to say the truth?
2. How many cities are certainly in the grips of Boko haram?
3. Why is NA and NAF not throwing in their full resources into this war again boko haram?
4. Since the FG and armed forces declared full scale war on Boko haram, why are we not seeing it in action?
in my own opinion, the resources of NA at the moment is sufficient to rout out boko haram, I clamour for retooling of ALL our armed forces, but for me that is with a view on the future, not for boko haram issues. The beheading of the pilot (either real or fake although I have reasons to believe it’s real) is another spite in the face of our armed forces.
Supposing the FG and armed forces wants to prosecute this war as it is with our resources and launching 5 offensives at the different locations simultaneously, with capability to launch medium range and close range combats, these can be deployed at each location at the same time and in this formation:
10 Vickers – 6 in front and 4 rear back
followed by
20 -Scorpion light tanks – 14 in front as second layer directly behind the vickers and 6 to do read guard with 4 vickers again
15 -Panhard AML
10 -ERC 90 Sagaie
8 -EE-9 Cascavel
20 -Otokar Cobra -5 of them to do rear with scorpion and
While our infantry are deployed on various IFV, MRAPs, APCs platforms like MOWAGs, landcruisers… all that we have to ferry 1000 infantry. There is strength in numbers and it’d take boko haram (even if they have the best jihadi training in the world) a hard time to stand and face 1000 riffle totting infantry men. Infantry are INFANTRY!
throwing in 400 men from artillery brigade and their tools to bolster the infantry and the artillery vehicles would spice it up.
With this kind of mix and good formation, there is no need to fight boko haram from the air only, NA can take the fight straight to boko haram and do close quarter fighting with them, Shelling locations as soon as they enter the 3km range and pressing with the advance till it becomes close quarter fighting (a few meters in between) After taking out all the hard targets, artillery/mortar, APCs and AAAs of boko haram, our infantry should dismount. There is a need to do a door to door, house to house fighting to take out anything carrying any weapon and or is in a combatant form.
If the military wants, the formation above can be deployed 5 fold -to prosecute this war at 5 fronts simultaneously- and that would still mean using just about half of these type of resources that NA has.
In support, let the NAF bring in the MIL. With what we have at the moment, 2 MI-35 can be deployed simultaneously with each formation. To soften very hard targets only during the day and be mostly used for night time ops. The NAF should introduce napalm into this war, it is very cheap to make and the effect is never forgotten, if a boko hara fighter experiences it and ever survives it, even if whatever deity he believes in appears to him and tell him to go and fight again, he will refuse. It;s high time for a cheap and brutal warfare on boko haram
These are resources we have and we do not need to do procurement for to deploy, so they can be deployed and effectively used immediately.
There is NOTHING in the arsenal of boko haram that will withstand the combination of these platforms with considering the fact most of these platforms field 90mm as their main gun. Boko haram has stolen a lot from our armoury, but have they stolen tanks? Do the have our MANPAD SAMS? Do they have Antitank missiles? To me, it is a lame excuse!
Since we do not clearly know which locations exactly are being occupied by boko haram, it’s difficult to tell where to start from. Whatever, the locations should be selected such that the different starting points of the assault slowly closes and converge as the military advances and they can fight to tighten a noose around boko haram. Take no prisoners of war except their commanders that should be captured, interrogated and sentenced to life time imprisonment without an opportunity for a parole.
Retooling to fight boko haram to me is a short sighted strategy and sounds lame, considering everything listed to be in the arsenal of NA and NAF, it is high time this fight comes to an end, no territory should be “hostile territory” in Nigeria when we have functional armed forces.
Lastly on Sambisa forest, why has the NA not stormed the place now? Does anyone remember the hostage scenario at the Algerian gas plant? Well, 40 workers dies anyway but ALL the terrorist were killed or captured. Which is better? The NA storming Sambisa to get the girls out or the girls being rapped to death and being forced to abort pregnancies one after the other? There are casualties in both cases, but with NA storming the place, they would send a message of force and control across to would be terrorist in future, this would save the image of NA that desperately needs redemption.
#IAmChimdaHedima
#VictoryForNigeria
Some persons on this blog remind me me of how our leader think which is out of reality. This is war, men would die. Why not tell d obvious truths at list the once lies about would make you look incompetent and stupid.
I meant leaders please
#IAmChimdaHedima
A huge sacrifice
# I am Chima Hedima
#Victory for Nigeria
# I Am Chimda Hadima
#Victory for Nigeria
I am very SAD!
R.IP. Wg Cdr Chimda Hadima
Show no mercy to all those savages.
I am very SAD!
R.IP. Wg Cdr Chimda Hedima
Show no mercy to all those savages.
Boots on the ground,enough pepper soup,disarm them so in their next life they not have tool to enjoy 44 + Virgins,flyboys,smoke those blood-suckers to HELL!!!!!!…
I am very SAD!
R.IP. Wg Cdr Chimda Hedima
Show no mercy to all those savages.
Boots on the ground,enough pepper soup,disarm them so that in their next life they will not have the tool to enjoy 44 + Virgins,flyboys,smoke those blood-suckers to HELL!!!!!!…
Apart from a verbal declaration of war. There should be an actual build up. This seems to be slow. Fighting is not all about acquisitions which could back fire once your troops are not motivated. We have examples of the NA gifting BH weapons at Gowoza except the videos we all saw where contrived and a movie. The Iraqs did worse in Mosul and today IS is strong and ponding their way to the Turkish boarder.
What we need to do is moltivate our troops and not give them a GCM for obivious protests against lack caused be graft
Oga Jimmy, humble pie not needed, al opinions are relevant.
Bu in my opinion we have all we need. Why do we need T 72s or BMPs to defeat an enemy with pick ups, and a few captured APCs? RPGs an AAA guns are sufficient
If we pool all the helis in the current inventory then we have more than enough.
If we are re equipping its all well and good but that it not the reason to not go on the offensive.
What is needed are well led and well trained men, a good logistics system and a good plan
Perfectly said oga peccavi that’s all we need. GOD BLESS NIGERIA
We’ll said
Well said
Why did NATO need satellites, strategic bombers, 4th gen jets, 100s of armoured vehicles, and 10,000s of thousands of troops to engage an enemy with pick ups, IEDs and machine guns?
Peccavi, thats not an enemy with pickup truck, they have a dozen or so Tanks, high calibre anti aircraft guns, RPG’s in the hundreds, IED’s, Mortars,Howitzers, and millions of dollars to buy what ever they want ,the only think they don’t have is long range artillery. Do you honestly think that a hand full of rag tagged thugs is what is keeping one of Africa’s biggest military in limbo? cmon you are not that naive are you?
You gave them howitzers?
They have seized a few bits and pieces, ‘yes’, but what about parts, maintenance,resupply? Syrian rebels seized a shit load of heavies, before long they dropped off the radar cos they were unsustainable. No ammo, technical knowledge etc.
BH are not yet close to the level of expertise, support during e.g Biafra yet not much is done.
Better weapons would help but then the despicable scum bastards were able to seize territories even with their far less inferior weapons. Bar the one or two anti aircraft, SUV’s and other heavies, they mostly wield assault rifles. On our side, we got arty pieces, tanks, IFV’s, manpower, financial might, yet we are still struggling to reclaim territories seized by bunch of scums with inferior numbers. Is it a case of poor superiors then,battle plans?
If Hamas were to fight stripped down Israeli soldiers today, who wants to wager the winner?
Abeg, if we can’t take back ours, how much more when an enemy with similar firepower, hardware and so comes along. Let’s not forget our previous clamours for hardwares was because we wanted a bulwark against external threats. Countries around us were uparming and getting stronger, it was not because of boko haram we were suddenly pursuing SU30s, JF17 etc
Conflagration in the ND would not see Aradu, Centenary chasing down creek militants in boats with outboard engines. We would have to use the same similarly configured boats to fight them. No?
Right now, BH has control of territories up to the border where we have no eyes, thank goodness, it’s not next to a waterway or sea lest we would have seen waves of ‘victor Bouts’ dropping off hundreds of ‘sophisticated’ hardwares to BH every week. Even at that, they may still have unfettered access to import arms,fighters as they wish.
Where is the concern?
#IAmChimdaHedima #VictoryForNigeria
He looked death in the eye and said “do your worst”. DHQ has no justification for denying such a brave soldier.
# I am Chima Hedima
#Victory for Nigeria
http://www.naij.com/300913-army-swore-vengeance-beheaded-pilot-issues-new-order.html
Don’t know how true is the news about the Cobra AH1
But is there something Cobra can do that our MiLs cannot do? Or will the Cobra fly itself now and fight because it’s a Cobra? I still believe that without any acquisition -as I earlier said above today- NA and NAF can prosecute the war againt Boko haram. I am beginning to believe the brass hats lack the political will and many of the commandants have enjoyed too many years of sitting in the office and drinking guilder at and eating fish at pepper soup joints that they have forgotten what it means to strategically lead, they have also lost their bravery alongside it.
I take this your statement as a betrayal. You don’t say things like this at war, it only encourages mutiny, I really don’t understand your new direction of thoughts and I regret ever recommending you as a blogger to watch.
Thank you Igbi. Just as it’s my opinion to make disparaging remarks against the approach of those steering the course of this fight against boko haram, the same way it is your opinion to do same to me, I will not take it personal. But please know that it’s my passion and loyalty that drives me to closely follow things with respect to our armed forces. Well, I will withdraw my opinion if you can provide a counter argument to my opinion with convincing evidences. It is bravery, strategy and true leadership that our fighting forces needs at this time to rout out boko haram, not just new weapons. While the NA needs to retool and modernise to position itself where it should be globally, the NA has enough in her armoury to KO boko haram right now if there is the right strategy and will, except if the equipment inventory listed to be in possession of NA is not true. Tell me if the quality of NA that saw action in Sierra Leone, Sudan and Liberia is the same quality that you see today. Have you sincerely asked yourself what went wrong? Did you read the address of Maj Gen Tobiah Minimah recently and what he said about recruitment in the NA? If some of our commandants have the same spirit as the pilots that people claimed waited with their plane till the last minute before bailing out just to inflict maximum damage on boko haram and one dearly paid with his life for it, do you think this war would be like it is?
This fight has taken an embarrassing turn and we need to tell ourselves the truth. What has the NA done differently in Konduga that brought them much vistory? How is that being sustained? I am quite upset at the way things are going at the NE front.
My dear young man. Feel free to air your views. Of they boot you off Beegeagle because of that at least you would have tried. This is the age of enlightenment and information. We either have a military or we don’t have. If we don’t have a good enough military we need to suggest all the necessary ‘very painful’ transformation. However the military is a command structure organization and is very difficult to self-reform but I want to say they are really trying but a lot of help can come outside from you and me. Things are going to hurt like hell in the next few weeks in terms of newspaper reports and other info.that we are going to be hearing but we will face it because it is our destiny to be a world power and once the lessons are learnt nothing on earth will stop Nigeria.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/10/bama-military-orders-arrest-general-running-bush-troops-fear-bharam/
Can someone really tell me what is happening in buni yadi..yobe state
There’s heavy fighting
Oga p,b Can someone provide a link. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://dailypost.ng/2014/10/04/breaking-boko-haram-soldiers-fierce-battle-buni-yadi-yobe/?&sa=U&ei=jEAyVOTuGZDtaO30gKgH&ved=0CDwQqQIwCg&usg=AFQjCNEDfdVJDd2o0p0AnYovlvPRj_JIzw
Bro nt only buni yadi but also in michika and madagali
The insurgents cannot sustain a long drawn out battle. We have almost infinite resources to clear these guys out compared to what they can throw back.
@cerberus89
Could it be the long awaited NA offensive has begun or BH have resumed theirs after the blimp at Konduga.
If there’s fighting in Madagali, then the offensive have begun. Madagali is too close to Gwoza – any activity in Madagali will instigate a BH reaction.
The fighting. In Buni Yadi could be defensive (safe guarding Damaturu), or it could be offensive.
Ola pls, i dont the top hierachy of the army deserves your statement. Many of the current officers from Colonels to Maj.Gens are the best pool of officers we have now. Many of them are battle hardened. The issue may be putting a round peg in a round hole. The main problem seems to be the junior ranks. From 2nd lieutnant to captain. The recuitment proceedures for officer cadets for both RC and SSC has been distorted such that all manner of people are taken not because they habe passion to serve their fatherland but because of the good welfare package the NA offers. Unfortunately it is war time and many of those officers are goofing on the battle field. The problem is not with our soldiers or NCOs, the problem lies with poor leadership from officers leading them. It is a pity that many young officers do not know of this blog nor other blogs where military issues are discussed. Naturally, a passion for the army will make you search for knowledge about it. I was opportuned to speak to a second lieutanant that who is in the infantry. I asked him if he has read any military books of late. He was taken aback. He said why should he? That he just wants to go for his courses, pass and get promoted as at when due. He hopes he doesnt get posted to the north east. I was flabbergasted. Last year, i faced the selection board in kaduna for the short service commission, many of the candidates complained if we were left standing in the sun for too long. Many though they were going for office jobs in the army, they didnt believe they will ever go to war. All they kept asking was how much a second lieutnant earned. I am actually scared that our junior officer cadre seems scared to fight. Now is the time to gain battle experience. We need to devise a structure that will ensure that only those with genuine interest in the NA make it to training. I am not yet in the army, but i consume any military literature i lay my hands on. The military is where i wanna be. I have tried twice without success. There are many people like me out there too. So these issues need to be looked into and a total overhaul carried out. Just finished reading the autobiography of GEN Norman H. Schwarzkopf, the commader of the allied forces in operation desert storm. An interesting read!
Oga COlonel NGR, If you aspire to be a junior officer there are other books to read, Platoon Leader, Young Officers Reading Club etc
It is good to educate yourself but a junior officer especially in the infantry needs to to fit, aggressive and disciplined.
Read as much as you can about current operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, read about South Africa and Rhodesian ops, a lot of it wont really gel until you do your courses and several exercises but its good learning.
The most important thing is to look after your men, do not eat, sleep, rest till they do. drill your NCOs, ensure they check the little things, make sure weapons are clean, men are on time, learn about their lives, issues and problems.
In term of entry ensure you are as fit s possible. Aim to run the 3.2km in at least 9.30-10 minutes practice your press ups and sit ups. Make sure you are well hydrated on thhe day of the tests. There are military aptitude tests on the internet, download and practice. On the day of selection be enthusiastic and smart but don’t do ITK.
It can be daunting but its easy once you are well prepared an relaxed
Good luck
True there are issues with the subaltern with many just seeing the military as a source of monthly income and a chance to see the world. Nevertheless there are some very fantastic officers, the main issue is the hope of my senior officers most who are ECOMOG veterans retiring into stupendous wealth and won’t mind doing anytin to achieve that even if lives of men are involved. Is it not strange there have never being any case of retired generals facing justice for corruption or how do you think retired generals seek elective offices immediately after retirement I guess u might think it’s their pension. Not until corruption is stemmed we will remain in one place.
First of all do not give up.
Second surround yourself with positive minded people.
Third regardless of your military background pray.
Fourth,get yourself in the best shape of your life train five days out of seven. Running ,lifting weights, do situps every day, do push ups every day in sets of 20 till you can do at least 100 of each.Fifth you are already doing is reading books, Gen Colin Powell on dealing with adversity is a good read. Last watch realistic movies about junior military officers.Ask your relatives in America to send you the dvd movie band of brothers by Tom Hanks and Steven Speilberg..The next interview process you go for,before you go ask one of your succesful relatives to do a practice interview with you, and stay away from those applicants who are saying negative things one of them could be a plant.
Colonel NGR, thanks for your opinions! I do really appreciate them and I largely agree with what you wrote here. I have history with the NA and NDA and I absolutely agree with issues on the selection process that you mentioned here.
This is one of the issues with prosecuting this fight at the moment. I hope the NA would go through a thorough and long term reform, not just in procurement and retooling but also in shaking up their hierarchy and sending home certain types of individuals while those who show bravery, intelligence and discipline are duly rewarded with the promotion they deserve.
WRT the top hierarchy, they are responsible for the affairs of the armed forces and they can chose to shake things up or bow to political pressure and allow this kind of rot to continue. Hopefully, with the current eye opening and embarrassing NE issue, they would decide that it’s time for doctrines at different levels for several armed forces related issues to change.
Just reading now that there are multiple engagements with insurgents at the NE, I am happy to read that, I hope it’s the beginning of the end to BH.
Long live the NA! long live NGA!
Colonel NGR, good spirit, keep that spirit up. forget about the negative mindset of some of the other candidates. this war is a turning point for the NA, just as 911 was for the US army.
before 911, most peeps joined the military simply for the benefits and paid education they can get from it. majority where not joining for combat, in fact, a lot of them chose MOS that would keep them far from the frontline. however, after 911, new intakes where more keen on combat and martial thinking than the other stringent benefits.
so i believe this war would make the NA leaner and tougher in the end.
wrt your SSC, i cant add more, ogas peccavi and jimmy, have dropped true words of wisdom. just keep up the cheering spirit even (most especially) in the face of adversity. your greatest weapon is your mindset. even if your legs refuse to move, or you are lacking sleep after exhaustive training, just keep the ‘ i can’ attitude, and it will see you through. try not to over do anything, be extremely observant, keep a sharp mind and stay focused. godspeed old sport.
Oga asorockweb, your question dey confuse me. Was NATO set up to fight the war in Afghanistan or to combat the Warsaw Pact nations. Their main effort is mechanised manoeuvre warfare on the North European plain not counter insurgency operations in Central Asia, thus the equipment you mention was bought and paid for for that reason.
The fact that the alliance deployed all those assts to Afghanistan was simply because tat was what they had to fight with.
In the end it didn’t bring victory.
Because for COIN you need to dominate the terrain, which means infantry, lots of it, helicopters, vehicles and fire upport. All of which we have
If you want to fall for this deception game of ‘the west refused to sell us equipment’ that’s fine.
Butt we are allowing ourselves to be distracted and I am sounding this warning for all to hear.
We have to complete the major part of this operation before December. Which means recapturing the lost territory. Before December ends we need to control the Mandaras and the area around Lake Chad.
If not we are fucked.
Because the elections will suck up all our combat strength and BH will attack like its going out of style.
This has nothing to do with American wonder, I will keep saying this till I’m hoarse. That couter offensive needs to have started yesterday
Dude, I was just stating the obvious. Heavy assets were moved, sometimes from as far away as 10,000 km, to engage a lightly armed enemy.
Canada didn’t want to use tanks initially, but eventually did.
Regarding the NA, they should feel free to use whatever assets that they deem necessary.
And I am not sure how “the west refused to sell us equipment” got into the conversation.
I do agree with you that we need enough troops to dominate the ground, I remember calling for 50,000 troops in January.
The NA got into a mess partly by under estimating the enemy, calling them “riff raffs”. I don’t want us to continue in that line of thought – under estimating the enemy.
Oga Peccavi, Again, I disagree with your position on equipment. Although the Nigerian army has improved on equipments over the past months, there isn’t a doubt the Military is still short on the requisite equipment to prosecute this insurgency. This is the fact.
1)I follow keenly AMISOM’s mission in somalia. I can see the sort of vehicles their forces (Ugandans) drive in, I haven’t seen even a single civilian Pick-up truck in front-line operations.
There are places we can and have deployed artillery pieces and any other heavy equipment, However in Towns with hundreds of civilians living in them. We can’t be firing artillery shells willy-nilly or any other heavy equipment for that matter.
2) Helicopters and ground attack fixed fighter aircrafts. I do not believe we need an air-superiority fighter at this time. Up until recently when we placed multiple orders for helicopters, we only had a handful, possibly 4 helicopters to cover an active insurgency zone 10 times the size of lagos state or the size of scotland and parts of ireland combined. Keep in mind helicopters at the same time were deployed in the middle-belt, Niger-delta, kano, kaduna and Abuja. So, Oga peccavi, how is this properly equipped?
3) serviceability : What is the actual state of our equipment, how many of our equipment we see on paper are in proper working state?
You keep saying we have all the equipment we need to prosecute this insurgency, however, this isn’t entirely true. The Facts on the ground do not support your argument.
I’m not a fan of speculating over potential procurements as the military is unpredictable, however we as a proper military with a 150 years history, require proper military equipments to prosecute this or any other War. We are facing a determined enemy, estimated at 25,000- 30,000 in numbers (un-confirmed estimates), who do not care whether they live or die. It is imperative the military high command equips the military to deal with this sort of I’m not a fan of speculating over potential procurements as the military is unpredictable, however we as a proper military with a 150 years history, require proper military equipments to prosecute this or any other War. We are facing a determined enemy, estimated at 25,000- 30,000 in numbers (un-confirmed estimates), who do not care whether they live or die. It is imperative the military high command equips the military to deal with this sort of I’m not a fan of speculating over potential procurements as the military is unpredictable, however we as a proper military with a 150 years history, require proper military equipments to prosecute this or any other War. We are facing a determined enemy, estimated at 25,000- 30,000 in numbers (un-confirmed estimates), who do not care whether they live or die. It is imperative the military high command equips the military to deal with this sort of I’m not a fan of speculating over potential procurements as the military is unpredictable, however we as a proper military with a 150 years history, require proper military equipments to prosecute this or any other War. We are facing a determined enemy, estimated at 25,000- 30,000 in numbers (un-confirmed estimates), who do not care whether they live or die. It is imperative the military high command equips the military to deal with this sort of enemy.
We require at-least 10 ISR planes, helicopters are already
Oga Peccavi, Again, I disagree with your position on equipment. Although the Nigerian army has improved on equipments over the past months, there isn’t a doubt the Military is still short on the requisite equipment to prosecute this insurgency. This is the fact.
1)I follow keenly AMISOM’s mission in somalia. I can see the sort of vehicles their forces (Ugandans) drive in, I haven’t seen even a single civilian Pick-up truck in front-line operations.
There are places we can and have deployed artillery pieces and any other heavy equipment, However in Towns with hundreds of civilians living in them. We can’t be firing artillery shells willy-nilly or any other heavy equipment for that matter.
2) Helicopters and ground attack fixed fighter aircrafts. I do not believe we need an air-superiority fighter at this time. Up until recently when we placed multiple orders for helicopters, we only had a handful, possibly 4 helicopters to cover an active insurgency zone 10 times the size of lagos state or the size of scotland and parts of ireland combined. Keep in mind helicopters at the same time were deployed in the middle-belt, Niger-delta, kano, kaduna and Abuja. So, Oga peccavi, how is this properly equipped?
3) serviceability : What is the actual state of our equipment, how many of our equipment we see on paper are in proper working state?
You keep saying we have all the equipment we need to prosecute this insurgency, however, this isn’t entirely true. The Facts on the ground do not support your argument.
I’m not a fan of speculating over potential procurements as the military is unpredictable, however we as a proper military with a 150 years history, require proper military equipments to prosecute this or any other War. We are facing a determined enemy, estimated at 25,000- 30,000 in numbers (un-confirmed estimates), who do not care whether they live or die. It is imperative the military high command equips the military to deal with this sort of enemy.
We require at-least 10 ISR planes, helicopters are already been taken care of, Ground attack aircrafts with proper targeting and night fighting capabilities. Most important of all is a properly kitted, equipped and transported Infantry man. Not troops in the same unit proliferating camo, men without basic webbing, or troops riding at the back of pick-up trucks, when we can have Troops in the IGIRIGI, South-African-Nigerian IKRI MRAP or the Proforce ACV.
NO, Our military isn’t yet properly equipped.
oga henry, its not equipment that is the problem. with what the army has currently, they can crush the miscreants in the NE. what they lack is the old elan of aggression and their past attitude of bravery.
don’t get me wrong, there are brave men in the army, more than the sabotage elements, however, the martial attitude that was once the picture perfect of the army is currently not grounded.
new weapons, and gadgets are good, but without the skilled aggression to go with it, we are going to be seeing more see-saw affairs upnorth.
like i have mentioned over and over prev, the army is leaning too much and depending unnecessarily on the air force. other than utility helos, the air force can sit out the campaign, or concentrate on air interdiction missions. relying too much on NAF’s CAS isn’t a long term solution to the present debacle of the NA.
mortars, artillery, UAVs (tactical, mini and micro), signals, intel, recce, and night fighting, these re enough to destroy this present vermin
yes, we should get new weapons, we do in fact need to recapitalize the three arms of the military, but these aren’t for fighting this rag tag group in the NE, it should be for deterrence against greater threats.
so we would welcome the multi-role 4G jets, submarines, LPDs, T-90s, but they should have our neighbours, their sponsors, the gulf of guinea, and other threats in operational strategy in our focus
Oga beeg, I hope you are ok. Not heard anything from you in a few days now.
Court martial for cowardice, deserting, incompetence etc should include army generals and all other officer ranks, trial judgement and names/photos of culprits should be published inn newspapers for all to see the men disgracing Nigeria on the battlefield.
The pre-war and early war stages of last year ; Nigerian army would not be able to defeat Boko Haram without new equipment that we cried for here, unless we want a pyrrhic victory where Nigeria will lose thousands of soldiers to kill hundreds of Boko Haram fighters. That is because most of the NA equipment you see on Wikipedia are NOT functioning, many damged, old, malfunctioning, and retired out of service long ago. The Nigerian army was just an AK-47, Browning, RPG, anc Cobra APC army. Artillery has limited use when terrorists are hiding inside our cities with civilians unless we want to commit mass murder of innocent men, women, and children.
Any attempt to use Nigerian AK-47 men and Cobra APC to fight Bokos armed with 23mm twin barrel cannon with 7km max range and 3km effect range, will lead to mass slaughter of our troops and battalions will be wiped out.
The problem is that Nigerian army doctrine refused to balance the firepower issue by getting 23mm cannon like the ZSU-23 mounted on Toyota 4×4 for our own troops, and hundreds of Nigerian soldiers have been slaughtered, the same way Mali’s army too collapsed and could not withstand the insurgents 23mm guns firepower and range. The chief of army staff acknowledged this in his last public statement, he knew why his soldiers were afraid and running….AK-47 with 300 meters effective range Vs 14.5mm AAA with 3,000 meters effective range. SUICIDAL !!!
USA/NATO/Russia do NOT go poorly armed to war with insurgents, the superpowers too go heavily armed to reduce casualties and avoid wasting their troops. Nigeria should not be an exception.
With the new current level of Nigerian equipment which now includes Automatic Grenade Launchers, Multiple Grenade Launchers, MRAPS, new APCs armed with high calibre cannon, new Shilka ZSU-23-4, etc I am of the opinion that IF THESE WEAPONS ARE TRULY PURCHASED IN VERY LARGE NUMBERS, Nigerian army can defeat Boko Haram today with good command/control, battlefield tactics, battle plans, battle theatre strategy, military intelligence, reconnaissance, game of bluff/military deception of the enemy, spy-covert tactics, leadership, bravery, determination, logistics, transportation, personal weapon handling, equipment operation training, communication, materials supply chain, all under the direct battlefield leadership of brave and competent officers from lieutenant to brigadier.
I have said it before, when these new weapons arrive, Nigerian army you will have NO MORE EXCUSE FOR FAILURE as your demands have been met, anyone who lets Nigeria down from then on should be prosecuted and if the law says so….executed.
Thank you and long live the Federal Republic Of Nigeria.
I think that at this point, Mr President should do the needful and overhaul the entire top brass of the Nigerian Armed Forces…The Military is subject to this Democratic institution, but that is not an excuse for the shameless politicization of the military..Just take a look at AMISOM forces..Do they have 4th Gen. Aircraft? What of tanks? Do they not employ the same T-55s(Ugandans) and Vickers MK3(The Kenyans) tanks the N.A has? Yet slowly but surely, the liberated Mogadishu, Kismayo, Belet Weyne and other strategic cities from the Al-Shabab..All with an examplary synergy between the Infantry and Armoured Divisions..With a force of about 10,000 men, they took the fight to the enemy and gained ground..Now, Somalia will be liberated before the end of the month..This is a feat even the mighty U.S could not do..It was an African problem that was dealt with by Africans themselves..We can sit here, decieve ourselves and argue with Are and Igbi, but let’s be honest with ourselves..the whole “The U.S is blocking our arms deals” is absurd to say the least..Why will Nigeria, despite its huge defence budget be struggling to acquire IFVs and standard infantry equipment? Take a look at AMISOM forces in Somalia..The Kenyans boast of M4 carbines, AGLs, Proper comms equipment and even handheld drones…The same goes for the Ugandans..Did they mount flimsy LMGs on their APCs? No they did not..Whats my point here? The Nigerian Armed Forces top brass is embarassing our military..That is the truth..If my comments will be hidden, so be it..While patriotic soldiers are dying daily due to substandard equipment, the NAF is busy acquiring VIP transport..how more sick can that be? Yet we watched idly as the DHQ denied its own pilot till they were shamelessly exposed on Social Media..A pilot who was loyal till the end..not flinching, not pleading for dear life..yet Maj. Gen Olukolade shamelessly said ” we are investigating the video” what rubbish..For close to 3 years now, we have been speculating on fighter jets to be acquired for the NAF..From the L15s, to the Super Tucanos, to the Kfirs, to the Su-30s, to the Su-27s, JF-17s, and what did we get? NOTHING! Only a corrupt military hides its acquistions from the public…quote me anywhere..You should visit Indian defence blogs..their level of patriotism and enthusiasm will make you weep for Nigeria..Yet we rigged a Trainer jet with rocket pods and sent it to face Insurgent AAAs..Madness..what about media outreach? The DHQ muzzled up SiriusBlack..the NL dude who was inflating patriotic sentiments even among the most hardline of people..Since then what has been done? NOTHING…so much for the “jumping General”..whatever that means..Someone somewhere has been pocketing funds at the DHQ…how else can you explain our SFs going for night patrols with torchlights!? Mr President, please kick these people out and get us REAL Generals who are not ignorant about basic military equipment and modern-day tactics..and sir, forget that clown of an Information Minister who called our paraplegic Air force the “most versatile in the World”…RIP Wing Commander Chimda Hedima…So sad that you died for a military that doesn’t give a fuck about sacrifice…Let them keep dishing out National Awards to thieves..Funny how Omotola, Aki and Pawpaw, and other fellow clowns got National awards and our soldiers who died bravely on the battlefied get nothing..Even NADCEL awards are dished out to top officers too…You have my National Award Sir..Sleep on Spartan.
Oga Tobey, as I have always said, hiding military procurement for normal run of the mill equipment helps no one.
It shouldn’t be a secret what MBTs the army is buying nor type of fighter jets etc.
But alas, we are where we are and the same backward thinking is being moved forward with in a manner of speaking.
@RKA, neither does needlessly speculating over what we have or might have salvage the situation.
Oga Henry, my point exactly. I have never needlessly speculated and any alleged Democracy in the World doesn’t have the need to hide procurement when it is blatantly obvious it gives a boost to front line personnel who know what is expected apart from what has been delivered belatedly. And it is Nigerian tax payers’ money as well so why shouldn’t Nigerians know what is being or has been procured?
You have seen on numerous threads on other forums the despair some military personnel are in because they believe they have been abandoned by the ogas, so why should they risk their lives?
Opposite attitudes can salvage the situation and greatly improve morale.
If you are not interested, it doesn’t mean others aren’t.
Military in Move to Retake Michika, Bazza
http://allafrica.com/stories/201410060691.html
Don’t know how reliable the “source” is.
I hope this report is accurate.
Somebody tell me this is a dream !
http://dailypost.ng/2014/10/06/south-africa-seizes-5-7million-another-nigerian-secret-arms-deal/
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@Augustine
That’s what you get when deals are done through middle men rather than country to county.
What’s the point mentioning Kenya and Uganda or SOMALIA? When you extol the EAST AFRICANS and say they did things even almighty America could not do you lose your credence as a defence blogger and as such should do proper reseach before posting your POV. A hand full of U.S pilot generally held down an entire CITY for hours before succumbing to an enemy with a 10 to 1 ratio numercal advantage. They left for political reason nd likely so. Boko Haram is not Al shahab, and if you do not appreciate the faCt that despite 5 years % 90 of Nigerian only hear of Boko Haram the way we hear of ISIS on television then I don’t know what to say to you.
MALI, CAR, IRAQ, UKRAINE, SYRIA all fell and he these militants in their capitals or vet close, here in Nigeria we talk of a few villages. Can Boko Haram overstretch itself and make a go for the CAPITAL or even Maiduguri? No. We started poorly BT we are adapting nd learnif. BOKO HARAM one sided reign of terror is over.
Augustine, it is reality nd our general war on terror is being used by SA to put Nigeria where she belongs. We need a fleet of 2 submarines capable of threatening their ports and upgrade our Frigates to carry Russian and Chinese missiles. NNS Thunder has a far greater endurance and range on one tank than any Vessel in the South African Navy.Not really needed in our potential military offensive in Cameroon the only wzy our military can remotely threaten South Africa is by our Navy. Numerically we are fairly ballanced, qualitatively and training wise we are decades behind South Africa.
Wish you luck in these projects sir.
Lol
Are….bad guy
I think that the FGN needs to take a stand on this SA thingy …not necessarily something diplomatic…something subtle…like applying some form of pressure on their businesses in Nigeria..some kind of warning…back off or…2) We need to as a matter of urgency start building up our Military, Military Industry and working on a comprehensive National and Foreign Security policy. As per BH i believe we have what we need to defeat them (from existing hardware to the ones just ordered) I believe the Military especially the Army and the Air-force need to up their game NOW….Enough of this push me i pull you…They should spare no one in the drive to end this insurgency….Oga Presido should also start welding the big stick to any senior officer who has been found wanting in the battle field….Questions should be asked of these officers…What if if Nigeria doesn’t have money to order state of the art hardware, cant our Generals come up with strategies to defend the Nation? If this was an emergency, something like another Nation invading us, would we be waiting for deliveries of Hardware or would we use what we have (improvise) to survive until we can get new hardware. The recent victory in Konduga is an example of using strategy to one’s advantage. It proves that IT CAN BE DONE!!! I for one do not believe that our Soldiers cannot match BH in the battle field….We would outclass them time after time in any situation…but Officers of the Military need to start taking there jobs serious….I am not referring to the NCO’s i am refering to the commanders….It shouldn’t be NCO’s taking shots at Generals, it should be the other way round. They should be commanding the men to confront BH or risk being shot by them. Thats how it should be. There is a kind of fight one would give an enemy that would make him loose the urge to tango with you ever again,,,even if both of u get bloodied in the end!!!
Thanks for comments on Military build up, Military Industry and National and Foreign Security Policy.
Thanks Oga peccavi. I learnt alot abot taking care of one’s troops from General Norman autobiography. At the selection board, i did well. But you know the quota system. I am currently reading the iran-iraqi war that involved lots of tank battles. I am not a soldier yet, but i have so much interest that military literature are the books that appeal to me. The next book i plan to read is General Colin powel’s autobiography. Thanks for your advice. I will apply again next year.
Ok Oga Asorockweb, you are stating the obvious but what does it have to do with the price of gari? If NATO went out to buy 4th gen jets, satellites etc to fight in Afghan it would make sense but they did not, they used what they already had much of which was not necessary. Yes MBTs were used, was that because they were a dire need or simply another way to make best use of what was already there? Ae you going to find any commander who will say thhat an MBT is the best platform in a COIN conflict wether in a rural or urban setting?
Oga Henry, my position on equipment is unequivocal We have all we need within the country to defeat this insurgency. Whether it is serviceable properly crewed or distributed is another point, but to defeat the insurgency we have appropriate weapons.
The follow on question is whether we are properly equiped for a future conventional or expeditionary conflict and the answet is a big, fat resounding NO.
But for the nsurgency agaisnt a light mobile force we need mobility and firepower. Protection yes in the form of protected mobility bu to win this war you have to take the fight to the enemy which mean going into the forests, swamps, hills and mountains where tanks, APCs and MRAPs are quite useless and exceptionally vulnerable.
Ugandan troops sue soft skin vehicles as do the KDF, however they are fighting a different foe on a different terrain, thus they are also using a lot of armour and MRAPs, this is due to the terrain and the heightened IED threat.
DO we need air superiority fighters? Yes, but not for this conflict, for this conflict we need Tucanos or Pucaras or AT6s. In essences, heavily armoured, relatively slow, heavily armed craft that can operate from rugh fields, cheap to fly and maintain with good range and stability. As per numbers, well how many helicopters did the UK have in Helmand? Do you think it was up to 10 or 15?
Let all the states donate their VIP helicopters for recce tasking or casevac, even without that we have enough, judiciously used. By judiciously used I mean build Forward Airbases, that can be rapidly occupied and used by Helicopters reducing the amount of time they need to fly to and from targets.
Serviceability goes back to leadership, doctrine and TTPs.
All the Beechcrafts we have bought the Gulfstreams etc could be converted to ISR, communication and flying command centres.
MRAPS will not go into the Mandaras and that’s where we need to go to win this.
As I have said this is not an anti procurement position, it is more a heads up that the problem is not procurement, it is leadership and structure.
Oga Peccavi, you may be a former NATO trooper, but I have a particular interest in Canada.
Canada bought tanks, specifically for their Afghan Ops. Before that, Canada actually leased Leopard tanks, specifically for the Afghan mission.
Here’s a quote from Canada’s defence ministry:
Canada’s DND:
“The heavily protected direct fire capability of a main battle tank is an invaluable tool in the arsenal of any military. The intensity of recent conflicts in Central Asia and the Middle East has shown western militaries that tanks provide protection that cannot be matched by more lightly armored wheeled vehicles… [Canada’s existing Leopard C2/1A5] tanks have also provided the Canadian Forces (CF) with the capability to travel to locations that would otherwise be inaccessible to wheeled light armoured vehicles, including Taliban defensive positions.”
All I am saying is that the NA should have the freedom to use whatever assets it deems necessary in the fight against Boko Hiram, sometimes, tanks are called for.
Personally, what I want is for the NA to rebuild it’s unit types based on doctrine and equipment:
Amphibious, Armoured, Recce, Mechanized Infantry, Motorized infantry, Artillery, Mobile Artillery, etc, etc,
Oga Peccavi, UPDF troops do not use soft-skin pick-up trucks for frontline operations. MRAPs are used by the UPDF for their operations in somalia, we’ve also seen this confirmation in their recent capture of Barawe.
It is reckless to continually transport nigerian troops in pick-up trucks when their is a clear danger of Ambushes. This is the fact. Nobody would climb up the mandaras using MRAPs, but you do not want a situation were troops cannot get to the A.O in the right state of mind to engage the enemy.
Oga peccavi we have all we need in paltry numbers. This isn’t good enough. The problems we face aren’t only leadership or tactical problems. With the right leadership and tactics, troops also need the right equipments to prosecute their operations.
If this isn’t the case, NATO would have sent troops armed with only rifles to engage the taliban.
Anybody wey carry 7.62mm AK-47 rifle and Otokar Cobra APC with 12.7mm gun to go fight enemy wey carry double barrel 23mm ZSU-23-2 cannon will come back home in a body bag, na him last battle him go fight so. Dem go commot him head with cannon shell before he even comes near.
Oga Henry, I said KDF, UPDF I have not seen in soft skin but for the record, no army much less an African one uses 100% protected mobility.
Second thing is we need to stop these comparisons. NATO in Afghanistan is not Nigeria in the NE, much like AMISOM in Somalia is not the same.
I start as ever by stating that my argument is not that we shouldn’t re equip or even saying APCs or MRAPs are not needed but always with the caveat that they are nott thee magic bullet that will solve the problem.
MRAPS are used in Afghanistan and Iraq because of the IED threat. The IED threat out there is on a level I cannot explain to you, it is all pervading and everywhere. It is not the same in the NE. There is an IED threat but it is not what is the main cause of our casualties.
Majority of the fighting in Afghanistan was to control the plains surrounding the towns and cities. This is replicated in Somalia. It is a flat country with limited mountain or wooded terrain and a high IED threat
SO yes there is an IED threat in NE Nigeria but BHs key weapon system is the rifle and machine gun. An APC will not stop an AAA weapon.
As I have said repeatedly the only way to defeat a light mobile enemy is to out manoeuvre them and bathem with similar mobility and superior firepower.
With mobility you can flank and fix them and then destroy them with direct and indirect fire weapons. We have AAA weapons we can mount on pickups, we have AGLs we can mount on pick ups, we have machine guns, we have mortars, we have artillery we have helicopters. All of this is already in country. Thus I will stat again we have all we need to beat BH we just need to reorganise and bring all these systems to bear.
In terms of rearmament we need to first ask the question as to what are we arming for. Whats our key threats? An intelligent way forward would be to identify these key threats, and maybe try and imagine Nigeria in 2025 and have a Nigerian Soldier 2025 programme to completely revamp the Nigerian Armd Forces in a comprehensive 10 year programme.
If not we will be in the situation of the US and UK armies now, wiith an entire generation of soldiers who think war is counter insurgency, with lots of kit we can no longer use again that is pointless for conventional war and having to reorient ourselves.
So if we are buying MBTs it should be for armoured manoeuvre warfare not for Boko HAra
The blame on our Generals is getting out of hand. Dont forget that these Generals can not achieve much without adequate funding from the political class. I know some Generals may have fucked up but i can tell you that the current branch chiefs are Generals who were involved in the past against boko haram and they did well. The chief of admin is GEN Garba Wahab, former GOC 1 DIV, he was in charge when boko haram was totally defeated in kaduna, the director of plans, Maj.Gen T.C UDE a combat Engineer was the one in charge of internal security in kaduna during the boko haram siege. He was in charge of almost 3000 troops, discovered lots of armouries and arms and sent the insurgents out of the state till he left. Maj.Gen illiyasu abbah, the military secretary was the former brigade commander in kano who commanded battles with the sect in kano before he left. I dont believe this Generals are not good enough, this three generals are well decorated and battle hardened. Their leadership is why we are seeing changes though the changes are very slow. I believe they have plans, the issue is whether the political class will back up these plans with the required funds.
I believe you mean Brig .Gen Illiyasu Abbah .of the Kano brigade who wiped boko haram out of Kano. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
You are being economical with truth but don’t worry you are doing your patriotic duty. Keep it up. You mentioned 3 or 4 good generals out of maybe 60 and we have to accept that as statistically significant indication that NA generals are good. I will just take your three and the current COAS as all we have for good generals, all the rest have to prove themselves. Also I just hope the army does not believe a lot of the undeserved compliments they are getting sometimes from people just trying to be patriotic.
Yes jimmy. He is now a Maj.Gen and is now the military secretary.
There are strong indications that the Nigerian troops have overrun Michika and Gulak in Madagali Local Government Areas of Adamawa State…..
……A source while speaking to our correspondent on phone said following the fierce fighting, the military are at the moment comfortably controlling Michika, which the insurgents seized on September 7, 2014…..
……The source said, “I can confirm to you authoritatively that the military are advancing towards Madagali.”….
…..The source who spoke from his mountainous hideout in Michika, noted that despite the military bombardment, the insurgents on Sunday night re-grouped at the Government Technical College, Michika with the intention of attacking the soldiers before they were dislodged and chased away…
…Another source from the area said Nigerian troops had earlier met with a stiff resistance from the insurgents as they advanced towards Gulak leading to the prolonged gun duel…
..He added that the insurgents who were in their thousands came through Uba and attacked the Nigeria troops who had already advanced into Michika, but were repelled back immediately…
Well done NA.
When they overrun Boko Haram all over Nigeria after 4 years of ding dong battle slap me I punch you, then I will say well done Nigerian army. For now, I am tired of this 4 year old Tom & Jerry cartoon war.
Judgement day begins all over Nigerian army formations. Hey sergeant, captain, brigadier, field marshal, if you mess up and let Nigeria down at any time and in any place in this Boko Haram war, we will prosecute you by court martial and if the law says so according to your offence, your prosecution will be followed by execution !
http://www.punchng.com/news/lt-col-15-others-to-face-trial-over-chibok-girls/
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Second time South Africa will swallow Nigeria’s hard earned millions of dollars as we try to buy their weapons or equipment.
Hey, what is the type of weapon-equipment Nigeria is desperate to buy from South Africa that we have to lose money twice? What equipment does South Africa produce that China or Russia cannot produce or sell to us off the shelf?
South African weapons are unnecessarily expensive, the AGL you buy for $50,000 in China, South Africa will sell same quality to your for $70,000. So what are we looking for to the point of showing the world that Nigeria is a lawless and corrupt nation of money launderers?
Now I smell a rat, is guess someone may be desperate to corruptly enrich himself from the billions of dallars President Jonathan released to the military and intelligence agencies to fight this Boko war?
Or else why is this ‘MYSTERY MAN’ desperate to buy war equipment from South Africa at Nigeria’s risk by using a ‘STRANGE AGENT-MIDDLE MAN’ to fly $9 million and $5 million in an aircraft against the laws of South Africa twice and lose the money twice ????
Can we have this man named and asked to explain his actions publicly please?
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/10/sabotage-army-col-10-officers-set-nigerian-tankers-ablaze-pave-way-boko-haram/#sthash.yEr08jzq.dpuf
Pls who knows a blog that is as good as this that is up to date cos this has not be updated in months,cos will still come back when new update starts