BVP-M2 SKCZ Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle.
PRAGUE, Jan. 30 (Xinhua)
Czech arms dealer Excalibur Group will sell weapons to Nigeria’s government forces for fighting with the militant group Boko Haram, local media reported on Friday.
Excalibur Group’s spokesman Andrej Cirtek confirmed the weapons include modernised Soviet-made tanks T-72 M1 and 16 other vehicles, armoured infantry fighting vehicles BVP and rocket launchers and the destination for those weapons is an African country, the Prague Post reported.
Czech Defence and Security Industry Association head Jiri Hynek confirmed that the destination is Nigeria. According to the report,the heavy arms come from redundant equipment of the armies of the former Warsaw Pact.
The arms are to be carried by a huge Antonov An-225 Mriya transport plane from the airport in Ostrava, north Moravia, Czech Republic. The aircraft is scheduled to make three flights to Africa,the first part of the arms will be sent there within a few days,according to the report.
BACKGROUNDER
T72M1 BATTLE TANK
http://www.army-guide.com/eng/product1625.html
BVP-M2 SKCZ ARMOURED INFANTRY FIGHTING VEHICLE
Beegeagle's Blog 
What make rocket launchers?.
Nice to know..its funny that its because elections are around the corner that all this last minut acquisitions for the military are taking place. What happened for the last 4 years? Anyway, the end justifies the means….
Sir beegs, have a look at this.
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/173593-nigerian-military-kills-large-number-boko-haram-terrorists-recovers-arms.html/attachment/troops-registering-targets-with-artillery-guns
Should we stop buying weapons because of elections?
Lets be careful about politicising the defence of Nigeria. It is a dangerous thing.
I’m not the one who politicized our defence…The government is. Don’t get me wrong..this is a great acquisition.
Old story from last year. The Premium Times weblink, I mean.
Ah..at least we do this one well. Old fashioned artillery with map, protactor and rough calculation sheets. Very soon we integrate the UAV choppers as spotters and we have something very few third world armies do properly.
@Tobey, and how did the government politicize our defense??
We need to be buying these tanks in hundreds. Its understandable that we need a few emergency ones now, but after this a solid plan needs to be made to considerably increase the reach and firepower of our army.
Money shouldn’t be the object. We need to spend very heavily to defend our rapidly growing economy, lest others see and exploit our weaknesses to steal the things we don’t value, as seems to be the case with boko haram.
Amen
That was the same question I asked myself, Are James. But we have many insiders dropping hints here all the time (remember the alert on the delivery of modernised BMP-2 IFVs? Those could have been BVP M80s!) and we can surmise as follows;
* the Czech-made RM-70 122mm MRLS is almost certainly coming to us
* at another level, those could be BM-27 220mm MRLS and BM-30 300mm MRLS which we are told have either been acquired or are coming to the inventory
Meanwhile, here is what is unfolding. We are either acquiring and/or modernising T72 tanks in Ukraine, Hungary and the Czech Republic simultaneously. To that extent, we appear to get T72A tanks from Hungary and modernise them to T72M1 in the Czech Republic. 58 T72A tanks are known to have been acquired in Hungary. These then get modernised to T72M1 tanks in the Czech Republic.
Concurrently, the NA are acquiring an unknown number of T72AV tanks direct from Ukraine in fulfilment of the overall requirement for modernised T72 tanks.
Oga Beegs,
Don’t you think that it is more likely that Xinhua mislabelled BMP-2s as BVP M80?
The reason I say that is because BVP M80 is from the former Yugoslavia and wasn’t widely exported. In contrast, the BMP-2 was/is widely used in former Warsaw pact countries and also a commercial success in the export market.
Just saying.
Correct. I have amended as “we see fit”. There is a direct BMP-2 upgrade that is made in the Czech Republic and for reasons which you deduced and for a NA finally buying NOW technology (eg BTR-4 IFVs and T72M1 tanks), it can only point to the acquisition of the very plucky BVP-M2 SKCZ Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle.
NOTE that the article stated “BVP” which could be either the M80A or the M2-SKCZ. NOTE also that elsewhere this week, we hinted at the possible delivery of modernised BMP-2s to the NA. This M2 which eliminates the shortcomings of the BMP-2 and is also Czech-made looks to be the only logical choice when juxtaposed beside the variables above.
Can somebody explain to me what Chadian troops are doing in Nigeria? Taking back the Town of Malam Fatori, the same town that saw the flight of Nigerian troops to Niger? I no understand o, does the Nigerian government acknowledge the presence of Chadian troops in Nigerian soil? If so why do we have defence pundits suggesting Cameroon and Chad should ”hold on to the territory they liberate, if this territory was important to Nigeria, they should had taken it back from BH instead of turning their back to it abandoning the population to the hands of evils men slaughtering children, women and men indiscriminately.”
The major issue people who can think have with this situation is that after the Baga withdrawal, the MNJTF was only existing in name only. So no Nigerian personnel actually participated in this one. Essentially we seem to have had a unit comprising of only Chadian troops beat back Boko Haram from the town and became the new occupier/conquerors of that Nigerian town. This is unbelievably traumatic and as I said only to people who are capable of thought can imagine the effect on the mentality of the citizens.
Coincidentally also about 500 ex NA soldiers from Baga (i say ex because I dont see them going back to the army) former ex colleagues of the Chadians in the MMJTF are probably milling about the division hq. as we speak waiting for what the army will do with them which to me should be long prison sentences. The thing no good. Make we talk true.
I like the way you guys are conveniently ignoring DHQ reporting that they bombarded the area for 2 days to allow Chadian Troops move in as part of the MNJTF It was a combined effort.
BTW, The British Army have set up 77 Brigade for Psych warfare and to counter social media propaganda/disrupt enemy communication. Something to bear in mind in this world we live in.
On wed .I specifically called for restraint because while the paranoia was in Hyper drive the NA. Artillery was busy,it is not a good thing to know that while your army is working some people are constantly thrashing it. Gentlemen the real war has already begun. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
Tobey, you really do not have to complain all the time now? They buy armed drones from the only source which will sell to us and you call them scrap metal. They buy tanks and you say IFVs. They have now gone for IFVs and you are calling it political gimmickry. Are you trying to engender inaction or you want the NA to remain emptyhanded?
Well, whether the weapon systems were acquired to score political points or to conduct a census, what does it matter?
Apologies, Oga Beegs..I just find it sad that we could have gotten some serious hardware for the military in the last 4 yrs than we have done..Political will was lacking.
@ Tobey
For each new kind of hardware you buy you must train personnel to use this new platforms, training takes months sometimes years. If paradventure tomorrow our wishes are granted and we purchase SU-27’s, Gripen Fighters or even Cobra gunships who is going to fly them?
Amen
Oga Beeg you were quoted in Business Insider.
http://www.businessinsider.com/it-looks-like-an-armed-chinese-made-drone-crashed-in-nigeria-2015-1
I am impressed with this acquisitions. i hope the Chinese UAV’s are truly here too. in between anyone knows where the record breaking, record holding 225 would touch down?. i really wanna catch a glimpse. victory to Nigeria!
Good to see more T-72 coming in, if we get the T-72M1 version, then we have a tank close to T-90 capability except for lack of composite armour, but systems and tech, it’s almost a T-90 tank.
Trying to verify the exact armour type that comes with our own tanks will lead to some confusion as composite elements are not easy to detect by eye balls and ERA has two types. NA will know what they got.
Why the choice of BVP M80 as IFV….I don’t know, maybe price, cheaper than BMP-2 maybe. Said to have better armour than BMP-2….but hey, NA engineers and mechanics will sweat o ! About 20 different types of armoured vehicles inside one army arsenal, chei, no be small maintenance work o !
There is no first class IFV readily available off the shelf I observe, every country hold tight to it’s own, so NA cannot get enough numbers of BTR-3 and BTR-4, so we are stuck with slower speed tracked IFVs of older generations that are in the market for off the shelf emergency buyers.
Well good procurement for urgent needs. When this war ends, NA needs to purge it’s arsenal and reduce the over-mixed bag of assorted stuff.
Meanwhile, we welcome the BVP IFV to NE Nigeria, time to kill Bokos aplenty !
Is Nigeria getting ATGMs with the IFVs?.
Here is how someone described the MASSIVELY UPGRADED BVP-M2 SKCZ Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle
Quote
The BVP-M2 SKCZ armor is even better than the Russsian BMP 3 and to top it all the BVP-M2 SKCZ is better armed and is (more) modern than all BMPs and it has protection for IED and mines. I would say India here is a chance to upgrade all your scrap BMP`s to a modern IFV.
http://www.snafu-solomon.blogspot.de/2013/05/bvp-m2-skcz-massively-upgraded-czech-bmp.html?m=1
END
We are already upgrading them.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Army-to-upgrade-entire-fleet-of-infantry-combat-vehicles/articleshow/19299109.cms
Also,
http://thumkar.blogspot.in/2014/10/indian-army-releases-rfi-for.html
http://www.excaliburarmy.com/en/military-vehicles
Gentlemen, if the NA got the BVP-M2 SKCZ Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle, I have to say that it is an absolutely impressive upgrade. It is not only an almost entirely new vehicle, it is so close to the BMP-3 at a vastly discounted price. It is possibly the most advanced derivative of a BMP-2 IFV, top quality at a modest price.
Reading up a bit about the T72M1 and its incorporation of some of the best features of the T90, I have to say that the negotiation and sale of the T72M1 tank and the BVP-M2 AIFV represent the best possible grab of modernised pre-owned equipment which ANY army anywhere cab hope for.
EXCALIBUR are doing something purposeful and qualitative for Nigeria. Really impressed.
Oga Beeg, I feel our Engineer Corps will do well to collaborate with Excalibur and convert some of our T-55s into the kind of veritable bulldozer shown here http://www.excaliburarmy.com/en/vt-55a.
This could also come in handy when its time to cross all those expected and unexpected rivers in the NorthEast AoR and any future AoR http://www.excaliburarmy.com/en/pms-81ers
Sorry there is the 2nd link corrected http://www.excaliburarmy.com/en/pms-815
http://worldoftanks.eu/en/news/85/meet-t72m4-cz/ I hope this is what we got and not just t72m1…..if not, we better start looking for a major upgrade, can’t be buying basic standard equipment anymore!!!!
These would represent some of the most comprehensive upgrades to the T72 we have seen. I wish we got this particular version as well or are planning to upgrade this level locally in the near future. However for for Boko Haram purposes all we need now in tanks are the numbers. Most of these upgrades are just unnecessary gold plating if you are not going against a mature armoured corps on the enemy side. For Boko Haram and or our immediate neighbours, the M4-CZ upgrades are just desirable they not necessary for now.
The first set of t72 tank we bought is much better than this scrap we bought!!!!
The ARMY GUIDE link provided above suggests that the M1 variant of T72 might even feature more advanced technologies than the well-protected AV variant which are in service.In places, the T72M1 was compared to the T90.
We almost certainly did not get M4CZ variant. Last I checked, it cost more than a T90S.
Then we bought scrap…..gen beeg!!!!
The t-72m1, is the export version of the first batch of the t72 tank…..not an upgrade
“MODERNISED” was prefixed somewhere in that report, Admiral Tim. Go through the report again.
Some Czech source says we got BMP IFV, another says BVP IFV. I am confused.
That is because the IFV is derived from the BMP-2 IFV. The BVP-M2 cannot be divorced from its roots.
That is because the IFV is derived from the BMP-2 IFV. The BVP-M2 cannot be divorced from its roots.
The IFV concern of EXCALIBUR is the BVP-M2. The connection I see here is that you have to acquire BMP-2 IFV first and then have them modernised to the BVP-M2 SKCZ IFV.
Thanks oga Beegs. Roger that.
Again, Agistinho, do not forget that in pre-partition Czechoslovakia, the BMP-1 and BMP-2 IFVs were license-produced as the BVP-1 and BVP-2.
So the BVP-2 IFV (i.e the Czechoslovak-made variant of BMP-2) is a combat vehicle which evolved into the very useful BVP-M2 SKCZ.
READ
quote
The BVP-M2 SKCZ infantry fighting vehicle was jointly developed by Czech and Slovak companies. It was first publicly revealed in 2013. It is an upgrade of the BVP-2 IFV, which is a license-produced version of the Soviet BMP-2.
end
Nigerian army has maximum of 7 units of BTR-4 IFV….reason why we are buying more IFVs.
I have always cautioned my dear Ogas who see photo of 5 units of equipment and say NA has all they need to win the war on a land mass the size of Great Britain. Until we know how many units purchased, let’s not imagine we have battalions of new equipment.
Even those automatic grenade launchers for infantry men, both AGL and MGL, we don’t know how few or many were bought.
T-72 tanks that came in last year were few, very few, reason you won’t see them in many places like Baga or an FOB, reason why more are coming from other procurement sources today.
We still need more equipment for a large battle theater. Tactics and retraining must follow or else we are just going to fumble and wobble. NA as you get the new weapons, also get the battle field tactics and be creative in thinking outside the box.
Insurgency is a game of wits and genius in combat.
“Nigerian army has maximum of 7 units of BTR-4 IFV” I couldn’t read passed this because it is obvious you are fiction writing.
Augustine. I do know the NA is made up of good officers. There is no way NA will purchase weapons without taking training and maintenance into consideration.
The truth is that, a few officers have goofed in this war, while others are doing well. To me, it is normal in a war situation. Whenever the insurgency end, i can assure you that there will be alot of changes in the NA especially in the fighting arms. The recruitment of SSC officers this year will show how far the army is ready to go to weed out desperate job seekers from those willing to pay the supreme price or this country.
I copy that Oga COLONEL
Oga colonel, why then weren’t there a lot of changes after NA’s set backs experienced in sierra leone.?
The. NA brass just buried their dead, and battles in secret.
No attempt to learn lessons.
Why did the diamond town of koidu fall ?
Because the perimeter defenses where shambolic, and the burkinabe and taylor backed RUF/AFRC came at NA with mortars and technicals.
Seems to me to be the same reasons why baga and monguno, especially. Monguno fell.
The mortars captured at baga were immediately used against NA troops in monguno.
Watchout they are coming to a town near you.
Folks NOT dug in well enough, to hold ground against a force with some tactics, and offensive prowess.
In the 20 years that separates both NA battles, the military world has moved onto HESCO barriers and defenses.
IT TAKES THE SWEAT OUT OF PERIMETER DEFENSES.
Yet NA today is still filling sand bags, and poorly at that.
Let’s study the outposts of the uk and the us marines in helmand province Afghanistan.
This is precisely what your military engineers are for.
NA didn’t. Start. Losing towns in the NE, it started about 20 yrs ago in kono, makeni and Freetown.
NA learned no lessons in the interim .
They put up the same zero information BS they are doing now.
I respectfully say BS, cause it is BS.
Correct.
The losses of Baga and monguno are shameful. However, we must not make light of the challenging situation facing 7th division. The truth is that Bornu has been all but cut off from the rest of the Nation. Thus forces located there are at a huge logistical disadvantage. Who knows if they even have sufficient ammo for a 2 hour firefight. Since we lack a strong helicopter force, my guess is that we really had no way of reinforcing and re-equiping Baga and Monguno.
Luckily Maiduguri the last outpost standing, is different in that it is served by an airport, thus supplies and manpower can be rushed in at short notice from all of the the Country.
This probably explains why our military acquiesed to the Chadians attacking our border towns. we currently lack the logistic ability to sustain a fight in those locations at this time, whereas Malamfatori for e.g. is just a few km from Ndjamena.
I guess this means the offensive has to come from Adamawa, hopefully the recapture of Michika is a sign that the offensive has at last rolled off.
When someone asked the CDS about securing the border towns against Boko Haram, Malam Fatori quickly came to mind as no candidate town for full garrisoning however the way the man answered you just knew no such plans existed or could be sustained in terms of logistics backup with the NAF resources we have. That town is almost practically in Niger Republic but should be a key border town against Boko Haram if we knew what we were doing. Running this war from Maiduguri is a key indicator of lack of seriousness.
*as a candidate town*
You have a super point there Oga doziex, solid point….
The HESCO legacy has been fortified by our defensive barriers and our work with the military. From a simple perimeter wall to a complex base infrastructure, HESCO products provide rapid expeditionary protection to personnel, equipment and critical assets in any terrain.
Applications include:
Perimeter security
Defensive barriers
Equipment revetments
Ammunition compounds
Personnel bunkers
Observation points
Guard posts
Ammunition and explosives stores
Contraband search areas
Highway checkpoints
Border crossing checkpoints
Protecting existing structures
Traffic management
Hostile vehicle mitigation
http://www.hesco.com/solutions/defend
Maybe we blame poor funding of our military and obsolete form of Nigerian military for such lack in our armed forces today, reason why Army barracks and bases fall to Bokos, and rampaging Bokos enter Air Force base to destroy our helicopters and jets parked on the ground !
Sometimes the military does not ask for the right equipment, sometimes the government refuses to buy the equipment asked for, saying there is no money….complex complications of Nigerian society that needs a cure.
Oga doziex, like a people say, one bad apple spoils the whole bunch.
The 30% or so (I have no statistics, but I look at our losses of territory and bases, deserters, mutineers, etc) officers/men of Nigerian army who are showing poor performance on battlefield, have almost obliterated the good image of say 70% officers/men who are doing well with the same level of weapons, equipment, and ammunition/ordnance.
The Damboa troops and commander, same for Maiduguri Garrison that has become impregnable, also others like, Damaturu troops, Balmo forest SF, etc, are also there keeping Nigerian army standards high, paying the supreme price with their lives, using their brains like Napoleon in battle….
Nigerian military is now a mix of 3 types of officers and men…the good, the bad, the ugly….maybe in ratio 70:25:5
I agree with you doziex. But they deserve another chance. I wanna believe that military rule hampered lots of changes that would have taken place. Early in democracy, the objective was to depoliticize the army. Nobody paid attention to the operation readiness of the military. The boko haram issue has reopened closed cases of the past. I believe certain changes will be implemented this time.
If we want our problems solved we need to stop blaming it on military rule. The children born when the military left have started getting married.
Post military rule, I want to agree that nobody really did pay any attention to operational readiness of the army but this was partly because they just did not know how to do that or what that entailed exactly. There is a competency issue behind everything. In any case at least they should have done more for the airforce. Any threat assessment easily throws that up as a weak area. So we had a situation where insurgency was growing, Libya was unravelling, Mali was exploding and all the MOD people employed to do these things for us were on their drab, routine 12noon to 3pm (not 9 to 5) civil service jobs. Nobody was looking out for barbarians at the gates. Nobody could even spell ‘barbarian’.
Oga Are James, it’s the common Nigerian behavioural epidemic, the sickness is endemic and systemic.
The blame circulates and percolates the whole national framework.
Careless FG, corrupt nation at all levels, incompetent staff at Ministry of Defense, year 1985 to 1999 students who joined army with hope of becoming military governor are now officers on the battlefield contrary to their dream of being state military governors eating turkey under cool air conditioner inside state house, year 2000 to 2010 students who joined army because banks, telecoms, oil and gas, blue chip manufacturing companies did not give them jobs….they hoped to be at Bonny Camp beating some bus conductor at under bridge Ozumba Mbadiwe avenue in khaki power show….same boys now find themselves inside Boko Haram combat zone in semi-desert facing bullets and mortar shells…..what do you think their performance will be?
http://dailytrust.com.ng/weekly/index.php/new-news/18921-chadian-aircraft-bomb-nigerian-town-in-anti-boko-haram-raid
Who is coordinating all this ? PMC hired by NSA and taking orders only from NSA who is supposed to be setting policy direction. Chad already advancing and doing sorties on our territory… 7 Div or DHQ ? Our citizens are so exposed and expect casualties both as they advance and in this bombings ! Where is chad going to stop ?
I think this operation should have continued as a joint one and not led by 7 div. you have a situation where the objectives of NAF and 7 Div are not aligned leading to wasteful bombing runs.
Who is identifying targets for the Chadian aircraft and who controls the airspace when they enter nigerian airspace ?
Shame dey all round and we have ourselves to blame for this mess…
The NSA is in ascendancy. It is clearly obvious. It is a cause for concern because of coordination but this guy is intelligent abeg and it also means the converse for the other parties involved …no apologies. There is a limit to what civilian leadership will take but I am sure they will ratchet up PMC involvement with more screw ups by the army. The man made the ‘coward’ statement deliberately. The only thing not support is foreigners bombing or doing unilateral action on Nigerian territory. This army is not the same one we used to cheer abeg. Some of them should come and join me in the agriculture business.
@zachary, I guess you didn’t get the memo saying you shouldn’t believe all you read. The paper you are quoting is dailytrust, a well known anti-government paper. If you base all your reasoning on its false claims then you can throw your conclusions because they are false. I really don’t know what it will take for all this habbit of trying to humiliate your own soldiers will stop. I am pleading with all of you, stop this rubbish !!
That same paper also claims that the Naira was trading at 205 to the dollar on the 24th January, which is a complete lie; so I would take anything they write on there with a grain of salt.
zachary9999
One thing Soldiers keep on harping on do not believe EVERYTHING you read in the NEWSPAPERS or ONLINE and especially ” Sahara reporters” end of quote.
Unconfirmed News is stating that Nigerian and Chadian troops have retaken Gwoza,Baga and Marte.
I’m not hearing anything about any Chadian participation.
Gwoza is not within the areas of operations covered under the Multinational Joint Task Force mandate or the AU mandate, so there’s no way there could have been any participation in the liberation of that particular town.
the AU mandate is the MNJTF.
yea just hope it’s for real
http://www.thescoopng.com/yes-soldiers-reclaim-gwoza-boko-haram/
Nigerian troops took those towns with help from ‘elements’ of MNJTF.
I don’t see how MNJTF could have played a part in Gwoza; the extreme north-east is where MNJTF is likely to operate.
No all we want in life that we get.
Gents do to others what you would have others do to you … that’s all I can say rite now.
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria
It seems as though michika has been captured.
http://www.punchng.com/news/military-confirms-sacking-boko-haram-from-michika/
Defence Headquarters on Friday confirmed that its troops had sacked the
terrorists, who had been occupying Michika and its environs in Adamawa for
more than four months.This was contained in a statement by the Director of
Defence Information, Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, in Abuja.
The statement said extensive mop-up operation and search for arms or
stranded terrorists and other casualties were ongoing.
It said assault on terrorists’ main positions was concluded on Thursday as
many of them died in the combat.
The statement added that troops, who sustained injuries in the operation, were
receiving medical attention.
“Other troops are continuing the pursuit of those who are on the run from the
town. Normalcy has been restored accordingly,’’ it said.
The statement also said Nigerian officers in key command positions of the
Multi-National Joint Task Force were in the process of accounting for their
actions.
It explained that the actions of the officers had led to the loss of weapons, men
and location in their sphere of responsibility in the mission area.
It added that the exercise was a normal military procedure in major operations
or after encounters.
not “captured”, the word is “liberated”. “Captured” means: in enemy hands.
Chai…once-mighty, that from an Ethiopian journalist. Well, how about that broadside for those who see defence procurement as anathema.
AFRICAN UNION AGREES TO SEND MULTINATIONAL FORCE OF 7,500 TO FIGHT BOKO HARAM
http://www.apnewsarchive.com/2015/African-Union-agrees-to-send-multinational-force-of-7-500-to-fight-Boko-Haram-in-Nigeria/id-8199f64eda1b475b873164943ec84e6d
http://news.yahoo.com/africa-agrees-send-7-500-troops-fight-boko-121533918.html, African nations have opened up a new international front in the war on terror. On Thursday, neighboring Chad sent a warplane and troops that drove the extremists out of a northeastern Nigeria border town in the first such act by foreign troops on Nigerian soil.
Chad’s victory, and the need for foreign troops, is an embarrassment to Nigeria’s once-mighty military, brought low by corruption and politics. The foreign intervention comes just two weeks before hotly contested national elections in which President Goodluck Jonathan is seeking another term.
Chergui said Chad’s operation against Boko Haram was a result of a bilateral arrangement between the Chad and Cameroon.
Does intelligence / information gathering principles teach of avoiding analysing information from certain source ? are we to play Nero and play the fiddle. Why are Nigerian troops not being mentioned, what is there MOD’s war PR /” Psycho War Unit” doing while the NA is being portrayed as incompetent.
,
Nigeria’s faltering response emboldens Boko Haram
Weak leadership and lack of coherent policy are hampering the military’s counterinsurgency strategy
January 31, 2015 2:00AM ET
by Nnamdi Obasi @NnamdiObasi
On Jan. 25 the Nigerian armed group Boko Haram launched a major offensive on Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, and two other towns. The attack, which left more than 200 combatants dead, was repulsed by the Nigerian military, but it shook the security of the government and people of Borno.
“This is the most serious attack yet,” Kashim Shettima, the governor of Borno, told reporters. “We faced a really existential threat.”
The attack on Maiduguri, the second since December 2013, underscores the grave challenge that Boko Haram poses to Nigeria and the country’s weak and slow response to this threat. The Nigerian government needs to review its faltering counterstrategy and strengthen the political, military and diplomatic elements crucial to reversing this dangerous tide.
The latest offensive is part of Boko Haram’s ongoing efforts to establish a caliphate in Nigeria and possibly beyond. The insurgents seized the town of Monguno and its large army barracks, the second military base captured this month, forcing 1,400 soldiers to seek cover in the bush.
The battle lines are unsteady, but Boko Haram now controls an estimated area of 30,000 square kilometers, including nearly half of Borno and parts of neighboring Adamawa and Yobe states. It is making frequent incursions into Cameroon and has threatened to expand attacks in Chad and Niger.
Boko Haram’s gains have cost Nigeria severely. Since 2010, the group’s attacks have caused more than 13,000 deaths, 60 percent of them in the last year. After its abduction of almost 300 Chibok schoolgirls last April, Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds more, forcing the men and boys to join its ranks and selling or sharing the girls and women as “wives” or sex slaves. The violence has displaced more than 1 million people, driving at least 170,000 into Niger, Chad and Cameroon. It is aggravating food shortages across the region: Three million people will be unable to meet their basic food needs by July 2015, according to USAID’s Famine Early Warning Systems Network.
The conflict is overshadowing national elections scheduled for Feb. 14 and 28. Widely viewed as inept at managing the insurgency, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and his ruling People’s Democratic Party have seen their support dwindle in the north and elsewhere across Nigeria. The opposition All Progressives Congress boasts a strong presence in the northeast. But the inability to hold elections in many high-risk areas of the region and large-scale displacements could cost the All Progressives Congress the election, provoking further disputes in an already tense and closely contested vote. The trading of blame for Boko Haram’s growth and atrocities on the campaign trail has polarized the country more deeply than at any other time since the civil war of from 1967 to 1970. In this highly fractured environment, the risk of postelection violence looms larger than at any other time since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.
Reversing Boko Haram’s gains requires bold and decisive political, military and diplomatic actions, particularly by Nigeria but also by international partners.
Three reasons explain Nigeria’s failure to contain Boko Haram.
First, weak political leadership. Jonathan’s advisers claim he has long been restrained in fighting Boko Haram because he considers it a domestic crisis, needing subtle management. In reality, however, the president was often poorly informed, never grasped the gravity of the threat and failed to provide consistent and coherent policy guidance to drive an effective counterinsurgency.
Second, weak security institutions. Authorities maintain that the military is handicapped on several fronts. It is not trained to fight an insurgency, is stretched thin by deployments in 32 of the country’s 36 states and a counterinsurgency theater that spans 150,000 square kilometers and lacks vehicles and helicopters to operate in the rugged terrain along the Nigeria-Cameroon border. All these are true, but the affliction runs deeper.
Corruption in procurement and administration, poor maintenance of acquired assets, human rights violations that alienate local support, low morale among troops demoralized by inadequate support and heavy casualties and sabotage by Boko Haram sympathizers have all undercut the military’s ability. Internal discontents have spiraled into mutinies. Sixty-six soldiers have been sentenced to death for mutiny and refusing orders to fight since September 2014. The desertion rate is high.
“Unfortunately, we have a lot of cowards … people who use every excuse in this world not to fight,” Nigeria’s national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki, said at a briefing in Chatham House in London on Jan. 23. His statement and admissions of other weaknesses in the army are an indictment of the government, which refuses to enact necessary security reforms, leaving a once formidable army a flawed fighting force.
Finally, Nigeria’s counterinsurgency strategy has been hobbled by regional mistrust and frequent disagreements. A multinational force agreed upon by Nigeria and its neighbors in July exists only on paper. Nigeria continues to insist on a force “under the auspices of the Lake Chad Basin Commission,” while neighboring countries prefer a force authorized by the United Nations or African Union. These disconnects need to be resolved immediately.
Reversing Boko Haram’s gains requires bold and decisive political, military and diplomatic actions, particularly by Nigeria but also by international partners. Politically, nothing can be expected right away, as Jonathan is currently preoccupied with a close election. Free and fair elections, producing credible outcomes, will be crucial in gaining support — both local and international — to counter the insurgency.
Military operations need to be strengthened, with more troops, better equipment and supplies as well as superior leadership. Tactics must shift from the current largely defensive posture to tougher operations to free communities and citizens held captive by the insurgents. The army must conduct more-discriminating operations with greater concern for protecting civilians, whose cooperation it greatly needs.
Ultimately, to prevent Boko Haram from becoming a regional threat, Nigeria must build trust and confidence with its neighbors. Besides, given local sensitivities about Western influence in this largely Muslim region, an international force is not an option. This does not mean the world should not help, but securing international assistance for any regional force requires that Nigeria and its neighbors act in concert.
Nnamdi Obasi is the Nigeria senior analyst for the International Crisis Group.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera America’s editorial policy.
Of course it had to be aljazeera to produce this trash. And which “unidentified source” told them the number of soldiers in Monguno ? And when are these funny “journalists” going to put it in their heads that the people in the north-east are being victimized by boko haram and that the Nigerian army is protecting the people of the north-east ? This talk is getting on my nerves. The people of Borno have made a civilian JTF to support the military in securing the lives of the same people of the north-east. It is just like helping a doctor save your life. yet you still have this guess monkey claiming “indiscriminate” actions. Why do the people keep running towards the military and away from boko haram then ? And ofcourse the author needed to add one or two accusations of corruption (ofcourse without proof), because that must be repeated time and over in order to serve the propaganda. I am tired of all this people who know nothing and keep pretending. Half of Borno in boko haram hands ? Is this author smoking coccain ? Aljazeera, always the same rubbish.
Our lack of transport Helicopter has cost us heavily. We are finding it difficult to hold remote areas where food water are ammo have to be shipped in. Our military engineers may need to create a remote airbase to hold the north-most corridor near the lake chad so as to bring in c130s and attack helicopters. The C130 brings in supplies while the Helios take it to remote areas as wells as defend them.
At the beginning of the afghan war,securing kandaha airport was priority as it allowed NATO to deploy apache and black hawks to remote bases ,and warthogs to much more distant areas.
Such a remote airbase should house the drone pilots to extend their reach to more parts of the northern border.
my 2 kobo.
Dear Sir,
The MALE drones and predators class armed drones are operated out major airfields Kandahar in Afghanistan and some as far out as Kuwait for Iraq, once above transition altitudes, the control was handed over to Pilots in Creech AFB in Nevada, where they are in close proximity to the decision takers in the chain of command, who permit engagement of acquired “bogies”. So there are two sides to the Sortie, Pilots at location who conduct manual / auto take offs and landing ( Line of sight procedures )and the tactical pilots at the 432nd Wing, AFB Creech take over via Satellite it is called “remote split operations”, I am sure if we can put the NigerSat to such use. that is the advantage of the long endurance Chinese drones which are engaged in offensive action and interdiction.
The chinese drones we have will do less than 250km distance back and forth , please correct me if I am wrong. I think they are not MALE, they are just battlefield drones which makes them useful for Maiduguri defence for instance but to use them say in the lake Chad area we are talking a mini runway of maybe 200 metres for each sector.
hearing reports that Gwoza has been recaptured. Waiting for more confirmation.
This is fantastic news. This is Boko harams stronghold in the northeast.
Looking like the big operation has begun…
Today, I bow my head in shame.
I never dreamt that a multinational force of any kind will be required to route a terrorist group like BH out of any part of my country.
‘They’ have will come against the un-walled city, they will invade the land divided by two rivers.
I watched the AU meeting this evening, and tears almost rolled down my face.We have traded our birthright, we have completely demystified our great country.
Chad is the one liberating our own towns for us; CHAD!
The largest economy in Africa, 170 million brilliant/creative people, the 8th largest exporter of petroleum in the world, with 33 untapped solid minerals.
Shame!
Sorry.
Eyahhhhh pele, sorry oh oga, take heart ehnn; even though your conjectures are totally warped, you have the right to be aggrieved, take as much time as you need to pull yourself together ehn, then get back on the horse, there is little space for sentiments and emotions in these times; as a nation, we might falter, but we remain resolute and committed. the greatest nations in history aren’t built from times of peace, merriment, and jollification, but from times of adversity, war, and existential threats, Nigeria too shall overcome. #VictoryForNigeria.
Oga Spirit, I respect your hustle sir.
I have been telling people to be restrained a little bit in their comments to no avail, it has been to thrash Nigeria for all their sins do they deserve it yes they do! however now is not the time.
OGA DOZIEX my brother from another mother you will live a long life being a thorn in my side, I did not put my head in the sand like an ostrich,
Confirmed child hood friend was confirming ARTILLERY shelling by the NA as we on Wednesday were busy going into hyper drive/ paranoia the area he was shelling I have a pretty good idea but I kept quiet as for those who keep thinking that The NA Soldiers are just sitting on their asses they are not , I am not going to argue anything further
The train detailing the offensive that we have prayed for has left the Station y”all welcome to hop on board or stay at the station that is an individual choice.
Let me say this about Gamboru/ Ngala/ Fotenskol North ( Nigeria side) Fotenskol North Cameroonian side. unless you want serious blue on blue like the Americans did in GULF1 AND GULF2 militarily you need someone shelling from the Cameroonian side and you need an artillery / spotter unit on the Nigerian side draw your conclusions, I beg before una argue make una go see Google earth unless Nigeria has 900,000 troops to cover the approximately 900 Square miles you are going to need help, let me chime in to this administration’s slow poke approach to buying attack HELICOPTERS AND Utility Transport Helicopters please buy the helicopters or else other countries will fly in theirs it is that simple.
Lastly Morale is high regardless of the terrible setbacks @ Baga and Monguno They are learning processes.NA will overcome.
OGA DOZIEX It appears based on the def MINISTER of South Africa our brothers are here , I honestly wish them the best of luck God’s speed.
God bless Nigeria
Amen.
You are very very wrong on the 900000 troop requirement for the AOR and using that to justify asking ‘inferior’ neighbours to fight our air battles. All the Chadian troops and Nigerian forces are still below 35000 I am sure so explain the math a little better to me.
You have access to some good information and continue to make very insightful contributions that we all ppreciate but don’t overdo the ” praise and worship” session.
The big gap we have especially is the airforce but I have never thought I would see the day foreign airforces would be conducting bombing operations in Nigeria. If you dwell on that fact alone, about ten illegalities jump at you from many sections of the Nigerian constitution and then even the MNJTF charter has clauses that I am sure does not include aggressive air ops.
What we have done is fallen into a trap and acquiesce to some globalists’ new definition of a nation state and the reduction in its power and oversight over its own geographical definition and boundaries. Very dangerous road, a permanent change akin to losing virginity, after these a few more indignities get piled on gradually until we are suddenly where you don’t want to be. Thank you for the info about the performance of the artillery corps but the Chadian combat aircraft bombings have been replicated again in another Nigeria n town and everything is beginning to look very stupid.
We told them to buy aircraft they have not, we told them to buy Helicopter they are taking their time unless our boys develop wings we cannot fully monitor a 900+ mile border spanning between chad,Cameroon, and Niger.I am used to eating big fat ugly frogs are you? T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
LOL.
Battlefield reports don’t come accurate in 24 hours, takes a few days for DHQ to give true and factual details. Facebook and freak gist and gossip websites are unreliable.
Gwoza, is far from Chad, it will be amazing if Chadian army are helping us in Gwoza, unless they crossed in from North Cameroon. If Chadian army travels so deep inside Nigeria to help us in Gwoza, we may employ them as our PMC then, so they can secure Abuja (Being sarcastic).
Whatever, me I have adjusted my national pride to current reality levels, many people just realize national pride now, I warned that since Cameroon was disarming Nigerian army or we were the ones disarming a whole battalion in combat maneuver and giving our weapons to Gendarme level of people to pack a whole Nigerian army battalion of officers and men inside classroom to sleep…our national pride was beginning to die slowly since that time…..
I don’t know who employed South African mercenaries into Nigeria, but if NSA did it, I won’t blame him, about 30% of Nigerian army was disappointing in battle, the NSA will get frustrated.
Why should he watch Nigeria collapse under his nose? If na you nko? You go wait make Boko kill 100,000 civilians before you hire PMC to re-train your army?
I believe the NSA is the best to handle the dirty PMC business. We need to vet them carefully for national security reasons, control the payments and even get a second opinion on the military’s performance from them…..yes, I believe hings are that bad.. Some one close to the Presidency should hold the contract and sign invoices and approve payments to the guys. The DHQ that let everybody down and made us go down this road should not be the ones handling the contractual requirements. Operationally the PMC personnel work under the Nigerian military but get paid through the NSA’ s office.
Pure and simple. The PMC thing is easy to stomach it is the foreign airforce bombing that is really bad.
If we have a 1,000 man NA garrison adequately equipped in each of the 66 Local Government Areas of NE battle theater, with enough numbers of the appropriate type of equipment, weapons, fuel, food, water, medicals, and ammunition/ordnance, mobile enough to drive/move around the LGA and well defended/fortified base that can resupply the front line troops, plus mandate not to ever leave their LGA in retreat or else get shot as deserters by DHQ…..WE WILL NOT BE IN THIS MESS, we will not lose any land or base, every town will always be contested even if no side wins for 7 days.
Means Boko Haram will NEVER hold any town captive, they will meet 24 hour resistance all the time everyday….AU will not be sending you forces, and Chad will not be saving you, PMC from Soweto will not be re-training you…
From your analysis, this will mean like 66,000 troops in the NE alone. Recall that some of these LGAs are bigger than the entire Lagos and cannot be held effectively by 1,000 men. Moreover this arrangement would need a well supported force of at least 50 solid choppers to maintain.
Finally even with this, BH can select a preferred target and concentrate 3,000 men to attack it, thus outnumbering the 1000 man garrison.
Long and short is no easy solutions.
Oga ozed, is any big war easy to solve?
Do you have any better solution than garrison of LGAs ?
With due respect to you sir, let us look at this together and see a way forward.
I always said if someone suggests a solution on this forum and we think it’s not okay, please sir, let us fell free to suggest a better solution, we cannot cancel an option when we have no replacement for it.
Garrison in an LGA is not spread over every inch of empty land, they hold towns and protect towns. the LGA will be grid mapped, and well planned for mobility.
You can garrison without NAF support, unless your army Generals are dullards in logistics, transport and resupply.
How do local traders in the north move from town to town, by British Airways?
Garrisons have been effective in Europe before aircraft was ever invented, even when there were no cars, horses take days or weeks to reinforce a well fortified garrision while the men hold out against invaders successfully.
1,000 soldier Nigerian army garrison with two T-72 tanks, IFVs, AGLs, MGLs, ATGMs, HMGs, artillery, mortars, Shilka AAA, plus enough ammunition/ordnance, radios, night vision, medicals, etc will defeat 3,000 Bokos…..
How does Boko toyotas 23mm kill an ERA armoured T-72 tank on rampage? Just few days ago, one single NA Shilka AAA in Monguno stopped Bokos from taking the town until the Shilka ran out of ammo and withdrew.
66,000 soldiers from a nation of 177 million people,,,,,hard to get ?
One reason Africa fails is that we always see impossibilities while the Europeans believe it’s possible to land a man on the moon, our own African forefathers saw it as mission impossible, no wonder we got slave traded across the sea and colonized by those who believe in problem solving instead of failing even before we ever made a first attempt.
Oga ozed, I know you get my drift, you are NOT annoying me, na my country’s problem dey worry me for head o ! No vex for my tone. Thanks
My Oga, even if we had soldiers stationed as you just recommended, my concern is logistics/resupply and CAS. That is why we need those new transport helicopters and attack helo escorts like yesterday oh. We really really really reeeeeeeeaaaally need to work on our Airforce.
Ogas,
I hope we will be disciplined enough not to distort fragments of news and reports.
I know some of us have this strong urge to “punish” the army for “disgracing Nigeria,” but I, and many people like me, rely on this blog for factual information and analysis.
So, let’s not over-hype snippets of information – there will be better clarity in a few days.
Just saying.
Guys,
Lets calm down a bit. The proposed force will come from the 5 West African countries (Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic), with each contributing a battalion with each contingent BASED IN ITS NATIONAL BORDERS. Command will be based in Chad.
A few observations:
1. These arrangements are logical really, more like an expanded MNJTF. If these arrangements had been made earlier, BH would not have morphed to the monster it currently is. Chad and Cameroon gave them the space to operate freely in their territories as we all know, till recently.
2. Be 100% sure France will be pulling the puppet strings in Chad, actually notice all those countries are Francophone and answer to papa France… and France will do what the West wants…
Finally, lets await “proper info from DHQ concerning the towns NA has reclaimed from BH.
Amen T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
@
Oga Augustine,
You have made progress; your garrison size has gone from 10 to 1000.
Haha, don’t lose your cool – just messing with you.
A year ago, I called for 50,000 troops in the NE by mid-year 2014.
We still need such numbers (be it 66,000 or 50,000)
What is good about the current geo-political environment in terms of Boko Haram is that Cameroun will no longer let them hibernate in the north of Cameroun. The same applies to Chad and Niger.
There’s an unknown though; if Chad harbours malice towards Nigeria, then, Chad will still let BH elements regroup in their territory. Call it their “strategic depth”.
If we have north of 50,000 troops in the North East, then we can visit every village and settlement every few weeks, maintain a presence in most of the Mandaras, patrol the roads, and still have enough forces to have strong FOBs. Once we have strong FOBs, they we can now use our helos and rotatory UAVs.
Gwoza, and the mountains around Gwoza needs a few thousand troops. The lake Chad region needs a few thousand troops. Also the Sambisia forest including south west Bornu state.
Let’s not continue with a situation were we are asking a few hundred men to defend a nation of 170 million.
Last time we kicked BH out of Nigeria about 1800 months ago, BH evacuated key personnel but left many of their camps intact. This made it easy for them to return and become effective very quickly.
We need enough personnel to discover all the camps, pacify communities that are BH friendly, and maintain a strong presence all over Bornu, even in small communities.
Once again, it’s time for leadership.
Oga asorockweb, my comments are never written in French language, yet you quote me wrongly most of the time.
My garrison last year was 10 to 15 men for each village with heavy firepower weapons and 20 minutes time frame for air borne reinforcement platoon to arrive and help them.
My garrison today is not per village, but per local government area 1,000 men with NO plans for any reinforcement because they are a large force.
Why do you mix up data like say na Latin language I dey write?
Last few days incident proved garrison will work, one single lone Nigerian army Shilka AAA gun stopped Boko Haram from taking Monguno town until the Shilka ammo finished and it withdrew, before that, it kept killing as many Bokos as showed up.
That is the wonders of a garrison is well structured.
Better don’t play games with matters of critical national survival, be cautious with your comments. Lives are at stake, national survival is at stake !
“… 20 minutes time frame for air borne reinforcement platoon to arrive and help them”
But, Oga, you must know that the above statement is impossible. Even for the US Army, with all their wealth and expertise, it will be difficult.
Let’s leave dis ting.
@asorockweb, please grow up and show us on this blog that you earned your engineering degree that you claim, or you studied engineering without mathematics?
A Hind helicopter speeds well over 300 km/h, it will cruise speed not even max, and takes 20 minutes to travel from 100km away as reinforcement with troops and also with cannon and rockets as air power close combat support…..two jobs at the same time !
Stop misleading Nigerians with your egoistic issues, you argue without thinking, get yourself trapped in error, feel embarrassed when proved wrong, too proud and arrogant to apologize, too selfish to accept you are wrong….
I wonder what Nigeria will be if you are our president…
At war time,the one thing you can’t trust is the press. Everybody who has been to a war zone will tell you that. When a country is at war, generally the citizens listen only to their soldiers, certainly not any foreign media. Let the foreigners keep having fun telling us how we are going to die, let us rather not listen to them and focus on what the military tells us. When we have delt with the terrorists then we will make fun of these same media. They did exactly the same thing to algeria and look at how algeria is right now. You will also notice that most algerians don’t believe any word coming from foreign press. Being gullible is exposing you guys to propaganda.
On another matter, I doubt that the same south africans who refused to sell us weapons and who keep telling our common partners that they should not invest in our country have any interest in helping Nigeria, so whatever a so called minister of south africa said, don’t take it as truth. I maintain that Nigeria will not employ any PMC and that Nigeria doesn’t need any PMC.
That’s why DHQ ‘ S PR dept. needs to step up its game. Even if it means embedding trusted journalists with frontline troops, it must be done. All these secrecy of theirs ain’t helping matters and foreign press houses will capitalise on that to spew trash, even if they’re not on ground. Hell, even Novorussian troops and the Cameroonians a doing a far better job than us in Eastern Ukraine and Northern Cameroun battlefields.
The difference between a boy and a man is that the man controles his emotions. The biy keeps making outbursts.
During the Civil, the Nigerian press did a great job, both the print and war report films, A lady Journalist ( then Named Agnes Oguniya) was embedded with the 3rd Marine Commandos, in full fatigue and also in the line of fire. Has the MOD invited any Nigerian Media people to embedded with the troops, at least a lot of our nes media are on Cable net work. . If you can’t tell your story other people would tell it for you they want, that is war.
EXACTLY!!!!! Well said, my Oga.
ROSCOE CHIPPED IN….
A failure to learn from the past will ensure the same mistakes are made. I think we all made the assumption that the bases fell because the men were unwilling to face a determined enemy, their base preparations may simply have been abysmal.
Basic defensive maneuvers were something even civilians took for granted that the Nigerian Army is/was capable of, seems that the history say not the case.
The fall of Baga will haunt the NA for a long time to come. Painful questions concerning leadership and the ability of defending the base for an extended period of time will have to be answered.Baga was not supposed to fall.The expectation was that it had enough ammo,men and equipment to last for a long ,long time. The brigade command position given to Brig Kuti was regarded as a prestigious position whatever be the reasons for the fall of Baga will have to investigated so that a situation like this should not happen again. The NA has to understand failure to destroy equipment@baga means the equipment was used against them in the battle of Maiduguri,this is not news the NA knows all this how they go about implementing these changes will be telling. Maj Gen Adeoshun the GOC of 7 div is highly regarded and will have his hands full,hopefully he will be the GOC that will turn this ship around in the right direction. God bless Nigeria Amen. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
FLASH: Maiduguri is under attack!
Here we go again. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
Our leaders left us in this mess.Imagine we are importing Tanks and weapons we need for the war when this boys are at our backyard.
Failure is from all sides.All our past leaders who didnt think of equipping the Army.
This country needs serious leadership.
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/176067-breaking-maiduguri-under-fresh-boko-haram-attack.html
There was intelligence report of the BH build up leading to this attack….am sure the men there would have been well prepared.
Anyone listening to the media and judging from such reports when it’s not verified by the military is only been a agent of propaganda.
this war is 100% Nigerian. I can authoritatively confirm that to you all. other countries involved are either fighting from the border or MJNTF positions/areas. The airforce bombing by Chad was along the border areas.
Secondly, I read here someone saying we surrendered to Cameroon during a tatacial maneuver. Well, let me correct that impression now.
yes we surrendered because, while the Nigerian soldiers were chasing the terrorist, we wanted to maneuver them in a U-shape so as to capture them in a circle and eliminate them but a fraction of the troops fell into the border area (we have no fence dividing US from Cameroon).
Meanwhile the Cameroonian army was already alerted that the terrorist group were operating along the border…..the Cameroon army were already stationed in preparedness….
So while part of the Nigerian army fell into the Cameroonian side, they met the Cameroonian army. The Cameroonian army could not diffeeinaiate if the army was that of the Nigerian army or the terrorist (as the terrorist are known to wear the Nigerian army uniform) So in other not to cause a bloody issue btw both armies, the Nigerian amry had to surrender to prove that they were the friendly force.
Maiduguri is under hot attack right now……
Thanks.
PLs this is a serious forum, stop making things up, the idea behind this blog is to convey the truth, I mean the hard truth , hoping that High authority would read and adjust. it is normal that the Nigerian troops who have found them self in foreign territory should yield to the other nations army as a signing of none aggression that might lead to hostilities and a diplomatic nightmare. that is not a surrender, you surrender if their were hostilities between both side. If you are not able to discern reality from false information, you should be just reading not writing, most people on this blogs are”elite” in what they do .
How many of the information passed so far have been way out.?. This burying heads in the sand is what lead us to this sorry state, after all the advance the experienced gained in the S.L and Liberia. This was also published in a response to Western media.
not only in nigeria this was blamed on the sri lankan troops as well the western media was just reporting only about civillian casualties and giving false estimated figures such as 100,000 civillians deaths for the past 30 years of the war… Just see u can get the idea right?
Oga Williams, the Chadian army that has entered Nigerian territory, why did they not surrender their weapons to Nigerian army so we don’t mistake them for Boko Haram?
Chadian soldiers and vehicles look more like Boko Haram than saying Nigerian army fully kitted with body armour and name tags ID, speaking Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Efik now look like Boko Haram…..or Bokos speak all those west, east and delta languages? And does Boko have 480 soldiers all fully and neatly kitted in NA uniforms with body armour and IDs plus radios and NVG etc….?
Oga…..?
“Oga Williams, the Chadian army that has entered Nigerian territory, why did they not surrender their weapons to Nigerian army so we don’t mistake them for Boko Haram?” is that the new strategy you want the MNJTF to be using ?
Inspiring tweets from the front line;
Tweets
Tweets & replies
Photos & videos
Maina Kachallah @am280mag · 8m 8 minutes ago
Can I recieve three happy cheers for our gallant soldiers and their support team?
0 replies 7 retweets 1 favorite
Maina Kachallah @am280mag · 31m 31 minutes ago
As I said “when push comes to shove people opt for the living”. Let their umbrellas and brooms fly. The ghost of BORNO will haunt them.
0 replies 7 retweets 1 favorite
Maina Kachallah @am280mag · 33m 33 minutes ago
THE ‘NOT-ON-GROUND-MEDIA’ will begin their absentee coverage of Maiduguri skirmish in their offices.
0 replies 19 retweets 0 favorites
Maina Kachallah @am280mag · 35m 35 minutes ago
At last no more ground shuddering thumps, no glass shattering booms. Maiduguri secured.
0 replies 18 retweets 2 favorites
Maina Kachallah @am280mag · 42m 42 minutes ago
The silence is really gratifying.
0 replies 4 retweets 0 favorites
Maina Kachallah @am280mag · 47m 47 minutes ago
REMEMBER OUR BOYS ARE OSCAR, no matter the negative potrayal.
0 replies 9 retweets 1 favorite
Maina Kachallah @am280mag · 49m 49 minutes ago
Jubilant CTJF brandishing DANE GUNS, MACHETTE, NAIL STUDDED CLUBS…arriving in their popular sky blue vans.
0 replies 15 retweets 3 favorites
Maina Kachallah @am280mag · 52m 52 minutes ago
The fight has receeded, the shelling too. Remnants pursued. Mop-up on going. Calm within Maiduguri. I saw children immitating the skirmish.
0 replies 43 retweets 1 favorite
Maina Kachallah @am280mag · 1h 1 hour ago
SHOULD THIS BE THE END FOR US, SO BE IT. I AM A PROUD NIGERIAN. I’VE SEEN THE GOOD NIGERIA, THE BAD NIGERIA, AND SEEING THE UGLY NIGERIA.
0 replies 63 retweets 11 favorites
Maina Kachallah @am280mag · 1h 1 hour ago
All abled bodied youth have joined the fight. The attack is from east, west, south…everywhere.
0 replies 38 retweets 0 favorites
Maina Kachallah @am280mag · 1h 1 hour ago
You cry: not for fear, not for fear of death. You cry for seing women and the toddlers scurrying from flying bullets, cowering from booms.
0 replies 31 retweets 4 favorites
Maina Kachallah @am280mag · 2h 2 hours ago
Exhausted…indoors…praying for our gallant boys.
0 replies 14 retweets 1 favorite
Maina Kachallah @am280mag · 2h 2 hours ago
The latest information says the attack is from all sites!!!
0 replies 15 retweets 0 favorites
God bless Nigeria all the days of her life.Amen. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
Our hearts are with you guys, please show these bastards why the Nigerian Infantry is respected worldwide.
TBH has proven that they are not human, kill them as you would kill snakes and scorpions.
Maiduguri must not fall.
Nigeria is under attack from ChadIan aircrafts and troops without proper , and approval from the DHS yet we pretend it’s not happening and instead we focus so G on irrelevant topics when the house is on fire. This is unbelievably. Do we wait till ChadIan troops launch daring attacks on Abuja to embarass us before we know the shot has hit the fan? I am dissapointed to say the least.
hear ur self.u no even shame uttering does venomous word.n who told Nigeria is under attack. pls wot we need is constructive statements
@oje, Here he goes again, the guy who confuses nigerian soldiers and malian soldiers and preaches for the spreading and watching of boko haram propaganda. If you are disapointed then Nigeria must be doing something good. Stop hiding behind falsehood, what dissapoints you is that boko hharam is being slaughtered by Nigerian troops.
Oga Oje, I respect your hustle sir.
Chad is a front-line state, hence based on agreements with Nigeria and Cameroon has the corporation of said stakeholders to rout areram elements in and around our collective borders. Under attack? honestly i don’t understand the rationale for such language, but to each his own sha. Just be rest assured that such hysteria and propaganda will not work here, Nigeria needs allies, amongst many other things to substantively win this war, neither Chad nor Cameroon is our enemy, we will not be bamboozled, the enemy is areram, simple arithmetic.
Maina Kachallah @am280mag · 5m5 minutes ago
Information filtering in to Maiduguri says that BH routed from Mafa.
http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/sunday/index.php/news/19505-chadian-forces-fighting-boko-haram-with-less-sophisticated-weapons
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/176086-calm-returns-maiduguri-soldiers-civilian-jtf-foil-boko-haram-attack.html
@Oga oje, there’s something called “Multinational Joint Task Force” (MJTF) and we have, on this blog, complained severally that it seemingly only existed on paper. Now it appears to have come to life, in full graphic details I dare add, but you seem angry that it has. mcshegz has expatiated sufficiently.
Gentlemen, there is nothing to get unduly worked up about. The 7,500-man force is going to be made up of troops drawn only from those countries which share terrestrial frontiers with Nigeria. These are Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin.
And that is what it should be. We campaigned for that and it was what the NSA stated in London the other day. We do not need military tourists with a plethora of unclear agendas coming to our neighbourhood.
The AU mandate for the force is predicated on the FACT that the neighbourhood is made up of both ECCAS and ECOWAS states alike, some being in Central Africa and others in West Africa and as such, the expanded MNJTF could not be mandated by a single sub-regional grouping ala ECCAS in the Central African Republic or ECOWAS in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau.
I lived in britain long enough to know it will be a biased report.The only thing they might highlight is the good work there own people are doing.The good thing however is that events on the ground may quickly make this an outdated doc. God bless Nigeria. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
Gentlemen officers, everything dey roll well well now, we thank God. Abeg make the ogas at DHQ rev up the media campaign too. Our fighting boys and girls need to be inspired by positive reporting while our citizens need to be further mobilized. For instance, a friendly, global wire service like Xhinua will do a great job and distribute content worldwide. Russia Today (RT) and CCTV will do likewise. Let’s see our fighter jets take off, let’s see our tanks open fire, let’s see BH decimated / captured etc.
Gentlemen, I just have to digress a little because I consider it important. BBC just showed a film report of the capture of Kobane by Peshmarga fighters, following the withdrawal of IS. The whole town has been flattened by what the station itself agreed were ‘coalition airstrikes.’ It looked like Gaza after Israel ‘strolled’ through. No talk of civilian casualties o! Secondly, images of Peshmarga fighters were shown and clearly, there are children amongst them. The BBC reporter chose to say they are ‘young fighters,’ avoiding the use of the word ‘children.’ The assumption was that we the viewers are stupid and can’t tell the difference if we saw children! If this was Nigeria’s north-east, we would have been told of how our military flattened civilian areas and massacred scores of civilians! Or how CJTF is made up of under-age children. This is bold face propagandist reportage!
Two years ago no body here would have even contemplated the possibility of foreign troops on NIGERIAN SOIL AND BE HAPPY about it. This is a wound on the NAIJA psyche itself. Better this war ends before it escalates into god knows what…
http://rbth.co.uk/news/2015/02/20/contract_for_licensed_assembly_of_200_t-90_tanks_in_algeria_signed_43883.html