American writer Biodun Ladepo described
the strategies how presidential candidate of the opposition All
Progressives Congress (APC) General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) could defeat Boko Haram insurgency if wins February polls.
It should be noted that writer underlines in his article on SaharaReporters that he is not sharing in any exact plan by Buhari to fight Boko Haram. Mr. Ladepo also noted that President Goodluck Jonathan could have done the same thing, except that he lacked credibility with the rank and file Nigerian troops and foreign leaders that could help.
1. General Buhari will ask presidents of neighbouring countries for help:
”Upon assuming office in May this year, General Muhammadu Buhari will place a call to the President of Niger Republic – Mahamadou Issoufou – and explain to him that Nigeria intends to escalate hostilities with Boko Haram and all other terrorists who have been using Niger as launching pad to attack Nigeria.
He will tell Issoufou to expect a high-power delegation of Nigerian military and foreign relations experts within a couple of days. He will tell (not ask) Issoufou that, as a fellow non-radical, true Muslim, his full support for the impending military actions is non-negotiable.
Buhari will also place a call to the Chadian President – Idriss Deby – and relay a similar message to him. He will praise Deby for his 1984 courageous defeat of pro-Libyan forces in eastern Chad. He will pander to the camaraderie and es spirit de corps they both share as former military members and conclude by telling Deby (not asking him) to fully support the on-coming onslaught on the Boko Haram fighters who use Lake Chad and its environs as safe havens to which they run after attacking Nigeria.
Finally, Buhari will call the Cameroonian President – Paul Biya – and relay to him the same discussion he had had with Issoufou and Deby. Buhari will remind Biya of the favor Nigeria did his country under Obasanjo when, in June 2006, it ceded the Bakassi peninsula to him under the Greentree Agreement. Obasanjo took a lot of flak for that at home while Biya scored big for his country. Buhari will remind him it is time to return the favor. Again, Buhari will tell (yes, tell…not ask) Biya to fully support Nigeria in its up-coming escalation of hostilities with Boko Haram terrorists who have been launching attacks on Nigeria from the Cameroonian western border area.”
For Washington and London, Buhari will ask for technical assistance in areas of intelligence – Imagery and Signal. Nigeria needs real-time satellite coverage of the conflict areas – the Nigerian sector as well as the Nigerien, Cameroonian and Chadian sectors.
“Beyond Imagery and Signal intelligence, Nigeria needs Human Intelligence. Human Intelligence is simply “snitching” on people and reporting it to government. This, however, is a long-term process that may not be very helpful for the immediate need of crushing Boko Haram. It behooves the Buhari administration to revamp the Directorate of Military Intelligence, National Security Organization, Directorate of State Security and similar organizations that have failed to contribute significantly to unearthing sponsors and foot soldiers of Boko Haram.
“Buhari will seek the support of America and Britain in supplying all sorts of arms and ammunition to Nigeria – light and heavy weapon systems. Of course, Nigeria will pay for these…these are not aids items…these are going to be business deals. But these would be conscientious business deals.
To the CDS: “I know you have a list of weapons you have requested and did not receive before I was elected; those are now on their way and should reach us in about 30 days. You need to update that list to reflect what your needs might be after you have heard my expectations of you today. I leave the operational details to you as I do not want to micro-manage your operations. But I promised our international partners an overwhelming but quick sets of operations. That means you should use every available man and woman under your authority. It means you should employ every weapon in your armory. It means you should call up all the training our men and women have undertaken. I do not need an army unit sitting idly in Lagos, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Enugu, Ilorin, Calabar or any other part of Nigeria while the northeast burns. Overwhelming force means if Boko Haram sends 50 fighters forward, we should meet them with 50,000 fighters. If they come to us, we should meet them head-long. If they don’t come to us, we should go to them. If they come with AK-47s, we should come with fighter jets, attack helicopters, indirect artillery fires, 50mm guns, full and semi-automatic weapons, shoulder-fired grenade launchers, hand grenades, AK-47s, pistols, knives and razor blades. If they are comfortable fighting us in the morning, we will fight them all day and all night, depriving them of rest and recuperation. We should attack them frontally and we should conduct ambushes and raids. We should set booby traps for them and we should conduct sabotage attacks on their fortifications. We will overwhelm them with “shock and awe” so they don’t ever think of coming back. I want all fingers on all triggers. Remember, some of the fights will be unconventional, needing guerilla warfare tactics. We will have to fight them in the streets of some of our towns and in the crevices of some of our villages. We should do so with overwhelming force. We want this to serve as deterrence to future terrorists. When we go through these villages, all possible escape routes should be blocked and every single house is searched. Those terrorists who surrender, we should capture and send immediately to the rear for interrogations. And those who wish to keep fighting, we should send to their Maker with dispatch and without mercy. With Imagery Intelligence and Signal Intelligence support from our allies, you should strive to always conduct intelligence-driven, full spectrum operations. Try to not send your force into any “blind” situation. At the very minimum, you should have credible Human Intelligence about the target before setting off. We should not maltreat the people we are trying to protect, but we should not send a piecemeal force to take any target. Remember that we have to hold the places we have cleared to prevent the enemy from coming back and surprising us from the rear as we move forward. I know you are not a soldier, let alone an infantry man, but you wear those stars for a reason. You should be able to sit the COAS down and have him show you his plans, which should be along the lines of what I just explained, incorporating the COA’s plan for air support in every major operation. If any of your service chiefs are confused about anything and need me to set them straight, have them give you their resignation letters and you pass those on to the Minister. There is no room for mediocrity and arm-chair generalship in this government. I expect you to form no more than three rotations of troops in and out of battle in case this thing takes a year or more; although if we use overwhelming force, it shouldn’t last longer than two months. Go ahead and psychologically prepare your troops for the long haul so that if the conflict ends sooner, they will be pleasantly surprised. You may now leave. Save whatever questions you have for the Minister. I won’t take too long with him. He will join you outside shortly. Thank you for your service to our nation.”
Once the CDS leaves, Buhari says to the Minister: “I have gotten the assurances from both the Senate leader and the Speaker of the House that my extra-ordinary request for funds to prosecute this war will be approved quickly. I will make sure you get what you need to fight this war. But you need to make sure these weapons and other equipment get to the units and to the soldiers. While the military guys are doing their own thing, you need to go through that ministry and fish out those who have been diverting funds and materiel meant for our military. There should be no sacred cows. Any person you suspect should be immediately transferred out of Abuja pending the outcome of investigations. You must project the image of a no-nonsense, incorruptible Minister. You don’t have to be brash or rude or dictatorial. But you have to be proactive, firm and fair. If you do the due diligence over every issue before bringing your recommendations to me, you will have my support. Our loyalty should be to the troops. Make sure every single soldier, whether deployed to the northeast or not, is not owed his salary for a single day. Make sure no soldier pays for his own uniforms. Make sure no soldier pays for his own medical expenses…deployed or not. Make sure all casualties we sustain are treated with dignity and respect; that the families left behind are catered for, especially the spouses and children. Make sure the deployed soldiers’ deployment bonuses are paid on time. By the way, I have approved your recommendation for increase in the salaries of our military personnel. Those in the ranks of army Corporal through Captain will get 100% increase. Majors and Lieutenant Colonels will get a 50% increase. Colonel through Major General will get 30% increase and Lieutenant General and General and Field Marshall (if we ever get one in the army) will get 10%. The same is true for the equivalent of these ranks in the Air Force and the Navy. Deployment bonuses will be 30% of basic salaries for everybody. All pay increases take effect immediately. I want you to inform the CDS before you go on national TV to make the announcement today. If I didn’t tell you before your appointment, let me reiterate this: I want you and the CDS to work together like brothers. Your relationship should go beyond the office. He should be able to predict you and you should know what he wants before he even makes the request. Although I have made him subordinate to you, do not abuse your office or rub this in his face. Treat him with dignity and respect. He has earned his rank and has sacrificed a lot for this country. And I have confidence in him otherwise I would have replaced him. I do not want unnecessary acrimony. That does not mean you should be intimidated by the uniform or the gun. But your disagreement with him should be civil and about what is best for the military. I do not want to hear about any petty, self-aggrandizement quarrels. If I have to help run your ministry, it means I do not need you.”
It should be noted that writer underlines in his article on SaharaReporters that he is not sharing in any exact plan by Buhari to fight Boko Haram. Mr. Ladepo also noted that President Goodluck Jonathan could have done the same thing, except that he lacked credibility with the rank and file Nigerian troops and foreign leaders that could help.
1. General Buhari will ask presidents of neighbouring countries for help:
”Upon assuming office in May this year, General Muhammadu Buhari will place a call to the President of Niger Republic – Mahamadou Issoufou – and explain to him that Nigeria intends to escalate hostilities with Boko Haram and all other terrorists who have been using Niger as launching pad to attack Nigeria.
He will tell Issoufou to expect a high-power delegation of Nigerian military and foreign relations experts within a couple of days. He will tell (not ask) Issoufou that, as a fellow non-radical, true Muslim, his full support for the impending military actions is non-negotiable.
Buhari will also place a call to the Chadian President – Idriss Deby – and relay a similar message to him. He will praise Deby for his 1984 courageous defeat of pro-Libyan forces in eastern Chad. He will pander to the camaraderie and es spirit de corps they both share as former military members and conclude by telling Deby (not asking him) to fully support the on-coming onslaught on the Boko Haram fighters who use Lake Chad and its environs as safe havens to which they run after attacking Nigeria.
Finally, Buhari will call the Cameroonian President – Paul Biya – and relay to him the same discussion he had had with Issoufou and Deby. Buhari will remind Biya of the favor Nigeria did his country under Obasanjo when, in June 2006, it ceded the Bakassi peninsula to him under the Greentree Agreement. Obasanjo took a lot of flak for that at home while Biya scored big for his country. Buhari will remind him it is time to return the favor. Again, Buhari will tell (yes, tell…not ask) Biya to fully support Nigeria in its up-coming escalation of hostilities with Boko Haram terrorists who have been launching attacks on Nigeria from the Cameroonian western border area.”
- Buhari will cordon off a section of the northeast:
- Buhari will invite the French, British and American ambassadors to Aso Rock
For Washington and London, Buhari will ask for technical assistance in areas of intelligence – Imagery and Signal. Nigeria needs real-time satellite coverage of the conflict areas – the Nigerian sector as well as the Nigerien, Cameroonian and Chadian sectors.
“Beyond Imagery and Signal intelligence, Nigeria needs Human Intelligence. Human Intelligence is simply “snitching” on people and reporting it to government. This, however, is a long-term process that may not be very helpful for the immediate need of crushing Boko Haram. It behooves the Buhari administration to revamp the Directorate of Military Intelligence, National Security Organization, Directorate of State Security and similar organizations that have failed to contribute significantly to unearthing sponsors and foot soldiers of Boko Haram.
“Buhari will seek the support of America and Britain in supplying all sorts of arms and ammunition to Nigeria – light and heavy weapon systems. Of course, Nigeria will pay for these…these are not aids items…these are going to be business deals. But these would be conscientious business deals.
- Buhari will ask Minster of Defense and the CDS to report him directly
- Buhari will ask to dispose COAS and CAS and to give soldiers properly ammunition, weapons and medical treatment
To the CDS: “I know you have a list of weapons you have requested and did not receive before I was elected; those are now on their way and should reach us in about 30 days. You need to update that list to reflect what your needs might be after you have heard my expectations of you today. I leave the operational details to you as I do not want to micro-manage your operations. But I promised our international partners an overwhelming but quick sets of operations. That means you should use every available man and woman under your authority. It means you should employ every weapon in your armory. It means you should call up all the training our men and women have undertaken. I do not need an army unit sitting idly in Lagos, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Enugu, Ilorin, Calabar or any other part of Nigeria while the northeast burns. Overwhelming force means if Boko Haram sends 50 fighters forward, we should meet them with 50,000 fighters. If they come to us, we should meet them head-long. If they don’t come to us, we should go to them. If they come with AK-47s, we should come with fighter jets, attack helicopters, indirect artillery fires, 50mm guns, full and semi-automatic weapons, shoulder-fired grenade launchers, hand grenades, AK-47s, pistols, knives and razor blades. If they are comfortable fighting us in the morning, we will fight them all day and all night, depriving them of rest and recuperation. We should attack them frontally and we should conduct ambushes and raids. We should set booby traps for them and we should conduct sabotage attacks on their fortifications. We will overwhelm them with “shock and awe” so they don’t ever think of coming back. I want all fingers on all triggers. Remember, some of the fights will be unconventional, needing guerilla warfare tactics. We will have to fight them in the streets of some of our towns and in the crevices of some of our villages. We should do so with overwhelming force. We want this to serve as deterrence to future terrorists. When we go through these villages, all possible escape routes should be blocked and every single house is searched. Those terrorists who surrender, we should capture and send immediately to the rear for interrogations. And those who wish to keep fighting, we should send to their Maker with dispatch and without mercy. With Imagery Intelligence and Signal Intelligence support from our allies, you should strive to always conduct intelligence-driven, full spectrum operations. Try to not send your force into any “blind” situation. At the very minimum, you should have credible Human Intelligence about the target before setting off. We should not maltreat the people we are trying to protect, but we should not send a piecemeal force to take any target. Remember that we have to hold the places we have cleared to prevent the enemy from coming back and surprising us from the rear as we move forward. I know you are not a soldier, let alone an infantry man, but you wear those stars for a reason. You should be able to sit the COAS down and have him show you his plans, which should be along the lines of what I just explained, incorporating the COA’s plan for air support in every major operation. If any of your service chiefs are confused about anything and need me to set them straight, have them give you their resignation letters and you pass those on to the Minister. There is no room for mediocrity and arm-chair generalship in this government. I expect you to form no more than three rotations of troops in and out of battle in case this thing takes a year or more; although if we use overwhelming force, it shouldn’t last longer than two months. Go ahead and psychologically prepare your troops for the long haul so that if the conflict ends sooner, they will be pleasantly surprised. You may now leave. Save whatever questions you have for the Minister. I won’t take too long with him. He will join you outside shortly. Thank you for your service to our nation.”
Once the CDS leaves, Buhari says to the Minister: “I have gotten the assurances from both the Senate leader and the Speaker of the House that my extra-ordinary request for funds to prosecute this war will be approved quickly. I will make sure you get what you need to fight this war. But you need to make sure these weapons and other equipment get to the units and to the soldiers. While the military guys are doing their own thing, you need to go through that ministry and fish out those who have been diverting funds and materiel meant for our military. There should be no sacred cows. Any person you suspect should be immediately transferred out of Abuja pending the outcome of investigations. You must project the image of a no-nonsense, incorruptible Minister. You don’t have to be brash or rude or dictatorial. But you have to be proactive, firm and fair. If you do the due diligence over every issue before bringing your recommendations to me, you will have my support. Our loyalty should be to the troops. Make sure every single soldier, whether deployed to the northeast or not, is not owed his salary for a single day. Make sure no soldier pays for his own uniforms. Make sure no soldier pays for his own medical expenses…deployed or not. Make sure all casualties we sustain are treated with dignity and respect; that the families left behind are catered for, especially the spouses and children. Make sure the deployed soldiers’ deployment bonuses are paid on time. By the way, I have approved your recommendation for increase in the salaries of our military personnel. Those in the ranks of army Corporal through Captain will get 100% increase. Majors and Lieutenant Colonels will get a 50% increase. Colonel through Major General will get 30% increase and Lieutenant General and General and Field Marshall (if we ever get one in the army) will get 10%. The same is true for the equivalent of these ranks in the Air Force and the Navy. Deployment bonuses will be 30% of basic salaries for everybody. All pay increases take effect immediately. I want you to inform the CDS before you go on national TV to make the announcement today. If I didn’t tell you before your appointment, let me reiterate this: I want you and the CDS to work together like brothers. Your relationship should go beyond the office. He should be able to predict you and you should know what he wants before he even makes the request. Although I have made him subordinate to you, do not abuse your office or rub this in his face. Treat him with dignity and respect. He has earned his rank and has sacrificed a lot for this country. And I have confidence in him otherwise I would have replaced him. I do not want unnecessary acrimony. That does not mean you should be intimidated by the uniform or the gun. But your disagreement with him should be civil and about what is best for the military. I do not want to hear about any petty, self-aggrandizement quarrels. If I have to help run your ministry, it means I do not need you.”
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