By SWAI Investigations
Coming to limelight in the mid 2000, the activities of Jama’tu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS), popularly known as Boko Haram terrorists became very deadly from year 2009.
They held sway in many local governments in the North Eastern part of Nigeria, particularly, Borno, Yobe and parts of Adamawa States.
The sect, which was earlier seen as an harmless group, became very ruthless and embarked on escalated sporadic killings and arson when Abubakar Shekau assumed leadership of the sect when the founder, Mohammed Yusuf was killed in 2009.
The new ruthless posture of the sect became more degenerating and was completely beyond the capacity of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists also joined in the deadly attacks in the North East.
To prevent Nigeria from falling, the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) had to be drafted in to restore peace and order in the region.
The deployment of the AFN to handle the situation, no doubt, has paid off as their deployment in the region in the past over 13 years have led to the degrading of the insurgents to a large extent.
To evaluate the present situation on ground, Security Watch Africa (SWA) crew recently toured Borno State, which is the epicentre of activities of the terrorists in the North East.
Speaking with Security Watch Africa (SWA) after the crew visited many locations in Borno State, the Theatre Commander, Major General Waidi Shaibu said “I will say that the security situation in the Joint Task Force North East operation HADIN KAI area of responsibility is very calm and it has improved tremendously over the years. I will say that people are going about their normal activities.”
Even with one or two terrorists activities in the area, he said “That does not change the fact that the security situation within the theater has improved tremendously.”
On what he is doing to boost the confidence of the people returning to their homes, he said “The return of the people back to their ancestral homes where they have been displaced is one of the metrics for measuring the success of the operation.
“And in each of these towns where people are being returned, we have troops there to ensure that they provide protections for them. Also the state government has also made it mandatory for them to raise members of the Civilian JTF in that particular community so that they have their own sons and daughters in the Civilian JTF. While the military provide the outer cordon for them and so they feel safe.”
According to him, the terrorists have been surrendering on a daily basis and the figure of those surrendering have kept on increasing.
Responding to the question on whether those surrendering have not come to spy on the Troops, he said “Most of these terrorists especially the fighters, among them, they surrender with their arms and ammunition and combat enablers, showing that they’re genuine.
“They have been housed in three different camps in the State. We have not had any adverse security effect from them.”
Stressing that there’s one or two issues of discontent, which is normal when there are so many people in one place, he debunked some media reports on the surrendered terrorists.
He said that there is no record of the surrendered terrorists breaching security in the State.
Welcoming the support from the State government, he also said the troops would not have been successful without the supports and logistics from the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Gwabin Musa (who was once a Theatre Commander, OPHK) and the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja (who had served at the Theatre during the most critical time).
On his message to Nigerians, he said “With the things we are doing currently, I believe the end is in sight.”
According to our findings, while the AFN has truly brought about some significant restoration of peace and normalcy within the operating environment in the North East, many military operations have been conducted there over the years, achieving the present successes on ground.
The military operations, over the years, have transformed from Operation RESTORE ORDER, BOYONA, ZAMAN LAFIYA, LAFIYA DOLE to the current designation, Joint Task Force (North East) Operation HADIN ΚΑΙ ( JTF (NE) OPHK).
Even with the deployment of the AFN to tackle the insurgency, it took some time before the terrorists were degraded.
As the sect became largely degraded under OPHK, elements of the Boko Haram terrorists and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists resorted to occasional isolated attacks on troops and violent activities against soft targets.
It is on record, the AFN presently have many achievements against the terrorists in the North East, where the Nigerian Army (NA) has been the lead force in the Theatre of Operations.
The feat was achieved through collaboration and foster synergy with other sister and security agencies.
The effective engagements with the Multinational National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) have been a great support including collaborations with the Borno State Government and other relevant stakeholders in the region.
The Theatre has also continued to engage with humanitarian agencies, including domestic and international non-governmental organizations, which have been helping to identify and address humanitarian issues that have enhanced the living standards and safety of all.
Since nothing meaningful can be achieved without peace, one of the greatest achievements of the JTF (NE) OPHK was the restoration of relative peace and security including socio-economic activities in the North East.
From July 2021, the Theatre has been witnessing massive surrender of terrorists and their families to troops.
“Currently, a total of 110,349 BHT fighters and their families have surrendered. Out of the surrendered persons, 19,373 were active male fighters, 33,980 are women while 56,996 are children.” the report stated
To achieve this, one of the operational strategies adopted by OPHK was several non-kinetic activities carried out in addition to on-going operations, including respecting the basic rights of surrendered terrorists and their families as well as receiving and profiling them to create enabling conditions for the Borno State Government to support them with feeding, accommodation, clothing and basic medical care.
The Theatre also facilitated enabling environment for rehabilitating and integrating repentant terrorist back into their communities by the state government, including liaison with various Islamic sects, traditional leaders and leaders of all organization within areas affected by crises.
It also organized quiz and sport competition, protection of National critical infrastructure and also conducting medical outreach programs.
In its ongoing clearance operations, the OPHK also established areas for the convergence of women, children and the aged who were caught up in the operations areas.
Through this, they were given initial palliatives before their evacuation to safe areas and thereby the OPHK was able to warm its way into their hearts as reflected in their reaction to the OPHK gesture.
Other engagements carried out by OPHK in her non- kinetic efforts to win the hearts and mind of the populace included the distribution of leaflets and literature to encourage insurgents to surrender and dissuade locals from imbibing terrorist ideology.
Print and electronic media broadcast were also engaged in several different languages, community intervention programs and key leader engagements, including the continuous sensitization of citizens and locals on the dangers of Improvised Explosive Device (IEDs) and Unexploded Ordnances (UXO) particularly on the civil populace necessitating the need for more roads to be reconstructed across the theatre to reduce the possibility of IED emplacement by the terrorists.
The Theatre also used persuasive fliers and radio jingles in English, Hausa, Fulfulde and Kanuri languages through Operation HADIN ΚΑΙ Radio, Radio Dandal Kura and other electronic and print media.
Series of meetings were also held with religious, community, traditional and youth leaders as well as civil society organizations to facilitate the relative peace being enjoyed in the region.
To make the areas habitable again, the Theatre has continued to provide worthwhile quick impact projects to communities affected by insurgency, through COAS Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC) Intervention Projects.
Notable among the projects included the renovation of a one-storey classroom in Zajiri Secondary School on Baga Road, Maiduguri, provision of a solar-powered borehole at Jiddari Polo in Maiduguri, renovation of blocks of classroom at Lawal Mustapha School at Konduga, the construction of solar powered borehole in Jakana and the distribution of notebooks to public schools across the Theatre.
The OPHK also provided safe return of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation scheme to Maiduguri after over 12 years of suspension due to insurgents’ activities in Borno State.
Additionally, the West African Examination Council (WAEC), which for some time could not hold in areas such as Banki and Gwoza general areas are due to commence as a result of the return of relative peace in the areas.
Another major achievement of OPHK is the rescue efforts by its troops in the region that have suffered series of abductions in the past 14 years.
The most prominent and internationally acclaimed abduction of them all was the 276 Chibok School Girls in year 2014, and to-date a total of 184 of the girls have either escaped, been released or rescued by AFN troops.
A further breakdown showed that 57 of the girls escaped in 2014, and 107 girls were released in 2018, while 19 of the girls were rescued between 2021 and April 2024.
With the creation of an enabling environment for the return of internally displaced persons, estimated to be 3.1 million persons as at June 2022, many are now back to their ancestral homes and sources of livelihood.
It is now recorded that several Internally Displaced Persons have been successfully resettled back to their ancestral homes in Gwoza, Pulka, Izge, Bama, Banki, Ajiri, Kawuri, Ngoshe, Kirawa, Cross Kauwa and Baga.
To further resettle more people, the OPHK is also working in liaison with the Federal Government through the Borno State Government to resettle about 120,000 displaced person living in Cameroon back to the general area of Gwoza.
Another achievement is that some roads that were earlier closed due to insurgency in the region have now been re-opened with socio-economic activities picking up in all the Local Government Areas across the Theatre.
The OPHK is also taking credit for the successful de-mining of Kumshe area of explosive hazards.
While very few of the achievements recorded by the AFN in the last 14 years in the North East region have been highlighted above, the major one among them is the degrading of the terrorist groups.
Knowing that so much has been put in to get to where we are today, well-meaning Nigerians can only hope that the AFN will go further than degrading the terrorists groups.
They want to see complete eradication of terrorists groups from Nigeria and the neighbouring countries, where the terrorists have used for plotting and launching attacks against Nigeria.
While eradication of terrorism may be seen as impossible to achieve in other parts of the world, the Armed Forces of Nigeria can achieve it, especially when it has proven itself to be one of the best Militaries in the world through its successful and gallant performances in many internal and international operations
With the kinetic and non-kinetic approaches been adopted with other strategies and governments supports coming, a little extra efforts will get the Armed Forces of Nigeria there.
It is our view from investigations carried out that if Nigeria must overcome terrorism and insurgency, the AFN only can not do it. Most importantly, governments must ensure there are no ungoverned spaces in the country. Basic infrastructures must be provided for the people, particularly, in the rural communities who could be easily enticed by terrorists or insurgents.
This will not only take Nigerians back to the period when they sleep without having to worry about their peace and safety, but release the AFN to concentrate on other core areas of their constitutional roles, while government can then channel the huge resources going into the fight against terrorism to meaningful developments in the country.
