Of Gwoza and soldiers’ wives’ rescue mission

Aliyu Musa

This week, again, we hit another low as Boko Haram insurgents firmly hold on to Gwoza, repelling two attempts by our soldiers to retake it. The new Emir Alhaji Muhammad Timta was among the thousands of residents that took refuge in the mountains, holding on to life while the insurgents laid ambush, until rain falls lashed down and sent the insurgents scampering. Our ill-equipped soldiers could not match the insurgents’ firepower and resilience. So, they beat a hasty retreat but not before they had received heavy casualties. But military top brass at Abuja, hundreds of miles away from the real battlefields, claimed they were ‘on top of the situation’ and would not ‘cede’ any part of the country to the terrorists, whose flags are conspicuously flying in the occupied areas.

This is ‘dogon turanci’ (long story) that is meaningless to the ordinary people in Gwoza and other parts of the country the Boko Haram insurgents have taken over and are unleashing a reign of terror. Each day hundreds of lives are needlessly lost the country moves much closer to the brink. But the state sits aloof, pretending all is well, even though it has clearly abdicated its role of protecting the lives and properties of its citizens. Those who swore to defend the sovereignty of the state keep shifting blames and passing on the responsibility to others.

Defeating the insurgency is beyond daily press briefings and bragging about the prowess once possessed. Our men were once gallant soldiers who fought in battles home and abroad and triumphed. But the world has since moved on, so unless we have moved with it, which is not the case, our men, in spite of their gallantry, would be trounced again and again even by any better equipped rebels.

Appearing as a discussant on Al Jazeera’s Inside Story in May this year I dismissed our declaration of a total war on the insurgents because it was one of many endless fables our leaders have told us. But my pessimism, founded on reason, was made to look like an act of un-patriotism. Three months on, however, nothing positive has come out of it and our girls, whose callous abduction prompted the declaration, have yet to be rescued from the insurgents’ den, 123 days after they were taken away.

But more worrying is the endless danger we plunge our country into by exposing our shocking military incapacitation. We know too well we lack the capacity to fight Boko Haram but we damn the consequences. A lion’s share of the country’s budget is each year allotted to defence but there’s nothing to show for it. And that is why a lunatic Abubakar Shekau can afford to deride us while his men rout our soldiers. But Shekau’s lunacy pales into insignificance if compared to the insanity of those that divert money meant for our military into private accounts and, therefore, put the country at such a disgraceful risk. No matter how gallant our men are they cannot confront the enemy with their bare hands. No. It just won’t do in this age of drones.

And because help is yet to come and will not come any time soon citizens of Nigeria badly affected by the insurgency and the governments’ nonchalance have threatened to disown the country. But will anyone blame them? Last month Boko Haram rascals challenged Cameroun to a fight by abducting the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Amadou Ali’s wife. Cameroun took on the challenge and within days recovered the woman and other abductees. And President Paul Biya, despite the growing disaffection his overspent presidency provokes, reacted firmly by relieving the senior military officers blamed for the failure that allowed the abduction to happen of their jobs.

But President Goodluck Jonathan acts very differently; he condones failure and defends corruption; he sees nothing wrong with the military operation that has in the last four years caused depressing failures; while military top brass pocket money meant for welfare and weapons he gives no damn; and now, to spite everyone, he wants to borrow $1 billion dollars to sink into a failed project.

So who will blame the people of Gwoza for threatening to break away from Nigeria and join Cameroun?

Meanwhile, soldiers’ wives and children have risen to protect their own by vowing not to allow any further deployments of ill-equipped soldiers to battlefronts where they would, certainly, be overwhelmed by the much better equipped extremists. So, in the meantime, Boko Haram would continue to keep Gwoza and do as it pleases them. The people of Gwoza could choose to live with the terror or ship out to Cameroun. The government gives no damn.