Military deployed in 28 states – NSA


National Security Adviser Col. Sambo Dasuki

National Security Adviser Col. Sambo Dasuki has said prevailing security challenges in the country have necessitated military deployment in 28 states where they are involved in activities that are ordinarily not meant for them.

In a speech at the National Civil-Military Dialogue in Abuja yesterday, Dasuki said this has affected the level of professionalism of the military and also brought new dimensions of conflict between soldiers and civilians.

“The past decade has witnessed multiple forms of unrest--from armed robbery, kidnapping, electoral, communal to ethno-religious violence. Currently, we are battling with insurgency and terrorism. This has raised the flag of security demands to levels higher than we have witnessed since the civil war.

It has meant that the military are seeing more deployments in aid of civil authority than anticipated,” he said in the speech, which was emailed to Daily Trust.

“While it is the function of the military to assist civilian authority to handle civil disobedience, it is assumed that such rules would be carried out only when the capacity of the police is overwhelmed. Policing the domestic arena is not the duty of the military, whose training is directed against external enemies of the state.

“However, our recent history has seen the military in joint activities with other para-military outfits currently in about 28 states. In addition, the military is involved in checking armed robbery and other crimes on interstate roads.

“From mere intervention to assisting the police quell domestic violence; the military is now fighting the scourge of insurgency and terrorism. Thus, the military presence in our society is becoming routine. While this affects the level of professionalism of the military, it also generates new dimensions of conflicts between the military and civilian populace.”

Dasuki’s speech yesterday re-echoed a September 20, 2012 investigative story by Daily Trust which showed that Nigeria was witnessing the biggest peacetime military deployment in its history.

The report quoted military sources as saying soldiers had been deployed to many states to contain sectarian violence in the North, militancy in the Niger Delta and kidnappings in the Southeast. The report said this was the biggest troops deployment since the 1967-70 Civil War.

Soldiers have been routinely accused of engaging in gross abuses of human rights especially in parts of the North where they have been involved in battling insurgency.

Earlier in the week, the National Human Rights Commission released a report that said operatives of the Joint Task Force are killing, torturing, illegally detaining and raping civilians in their fight against insurgency in parts of the North. The military and police have consistently denied allegations of abuses.

Yesterday, Col. Dasuki spoke on the efforts to foster better relations between the military and civilians.
“We must create new bridges of understanding between the military and civilians in order to enable us provide adequate security for lives and property,” he said.

“It will be tragic to have wide communication gaps between the military and the civilian population in our struggle against insurgency and terrorism, not to mention criminal acts of kidnapping, armed robbery and others. “It is my belief that the military can provide desirable assistance to civilians wherever they operate, while the civilian populace can reciprocate this in many other ways.

“Their vigilance and provision of information enhances the efficiency of the security agencies in the fight against insurgents, terrorists and all other forms of criminality.

“The changing role of the military has brought them closer to communities and the people who reside in them in a way that has been unexpected. This has not been without tensions as both groups chart a new way to accommodate each other.

“As part of activities to close the gap between the military and civilians, it is important that the level dialogue occurring here at the national level is cascaded down to the states and local government level, where it matters most and perhaps where it also begins and ends.”

He added that the military alone would not be able to meet all of today’s the security demands, and urged “trust and support of the citizenry.”

The National Civil-Military Dialogue event was not open to media coverage and so Daily Trust could not confirm who were in attendance.

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