Written by a son of Borno and member of ENDS
who rather withhold his identity,

It is not news that the Chadians are fully involved
in the fight against Boko Haram within Nigeria. It
is also no secret that the Chadians have made
more gains within two months of their activities
than the Nigerians have made in five years.

The reality is, the Chadians are doing a better job
at everything as pertains the fight against Boko
Haram than the Nigerians; from news coverage to
public relations; from technique to tactic. The
federal government told Nigerians that the
Chadians were part of a joint military operation to
tackle Boko Haram. Evidence reaching Nigerians
however has suggested otherwise. What is
increasingly being realized is that the Chadians
took a unilateral action to stop Boko Haram, of
their own. Whatever inter-national agreements
followed came later after the Chadians had
unilaterally chosen to intervene in the crises.

Boko Haram and Chad-The Sudan-Central
African Trade And Economy

Inflation : One reason why the Chadians would
have been pressed to intervene on their own
without waiting for the Jonathan government’s
approval was to save itself from starvation and
the resulting economic and social break down.
With increasing economic hardship in Chad, Idriss
Deby was been forced to act. A lot of Nigerians
may not know this but the Chadian economy is
heavily reliant on Nigeria. They get supplies of
raw materials for clothing, their food, car spare
parts, building materials and a lot other materials
from the Nigerian market in Kano and the Bolo
stores in Maiduguri. And such goods don’t just
stop in Chad or the northern Cameroons but
moves all the way to Central Africa and the
Sudans.

The road linking Maiduguri to the border with
Cameroon has been cut off by Boko Haram for
quite some time now bringing to halt the
economic activities in cross border economic
activities in that part of the country. A good
example of the looming crisis in Chad is that of
food items sent from Nigeria to Chad. A single
packet of Dangote or golden penny pasta in
Maiduguri costs between a N100 and N120 but
with Boko Haram, when it crosses over to Chad
today it sells for a N500 each.

The prices of everything from Nigeria have been
quadrupled in Chad. The Giwa-Giwa trucks as
they are popularly known in Maiduguri have long
ceased transporting goods into Chad or
Cameroon not to talk of the central African
countries or the Sudans. Their main roads now
form part of what many people called Bokoistan.

The PR Battle

I personally will love a situation where the
liberation of the Nigerian towns be done by
Nigerian troops for our national pride. In Borno
we practically live together with our Chadian and
Cameroonians neighbors. One cannot even tell the
differences between Nigerians, Chadians or the
Cameroonians except those coming from the
deepest parts of their countries. Our languages
and cultures in the border communities are
almost the same. But in a situation where my
own government seems to ignore and underreport
the true situation in the war front, I rather subject
myself to ridicule by my Chadian friends on how
my so called giant and economic power-house of
Africa has failed to deal with Boko Haram terrorist
for the past 5years.

In fact the Chadians are not only doing a good
work of fighting the insurgents they are also
doing a terrific job in terms of informing
dissemination. While Nigeria has over the 5 years
been disinterested in informing its citizens, except
perhaps in political campaigns or slander, the
Chadians have sponsored and supported excellent
media coverage of their efforts in the war and
their warnings to Boko Haram.

Nile satellite, a popular Middle Eastern satellite is
very popular in the northeast and almost
everyone in Maiduguri has access to it. Those
who reside in Maiduguri have access to the Chadi
TV and watch the Chadian progress live as it
happens, contrary to what our government does.
We have now reached a point where Nigerians in
Borno trust the Chadian government more than
they do their own government in terms of the war
that is ongoing. The Chadian president is always
on TV talking tough about Boko Haram unlike our
own president that is renowned for always looking
for whom to blame instead of doing his job and
reassuring the citizenry.

Recently the Chadians took the ancient and
strategic town of Dikwa from Boko Haram. This
was done in a fierce battle that was partly seen
on TV on the Chad TV network. In the broadcast,
a senior Boko Haram commander was
apprehended.

Dikwa is about 45 km from Mafa local
government which is the last town Nigeria has
been holding on to in that part of Borno. To our
dismay the Chadians were asked to proceed no
further by the Nigerian government and were
instructed to withdraw and head back to
Gamboru, a town they recaptured earlier. Reports
have it that Jonathan ordered the Chadians back
because their efficiency and success is
“embarrassing” on his political reelection resume.
After the Chadians withdrew on Nigeria’s
surprising order, Boko Haram came back with a
vengeance on the people. A massacre was carried
out by Boko Haram of the surviving people left in
Dikwa town. Sadly this massacre was sparingly
reported by the Nigerian media. These massacres
have been confirmed to have happened in Bama,
Kala Balge and Gwoza after Nigeria ordered Chad
out of territories it had captured from Boko
Haram. In Gwoza, reportedly, after they let the
women go, they then went after the aged and
those already convicted by them as traitors. This
however couldn’t be independently confirmed as
no one can verify as the territories are off limits
and Nigeria’s government has banned journalists’
access to the northeast.

Nigerians are sadly not being told the true
situation at the war front. Thus far, our troops
have mostly recaptured territories virtually
abandoned by Boko Haram while the Chadians to
be honest engaged and defeated the terrorists in
the more dangerous local governments. Places
like Monguno, Baga, and others from Northern
Borno were abandoned with a very few fighters
left when Nigerian troops recovered them. The
actual battle was left for the Chadians to face in
the border areas and we commend them. Sources
within the Chadian army and the Chadian people
say Nigerians warn the insurgents of their
advances indirectly by announcing on papers,
news and the social media of their advances. This
allegation was recently reported on Chad TV. In
fact the Chadians mock Nigeria and Nigerians.

Learning From the Yar’Adua-Jonathan Errors
With Mohammed Yusuf’s Group

I am proud of our soldiers; I however hope for
more transparency and honesty in the Nigerian
war against the terrorists. For long term success,
Nigeria’s government should not repeat the
mistakes in defeating terror the Yar’Adua and
then Jonathan government made when it
“defeated” the first Boko Haram insurgency of
Mohammed Yusuf. These mistakes over the past
8 years are why we are where we are today. Guns
alone do not curb terror; the government has to
work with the people of the northeast and
Nigeria’s neighbors in a fashion that is
professional, responsible and efficient with mutual
respect, trust and discipline. Nigeria needs to
assume a decisive, leadership role devoid of
political intonations. There is no role for politics in
this tragedy that has gone on for far too long in
that part of the country.

This vital piece was written by a son of Borno and
member of ENDS who rather withhold his identity.
The author has been a vital contributor of
information and resource which has been
published broadly and has played a significant
role in shaping the events of the northeast and
the campaign for a true victory for Nigeria.
- MyNews24

m.news24.com/nigeria/MyNews24/The-war-against-Boko-Haram-A-Chad-Perspective-20150312

May thunder strike the writer of this piece dead!
This is a great disservice to our military men.
Why are these APC sympathisers trying to give the Nigerian army victory to the Chadians that liberated 'only two towns'

Truth be told... Book haram or no boko haram, Chadian security forced are more fierced and organized than ours. Ranging from their police, customs, immigration and then their military with a good airforce. Its a pity that Nigeria security outfit have been reduced to a very shameful state when compared to the 70s and 80s...

Weather chadian army kill them or nigerian soldiers kills them, all we want is death to those blood sucking Buhari boys.