There is no greater war leader and military strategist than Chinese military general Sun Tzu, who espoused the undisputed truth that “there is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged war. He further stated in one of his numerous works “Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories”. These are well established facts which military historians and students of strategy and war, conclusively agree on in resolving any conflict. In Nigeria, the armed forces has been at a decade long war with Boko Haram insurgents, who have basically carved out a so-called caliphate in a small part of southern Borno state. This group of some rag tag belligerent have literally waged war against the Nigerian state for almost a decade without being completely decimated.

One begins to wonder why this war has continued unabatedly for this long even as the military has massive deployment of materiel and human assets in the North east to deal a crushing blow to Boko haram elements, and end this endless war. The recent statement credited to John Enenche, coordinator of defence media operations, lends credence to the assertion that the Nigerian military as presently constituted is not ready or willing to end this war against Boko Haram, principally for pecuniary reasons.Enenche was said the dearth of intelligence from other agencies is hindering the military in prosecuting this war

Looking back retrospectively, when the Nigerian civil war broke out on 6th July, 1967 till the surrender on 12th January 1970, the military completely took over the territory of Biafra in less than three years. I am less interested with the political dimensions of the war but the swiftness with which the military ended the war covering the whole of the then declared Biafra Republic. Let’s attempt to put this in proper perspective.

Biafra’s territory covered of over 77,310 km2of land, the north bordered the Benue hills, Cameroon to the east, parts of the present Edo and Delta States (then Bendel State), with three rivers all flowing into the Gulf of Guinea, that is present Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Abia, and Akwa Ibom, while the Igbo speaking people in current Delta state fought for the Biafran side.

In contrast to Boko Haram insurgents, Biafra army had professional soldiers within their ranks and file, however, the current terrorist cannot be compared to the armed forces who have all swore to defend Nigeria from external aggression, maintain the territorial integrity and secure the country’s borders from land, sea and air violation as well as suppress any insurrection while sometimes acting in aid of civil authorities to restore order when called upon to do so.

Undoubtedly, the armed forces of Nigeria is battle tested, from dealing with rebellions in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Chad and Mali, they have participated in various peace support operations in Europe and Africa. However, the military anomie and unbridled ambition which has been the bane of military professionalism in Nigeria during the inglorious days of military incursion into politics is again rearing its ugly head. Corruption is what is simply prolonging this war. Are we saying the military cannot overrun Boko haram elements just holding a small part of Borno State?

I beg to differ on the statements made by Enenche, where he noted that the dearth intelligence is hindering the executing this war on terror. Let’s even assume that his statements is true, then, what is the role of Nigerian Army Intelligence Corps (NAIC) in this war, in the provision of intelligence support for all NA operations. Is NAIC involved in acquisition of intelligence on foreign collaborators of Boko haram? Don’t the NA deploy NAIC officers to strategic missions? What Enenche did was just to cut his nose spite his face?
Be that as it may, the military needs get this war over and done with as it been prolonged does the country no good. The buck ends on their table.

Everybody dey shift blame. It's better everyone stay diligent and let work together for the greatness and pride of 9ja.

The Fight against Boko Haram is necessary, we are all affected as if we allow these insurgents capture more territories or even carry out attacks we would lose as the country would be losing financially, finances that would have been used to better develop the nation in other aspects e.g Health, education, etc.
My worry is that the military will announce successful destruction of Boko Haram camp but we continue to see videos and pics of fallen soldiers almost on a daily. The Military should fight this war with all sincerity.

What do you expect from an incompetent and ill motivated military.
The Nigerian military is total mess under Buratai.
Man has overstayed. He needs to go, period.