₦airaland Forum

Nigerian Armed Forces
• The corruption in the Army has ensured that recruitments have been monetised and politicised. Only those who can pay and who have political Fathers get recruited. When the heat is on, they run away. Most of the soldiers do not have the qualities required to be in the army.
• Strategically, they have not been able to counter BH’s psychological war using the mass media. They try to suppress information about boko haram attacks and casualties. News gets out anyway making them look stupid, weak and clueless. When they conduct their own assault or counter attacks, all they show us is a couple of dead bodies and 2 or 3 rifles. Then they will say “many terrorists escaped with gunshot wounds.”
• The soldiers are not skilled in the art of asymmetric warfare. Terrorists are catching them unawares almost all the time. When attacked, they even don't know where the bullets are coming from. They don't have counter sniper units that can neutralise Boko haram snipers.
• They cannot hold positions without air support, while NAF jets cannot attack at night.
• Retreats are uncoordinated, they lose more men in retreat than in actual combat.
• Sabotage and compromised military Intelligence: Senior officers with information prefer to use it alone and claim all the glory. Or they simply play along to make money from the conflict. I visited the North East in September, I was told by credible sources that army units that are attacked are those whose commanders refuse to play along. Their positions, movements, numerical strength etc. are leaked to Boko Haram.
• No shrapnel vests and ballistic helmets, the soldiers are issued with old Albanian Kalashnikovs that jam after firing 7 rounds.
• Tanks and APCs have inferior armour, support vehicles are almost non-existent. Those Hilux and IVM trucks are only good for fetching firewood. Those 1980s tanks can be taken out by an RPG. In fact the images we see suggest that they were taken out by RPGs. Javelin or TOW would have separated the turrets from the body.

Boko Haram
• They are better trained for this kind of warfare, check out their formations. They are better shooters, I suspect they have snipers and spotters, which is why the soldiers don't know where the bullets are coming from.
• BH has plenty of M249 and RPD machine guns in addition to AA guns. They also have night vision capabilities having ambushed troops on long-range patrol recently. Most of the attacks on military bases are carried out at night
• They are highly mobile. They quickly converge to attack and promptly disperse.
• They are ready to die for Allah. Let us not forget that an Islamic state and sharia is the desire of many Moslems. This alone can fuel the insurgency for fifty more years.
• They have superior Intel. They have infiltrated the Armed forces, while the Nigerian military are still begging people for information.
• Foreign support. From my study of contemporary and modern warfare, any prolonged conflict raging close to the border, has foreign intelligence services involved. I got to know from my trip that some NGO’s are responsible for treating injured terrorists. These NGOs are being used by foreign intelligence, with connivance from their opposite numbers in Nigeria to covertly support Boko Haram with weapons, logistics and Intel about troop strength.
• The media war as part of their overall strategy is very potent. Look at how terrified people are after watching the well edited video of the Zari attacks. They have succeeded in establishing themselves as one of the deadliest extremist group.