₦airaland Forum

EX NIGERIAN MILITARY VETERANS STRUGGLING


http://saharareporters.com/photos/ex-military-officers-protest-over-unpaid-arrears-abuja

Rhino poachers in South Africa now risk giving themselves away when they shoot thanks to a high-tech, gunfire-detection system being piloted in the country's flagship Kruger National Park.

Brazil and South Africa are looking towards closer defence industry cooperation as they strive for better competitiveness on the international market, according to Armscor.

Trevor Raman, Director-General of the Armaments Corporation of South Africa (Armscor) said that Brazil and South Africa should strengthen cooperation and seek to manufacture products that are competitive on the world market.

Raman made the comments at the third IDB Brazil Show in Brazil last week, according to the Brazilian Ministry of Defence. The two countries are already cooperating on the development of the A-Darter fifth generation infrared guided air-to-air missile.

@AUGUSTUS NAME ONE COUNTRY THAT COLLABORATES WITH NIGERIA......NOT THOSE HELPING NIGERIA BUT WHERE NIGERIA IS ON AN EQUAL COOPERATION IN TERMS OF DESIGN

South African arms sales, this time of 50 sniper rifles valued at more than R5 million, to Turkmenistan. @AUGUSTUS SHOW ONE COUNTRY THAT BUYS NIGERIAN WEAPONS

@AUGUSTUS EVIDENCE SPEAKS FOR ITSELF AND SOON 8 COUNTRIES WOULD BE SEALING THE DEAL TO ROOIVALK AND YOUR OPINION SUCKS .....HIND IS A RUSSIAN HELICOPTER NOT NIGERIAN......WHERE IS NIGERIAN MADE HELICOPTER? WHERE IS NIGERIAN MADE ARTILLERY? WHERE IS NIGERIAN MADE MISSILE? WHERE IS NIGERIAN MADE ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIER? WHERE IS NIGERIAN FAMOUS ANYTHING KNOWN?

IF THERE IS NO ANSWER THEN CONTINUE CRYING

@AUGUSTUS THE CRY BABY....SORRY AS THERE IS NO SHORT CUT TO OVERTAKE SOUTH AFRICA IN ANY STANDARD, QUALITY, DEVELOPMENT, MILITARY, ECONOMIC AND MARKETING STRATEGY....CONTINUE TO CRY BUT NOW NAIRAS ARE STARTING TO TAKE NOTE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN WEAPONS.....CRY UNTIL YOU ARE BLUE THAT WONT TAKE AWAY THE DESIGNER LABEL THAT SOUTH AFRICAN WEAPONS CARRY....SHOW CASE YOUR PRODUCTS POSSIBLE SOUTH AFRICANS WOULD TAKE NOTE AND OBSERVE, HOWEVER...CONTINUE CRYING FOR NOT BEING THE BEST

SANDF EQUIPED WITH THE BEST MODERN WEAPONRY TO FIGHT MODERN WARFARE

ROOIVALK AMONGST 10 TOP BEST HELICOPTERS IN THE WORLD.....TRUE AN AFRICAN PRODUCT...DESIGNED, MADE, MANUFACTURED AND PRODUCE IN SOUTH AFRICA BY SOUTH AFRICAN
https://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CBwQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DzYK5th3JFKA&ei=NFwQVNn8AY7H7AarvIGQCw&usg=AFQjCNFR8Nvy07_LdJgeqXzdRzPywvW_EQ

SANDF NO MATCH....PHOTO 1 OLD PHOTO TAKEN IN 1980 AND YET NIGERIANS ARE ASKING ME ABOUT ROCKET PODS BEING PRODUCED BY SOUTH AFRICA

SANDF NOT LATE COMERS INTO WAR ENVIRONMENT......30 YEARS OF SEMI CONVENTIAL AND CONVENTIAL COMBAT, IRREGULAR, COUNTER INSURGENCY WARFARE......DOCTRINE OF COIN EXTENSIVELY DEVELOPED BY VETERANS OF BOTH GUERILLA WARFARE AS WELL AS REGULAR WARFARE.......AN AIFORCE WITH EXPERIANCE OFFICER

Help! We Are Losing the War Against Boko Haram, By Femi AribisalaFemi Aribisala

We need to admit the truth; Nigeria no longer has an army worth its salt. The Nigerian army of today is a pathetic shadow of its glorious past. This explains why it is proving grossly inadequate at checkmating a Boko Haram army of some 10,000 men. As a matter of fact, ranged against the insurgency in the North-East, the army is now staring abject defeat in the face.

Gone are the glory days when the Nigerian army was at the forefront of international peace-keeping efforts, only surpassed by Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. The C.V. of Nigeria single-handedly initiating the ECOMOG (ECOWAS Monitoring Group) and orchestrating peacekeeping and peace-enforcement operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone is now in a dismal state of disrepair.

Coup-proofing the military

The Nigerian contingent sent to Mali in 2012 was disgraceful. It lacked equipment and training. Assessing their capability, a source told London Guardian: “The Nigerian army is in a shocking state. In reality there is no way they are capable of forward operations in Mali- their role is more likely to be limited to manning checkpoints and loading trucks. The Nigerian forces lack training and kit, so they simply don’t have the capability to carry out even basic military manoeuvres.”

Now the chicken has come home to roost with the Nigerian army deployed against Boko Haram. When you have a military that specialises in overthrowing civilian governments, you don’t empower it after civilians finally manage to come back to power after donkey years. Therefore, it is not surprising that, since the advent of civilian rule in 1999, the Nigerian military has been intentionally starved of funds and diminished by every successive administration.

Today, it is a shell of its much-vaunted past. From the height of a 350,000 man army during the 1967-70 Civil War, the Nigerian military now has only 76,000 malnourished men lacking motivation, training and weaponry. While the military budget has been beefed up in the last few years of the Jonathan administration, much of this has been pocketed by the military top brass, as usual.

Counter-insurgency deficit

The earlier plaudits of the Nigerian army were in fighting conventional wars. But counter-insurgency is something new requiring new sets of skills, tactics and equipment. Lacking this, the Jonathan administration declared a classical state of emergency in the North-East, and then embarked on a scorched-earth military strategy.

Attacks on the innocent; illegal searches and torture; extra-judicial killings; wrongful and indefinite detention of suspects without trial; random burning of homes and farms; and revenge attacks on the innocent was the order of the day. This became a veritable blueprint for losing the war. As a result, the military successfully alienated the local population it is sworn to protect; making it all the more difficult to fight the insurgency.

Western governments would not sell counter-insurgency weapons to Nigeria given the dismal human rights record of our army. Indeed, the sale of lethal weapons to Nigeria is specifically prohibited by law in the United Kingdom because of such concerns. A 1997 law also prohibits American forces from working with foreign military units that have been accused of chronic human rights violations.

There is also a problem with sharing highly-sensitive intelligence information with Nigeria because it is widely understood that the Nigerian military includes a fifth column of local Boko Haram sympathisers. The means the Nigerian army cannot even be trusted to safeguard sensitive information from falling into the hands of the insurgents.

Politics of insurgency

President Jonathan has been caught on the horns of a dilemma. He is a minority South-South president facing re-election in 2015. No Republican has even been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. No Nigerian can be elected president of Nigeria without getting a substantial number of Northern votes. But now a major segment of Northern leadership is insisting six years of Jonathan presidency is enough.

This makes the handling of the security situation in the North-East a very delicate matter if Jonathan is not to lose vital Northern votes and support. Indeed, it has put the president in a Catch 22 situation. When he declared emergency rule and clamped down on the insurgents in the North, his Northern political opponents accused him of genocide. They maintained his Chief of Army Staff was mischievously from the South-East. Some even threatened to take the matter to the International Court of Justice. But when Jonathan soft-pedals on the insurgency, he is accused of incompetence.

It has not helped that Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, the three states in the fore-front of the insurgency, are all controlled by the opposition APC party. In declaring emergency rule, Jonathan was careful to leave their APC governors intact, as chief security officers of their states. However, they have not been inclined to cooperate with the federal government and, until more recently, have tended to see the insurgency as a means to undermine it.

Resurgent Boko Haram

In the middle of all this, the Boko Haram has gone from strength to strength. From a rag tag group of ill-equipped local thugs who engaged in hit-and-run bombings, it now operates with armoured personnel carriers, rocket launchers and advanced weaponry that match, if not best, those the Nigerian military has to offer. Indeed, it is Nigerian military that has now become rag tag, as the Boko Haram has continued to build up its arsenal of weapons. It even attacks Nigerian police-stations and military-barracks whenever it needs a new cache of arms.

One of the initial sponsors of the Boko Haram was Muammar Gaddafi, who wanted Nigeria to be balkanised into a Christian South and a Muslim North in his bid to promote Libya regional supremacy in Africa. The decision of the United States and its allies to overthrow him further succeeded in unleashing radical Islamic terrorist groups in North Africa, including the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, now armed with Gaddafi’s cache of sophisticated weapons.

These groups moved down the Sahel from Libya; through Algeria into Mali and Nigeria, where they have linked up with their “brothers” in the Boko Haram. Today, the Boko Haram has come of age. In the last few weeks, it has become so emboldened that it has embarked on a new daredevil strategy different from its guerrilla warfare of the past. Its fighters have come out of their hideouts in the Sambisa forest and Mandara Mountains to establish a foothold for their Islamic Caliphate right on Nigerian soil; according to the horrific blueprints of the ISIS in Iraq.

New Islamic Caliphate

Last week Monday, Boko Haram militants seized control of Bama, the second largest city in Borno State. They put up their flag over it, forcing an estimated 26,000 of the residents to flee, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The remaining residents were then force-fed with a strict diet of the Boko Haram version of Islamic law, on pain of death.

They did not stop there, but are also now reported to have taken over other major towns including Damboa, Gamboru Ngala, Banki and Gwoza. As a matter of fact, they are now reported to pose imminent threat to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, which is barely 65 kilometres (40 miles) away from their new acquisition of Bama.

Australian hostage-negotiator, Stephen Davis, who is currently making waves as a result of some controversial pronouncements, says: “When (the Boko Haram) attack a town, they empty the treasury of the banks. That is another source of funding for them. They are gradually depopulating many villages in the state, taking them over and foisting their flag.

They are very well organised and becoming very good strategists. By the time they are done with the villages, they will have a very good base from where they will launch attacks on Maiduguri, with the aim of taking it over and proclaiming the caliphate that they desire.”

Army in disarray

Instead of putting up a fight, Nigerian soldiers are reported to have fled into Cameroon, with the army making a face-saving declaration that it was a tactical manoeuvre. A recent report by Chatham House, a London-based think-tank, points out that soldiers in the North-East are bedeviled by equipment failure, low morale, desertions and mutinies.

The military budget has been increased and increased, but the money has clearly not made its way to the military rank-and-file in terms of equipment and supplies. The government is talking of taking a one billion dollar loan to fight the insurgency. Why would we need as much as that to fight the Boko Haram? What has happened to all the monies spent till date? In spite of the huge outlays, the report from the foot-soldiers remains the same: inadequate weaponry and poor logistics.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s sovereignty is now at stake. An eye-witness reports that: “In Bama now there is no single police, soldier, civil defence, or state security service personnel. They have all run away for fear of being killed, even the civil-servants are not spared from attack, if you are a government worker they kill you.” Apparently, no less than seven emirs have fled their palaces in Borno and Yobe States.

New map of Nigeria?

Andrew Noakes of the London Guardian, who co-ordinates a so-called Nigeria Security Network of Analysts, warns that: “Unless swift action is taken, Nigeria could be facing a rapid takeover of a large area of its territory reminiscent of ISIS’s lightning advances in Iraq. If Borno falls to Boko Haram, parts of Yobe and Adamawa can be expected to follow. Parts of Cameroon along the border area would also probably be overrun.”

This means it is wake-up time. The PDP and the APC must stop playing politics with the Boko Haram. Neither can the insurgency be filed away until after the election. If we are not careful, the damage would have been done long before then. Nigeria is in danger of becoming a banana republic. As Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. Assistant Secretary for African Affairs warns: “The reputation of Nigeria’s military is at stake. But, more importantly, Nigeria’s and its children’s future is in jeopardy.”

THE BEST COIN SPECIALIST ARMY IN AFRICA

The Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, has said about 20 officers of the Nigeria Police Force are still missing after their Gwoza training school base was attacked by Boko Haram. Following the attack launched by the insurgents on the training camp of the Nigeria Police Mobile Force, in Borno State, the IG had announced that 35 of its men had gone missing. However fielding questions from journalists at the State House, Abuja, Mr. Abba said the force was able to trace some of the officers who had reported either back to their bases or their families. “When you go through what they went through, the likelihood of you knowing what to do is not very tenable,” he said. “There is a possibility that the decision of what to do may not be easily comprehensible. So some went back to their homes but our concerns is that once they are in safety we are satisfied and the process of bringing them back to their units has already commenced.” He added that less than 20 officers are still missing “but we are still concerned with every one of them and unless we are able to account for each and every one of them‎ we will not relent in the effort of tracing them”. -

See more at: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/167939-gwoza-police-training-school-attack-about-20-officers-still-missing.html#sthash.oLJlkzFz.dpuf

The insurgent group, Boko Haram, has said that it is in control of Borno’s second largest town, Bama. There had been conflicting reports of who was in control of the town between the sect and the Nigerian military.

Members of the Boko Haram had two weeks ago invaded Bama, killing several people and destroying property, thus forcing residents to flee.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported how the military, last week Monday, attacked the insurgents in Bama in an attempt to reclaim the city. The military had tweeted that it was doing “everything necessary” to stop the insurgents from taking control of the city.

However, in a telephone call with journalists in Maiduguri on Monday, a man who claimed to be Abu Zinnira, a long forgotten spokesperson of the Boko Haram, said the sect was in control of Bama. Abu Zinnira last spoke for the sect two years ago while the call on Monday lasted just 29 seconds and was in Hausa. Journalists were unable to authenticate if he was indeed the Abu Zinnira who used to speak for the sect.

“This is a rebuttal from the information dissemination and sensitization unit of the Jamaatul Ahlil Sunna Lidawati Wal Jihad (Boko Haram) on the series of lies that the Nigeria military have been feeding the world on our recent conquests,” the ‘spokesperson’ said, while also speaking on the sect’s capture of some towns in Adamawa State.

“Let the whole world know that we are on the path of victory because up to this minute, the town of Bama is under our control, the whole of Minchika is now in our hands, as well as Manalapan (Junction of) Mubi is now fully under our control.

“We are assuring the world that this would be continuous and there will be no going back by God’s grace. This is a message from me Abu Zinnira, on behalf of our brethren,” he said. PREMIUM TIMES had reported how the Adamawa State government on Saturday confirmed that the sect had taken over Gulak, another town in Adamawa State.

“It has come to the attention of the Adamawa State Government that insurgents are now in Gulak, the headquarters of Madagali Local Government Area and had killed and displaced scores of people. “On behalf of the people and government of Adamawa, his Excellency deeply sympathises with the people of Gulak and other surrounding villages and towns whose areas had been overran by insurgents,” the Secretary to the Adamawa State Government, Liman Tukur, said in a statement. The violent activities of the Boko Haram have continued despite a state of emergency imposed on Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe since May last year.

WATCH THE VIDEO AND SEE NIGERIAN MILITARY FLEEING AHEAD OF CIVILIANS AND IN SOME INSTANCES PASSING IN SUCH A SPEED THAT WOULD PUT MANY FORMULA DRIVERS ASHAMED

http://saharareporters.com/2014/09/09/exclusive-video-shows-nigerian-army-and-civilians-fleeing-boko-haram-attack-yesterday

IF NIGERIA WERE REGULARY CONDUCTING SUFFICIENT MILITARY READINESS EXERCISES MAYBE THE CURRENT CRISIS WOULD BE DIFFERENT.....NIGERIA KILLED ITS OWN TROOPS@AUGUSTUS MAYBE NOW YOU UNDERSTAND WHY SOUTH AFRICAN AIRFORCE CONDUCT BOMBING EXERCISES

The military initially seemed to have the upper hand against Boko Haram, but that changed when the military jet bombarded its own troops, forcing soldiers to flee, one resident said.

"The jet could not distinguish between soldiers and Boko Haram and bombarded the military barracks which was at the time under the control of soldiers," said Yasir Zarami.

"The aerial bombing destroyed the military barracks and forced soldiers to flee towards Maiduguri along with thousands of civilians."

Borno senator Ahmed Zannah told BBC radio's Hausa service late on Monday that Bama fell to Boko Haram and soldiers were forced to flee because the jet bombed and destroyed their barracks.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/rival-victory-claims-boko-haram-nigeria-battle-142413871.html

I DONT HAVE A TIME TO BE ARGUING WITH UNEMPLOYED LIKE @AUGUSTUS.....THE MAN IS SO BITTER AND ANGRY AS TO WHY NIGERIA IS A THIRD WORLD.....SHAME AS THEY SAY YOU CAN CHOOSE FRIENDS BUT YOU CANNOT CHOSE PARENTS.....TO A MORE SERIOUS TOPIC....NIGERIA DOES NOT HAVE A BOMBING RANGE AND WEAPON TESTING FACILITIES AND NIGERIAN AIRFORCE HAS NEVER FIRED A SURFACE TO SURFACE MISSILE OR TO B ENGAGED IN A DOG FIGHT

ACCURATE BOMBING MEANS SAVING LIVES...OR DEATH WHEN SUFFICIANTE AND ADEQUATE TRAINING IS NOT PROVIDED

SOUTH AFRICAN BOMBING EXERCISE SEE PHOTO 1 HOW CLOSE THE PATHFINDER TEAM IS

South African National Defence Force

SANDF

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has warned that the credibility and global ratings of Nigeria's armed forces were at stake if the force that has been widely acknowledged to have performed well in peace keeping operations allows itself to be over run by insurgents in Nigeria.

This is as the body expressed worry at the recent incursions and capture of towns in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states by the insurgents.

The NLC, in a statement signed by its President, Comrade Abdulwahed Omar called on the armed forces to prove its preparedness to protect and defend Nigeria's citizens and protect Nigeria's territorial integrity.

The NLC also expressed worry at the speed with which the sect is able to capture communities even in areas with heavy presence of security personnel.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201409090264.html

Nigeria's militant Islamist group Boko Haram has captured the key north-eastern town of Michika, residents say, gaining more territory in its efforts to create an Islamic state. People fled into bushes as gunfire rang out in the town, they added.

Boko Haram has changed tactics in recent months by holding on to territory rather than launching hit-and-run attacks.The government called on Nigerians not to lose hope. The military was committed to defending Nigeria's territorial integrity, it said.


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29110663

The Nigerian militant group Boko Haram has seized several more towns along the country's northeastern border with Cameroon.

In Adamawa state, witnesses say Boko Haram militants took over four towns including Michika, killing dozens of civilians and displacing many others.

In Borno state, suspected Boko Haram gunmen attacked the small town of Bui on Sunday, injuring three soldiers and setting fire to a primary school.

Further north, Nigerian army soldiers fought militants to recapture the city of Bama, blocking their advance to the Borno state capital, Maidaguri. Thousands of residents had fled the area in recent days.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201409090143.html?aa_source=mf-hdlns

Son of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Lt Col Adeboye Obasanjo, an army engineer at the 3rd Division in Jos, Plateau State was shot yesterday by Boko Haram terrorists as he led soldiers on an offensive to reclaim Michika town in Adamawa State which fell into the hands of the insurgents. Twenty four soldiers were also reportedly killed during the encounter in which Lt Col Obasnjo was said to be seriously injured.

The Defence Headquarters did not respond to inquiries seeking confirmation of the incident but a reliable military source, who confirmed the story, said the injured Obasanjo was receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital inYola, the state capital.

At the time of the incident which took place at Baza, Major Gen J.S. Zaruwa, Colonel Victor Ebhaleme, who serves as the Brigade Commander of the 23rd Army brigade in Yola and Lieutenant Agwu were all together advancing towards Michika when Boko Haram fighters ambushed them and unleashed the deadly attack on the soldiers.

According to reports, the army also lost an armoured tank to the militants. As a result of the attack, Mubi town has practically been deserted following the closure of schools and massive retreat of soldiers from the city.

http://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00032481.html?aa_source=tf-rght-wd

@AUGUSTUS SHOW PHOTOS OF THE NIGERIAN FIGHTER AIRCRAFT aermacchi MB 399 that show air to air refuelling capability....I DARE YOU TO SHOW UP THE PHOTOS...A BLUE LIE THAT NIGERIA POSSESS SUCH A CAPABILITY....@AUGUSTUS YOU REASONING STEMS FROM THE FACT THAT WHEN NIGERIA DOES NOT HAVE MEANS SOUTH AFRICA ALSO IS ON THE SAME PEDDESTAL.....GRIPEN CHECK THE REFUELLING TANKER INSIGNIA OF THE SOUTH AFRICA AIRFORCE ON THE POSTED PICTURES....JELOUSY KILLS YOU

@AUGUSTUS CHECK THE Boeing refulling tanker, it shows the South African Airforce insignia ....the problem about you is that you think you possess an expert opinion on South Africa.....SOUTH AFRICA IS NOT A RAG TAG ARMY LIKE NIGERIA

Hawk aircraft amongst the best

NIGERIA DOES NOT HAVE 4TH GENERATION FIGHTERS...@AUGUSTUS NIGERIA INTENDS TO BUY MEANING ITS NOT IN THE NIGERIAN SERVICES......GRIPEN MOST ADVANCE

@AUGUSTUS YOU DONT HAVE AN CLUE ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA...SEE GRIPEN PERFORMING AIR TO AIR REFUELLING AND NIGERIA DOES NOT HAVE ANY AIRCRAFT THAT IS SUITABLE FOR SUCH AN EXERCISE AND PLEASE PROVE IT WITH PHOTOS NOT SOME LOUSY ARGUMENT

which weapons are indigenous to Egypt weapons that are designed by Egypt not reproducing American or Russian weapons....Please come with coherent debate not opinions

@AUGUSTUS NOW EGYPT, MORROCCO AND ALGERIA ARE NOLONGER YOUR BEST MASTERS OF COMPARISON

until Nigeria produces its own weapons like these then the topic is close and come back in 200 years and make comparison