Take fight against terrorists seriously, Ihejirika tells soldiers

AUGUST 20, 2013

Azubuike Ihejirika

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, on Monday lambasted  senior military officers for becoming lackadaisical in their “air-conditioned offices” while their formations were being taken over by the  violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

The Army chief also faulted the mode of operations of the Army in the war against terrorism in the country, especially in curbing the insurgent  sect’s activities in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa  states.

Addressing  the second workshop,  organised for Commanding Officers from military formations  under the 1  and 3 Divisions of the Nigerian Army, as well as formations in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states, in Kaduna, Ihejirika urged the officers to “wake up” to their responsibilities.

The workshop, which was organised by the 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna had as theme, ‘Building capacity of unit commanders to meet contemporary  security challenges’.

The Chief of Army Staff, who noted that the current  security challenges in the land demanded  that he physically  attended the workshop, said the Army needed to be trained and re-trained in order to be effective in tackling the insurgents.

Ihejirika charged the commanders to take adequate measures to change the current security challenges in the nation, saying the traditional method of fighting must be deployed to crush the violent Islamic sect.

He said, “As unit commanders, you must be capable of taking the bull by the horn. You will recall the old saying that there are no bad soldiers, but bad unit commanders.

“Yes, you have had few cases of soldiers relating with the adversaries but as unit commander, worth its onions, you can turn such a soldier into a veritable asset.

“You can use such soldiers to track the enemy rather than the enemy having the advantage.

“This is why as a unit commander, you must be alert always because there are no excuses.”

Urging the officers to hit hard at the insurgent group, Ihejirika added that  “when we are talking about insurgency,  you are talking about aggression most likely with the use of firearms.”

He added, “We are training to fight terror and also insurgency. So all the traditional methods of fighting aggression, we still have to bring them to bear in fighting insurgency. It is only the environment that will modify your style.”

Ihejirika, who spoke extempore, said, “I have not seen much of tactics or even strategy in our actions so far. But I wish to recall what I said sometime, where I gave out several principles. The first factor I identified militating  our effort, was the issue of lack of mode.

“So as commanding officers, your first task is to get your officers and soldiers to realise that you are in an operational situation and once you get that right, things will continue to fall in place.”

Earlier in his welcome address,  General Officer Commanding, 1 Mechanised Division, Kaduna, Maj-Gen, Garba Wahab,  said the workshop was one of the strategies adopted  by the Army Headquarters to ensure capacity  building of officers and men  in tackling the current security challenges.