International News Desks in the last week of August 2014 painted a gloomy picture of the Nigerian military’s operational capability and anti-terror strategy failure.
Intelligence reports verified the incredible haste and chaotic run by the Nigerian infantry deployed near Cameroon border with Nigeria to conduct preemptive attacks on Boko-Haram forward bases.
The Nigerian troops crossed the border to Cameroon and surrendered citing inability to fight back the Boko-Haram militants. This day brought shame to the once highly respected Nigerian military.
The troops were disarmed by the Cameroon defense forces deployed along the border and who have managed to destroy key forward bases of the Boko-Haram besides reduce their operational capability on the borderline region.
These events and the success of Boko-Haram in deploying terror in key Nigerian cities are significant. Terrorism hit an alarming crescendo in Nigeria throughout the two quarters of year 2014.
The success was replicated with similar events in Mali, Libya, and East-Africa. The emergence of terrorists whose capability to conduct spectacular attacks in major cities in Africa is worrying.
The capacity to deploy resources and effectively counter well equipped and highly trained military forces is worrying particularly in the wake of an Islamists revolution in Middle East.
We have seen these Islamists establishing caliphates. These events inspire terror groups and could strengthen their resolve to push the fight through deployment of terror across cities and militant attacks on both civilian and government targets.
Nigeria is an example of a nation very threatened by Islamists. Boko-Haram is claiming they have carved out a caliphate there. They continue to attack civilians, defeat police and military troops and gain more footholds on Nigerian border villages.
It will be interesting to watch how Nigeria will re-engineer the scenario and play PR to regain public confidence. It is also very important to note how Abuja will react to the threat and the embarrassing event. It is also equally important to observe if the African Union and the international community will react to these events proactively.
