Chief of Defense staff Musa explains why Nigerian military hasn’t wiped out Boko Haram

 Nigerias Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, has explained why the fight against Boko Haram terrorist groups has lasted for so long. After starting out against soft targets, Boko Haram carried out suicide bombings of police buildings and the United Nations office in Abuja in 2011.The Federal government established a state of emergency at the beginning of 2012, which extended 2013 to cover the entire northeast of Nigeria.Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the insurgency in May 2013 while 2.3 million people have been displaced by the conflict. Appearing on Channels Televisions Politics Today programme on Friday, January 24, the Chief of Defence Staff highlighted issues that might have led to the militarys prolonged battle with the insurgents.This Boko Haram thing is a lot. Then I tell you this, for them to have survived for 16 years and are still fighting, how are they getting their funding? Whos sustaining them? Because they cannot just be doing it actively just like that. What I tell people is- no country should allow this kind of thing to commence. It is a difficult operation to eradicate, extremely difficult. Because before now, when we had the conventional kind of warfare, you are fighting a country. You know youre fighting for territory. You want to achieve something.Now you are fighting with people that have nothing to lose. It is an ideology they have in their minds. They believe they are right and you are wrong. He believes if he kills you, hes getting a blessing. If you kill him, hes going to heaven. Thats absolutely nothing to lose.That makes it very, very difficult, and its not written on their foreheads. So, how do you identify who is who?And theyve realized that we obey international laws, they dont. So what do they do? They use human shields. Anytime they have anything, they go with people, so that you cannot attack them, you cannot shoot, and thats what makes it so.When people say, why is it taking so long? It is a very, very difficult operation to do, because you make the mistake, you kill some people, and your country comes after you. If you dont kill them [the terrorists], and they continue striving. So, in both ways, you are at the receiving end.Because you are wearing a uniform, you can be identified. You are, by law, constitutionally held down on certain things that you must obey. So those are the issues we are facing. You know, like I told you, if it was conventional warfare with the equipment, armaments we have now, well go to a community and flatten the entire community where they live. Well end this in the very short term, but you cant do that anymore.The post Chief of Defense staff Musa explains why Nigerian military hasnt wiped out Boko Haram appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.