The Infantryman And The War Against Terrorism

By Akido Agenro

The situation in the north eastern part of Nigeria is steadily deteriorating into a major internal conflict as what started in 2006 as sectarian uprising has snowballed to full blown war where the insurgents have declared a part of the country as the Sultanate Caliphate. It is on record that in addition to the huge loss of life and property, this is one conflict that has fully stretched the financial resources of the Federal Government as well as much of the revenue accruing to the states and local governments in the troubled north eastern Nigeria since the end of the civil war in 1970.

As at the last count the Borno State capital was under siege after the fall of Bama, a town situated 200 kilometres away from Maiduguri and the second largest local government area in the state. In the meantime, the Nigerian armed forces are yet to ‘liberate’ Gwoza, Damboa, Buni-Yadi, Madagali and Gamboru-Ngala [the list is growing by the day] which indicates that the situation is getting out of hand. A state of affairs where a band of ragamuffins now dictates the pace in a war of attrition and in the process making the army to look ordinary portends grave consequences for the socio-economic wellbeing of this country, given the propensity among individuals and groups to cash in on any opportunity to foment trouble for political or religious advantages. Troops of the Joint Task Force [JTF] code named Operation Restore Hope have been stationed in the Niger Delta since the last 15 years to forestall recurrence of militancy.

The Nigerian Army has seen several battles within and outside the shores of the country in the last 50 years. It was shortly after the attainment of independence and at a time when the nation was still smarting from the euphoria of the freedom to take its destiny in its own hands, when on February 23, 1966 the army had its baptism of fire by rising to quell the uprising led by Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro whose group, the Niger Delta Volunteer Force in show of braggadocio violently agitated for the excision of the Niger Delta Republic from the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The insurrection was swiftly put down within 12 days by soldiers and the culprits arrested and clamped into jail. This was followed by numerous political crises, inter-tribal and ethno-religious conflicts where the army was frequently relied upon to move in and return normalcy to the affected areas. Then there was the Nigerian Civil War in May 1966 that was brought under control in less than three years or 30 months to be precise.

The Nigerian Army that had excelled in the UN, AU and ECOWAS peace keeping missions in different parts of the world including Lebanon [1978], former Yugoslavia[1998], East Timor[1999], Liberia[1990-1999], Sierra Leone[1998-2005], Darfur [2004],Democratic Republic of Congo [2004] Rwanda[1994] and recently Mali [2012], just to mention a few, is now having the enviable position which it has earned for itself sullied by Boko Haram. When the conflict in Sierra Leone became critical it was Nigerian soldiers serving in peacekeeping mission in Liberia who in 1998 gallantly fought their way across the border to dislodge the brutal Revolutionary United Front [RUF] led by Foday Sankoh and free Freetown. This bold effort allowed President Ahmad Tejan Kabba who had been overthrown a year earlier to return to power from Guinea where he had been in exiled.

In the Liberia war that started in December 1989, the Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS] cease-fire Monitoring Group [ECOMOG] that was composed of mainly Nigerian troops withstood the ferocious assault from different warring factions that had emerged in that country beginning with the rabid campaign by Charles Taylor and his National Patriotic Front of Liberia [NPFL] that had sworn never to allow ECOMOG a foothold in their country. Other warring factions bent on exterminating ECOMOG troops at that time included the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia [INPFL], the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy [ULIMO] composed of former allies of Samuel Doe and the numerous other splinter groups that emerged in the course of the war. Even with all the odds stacked against it, ECOMOG combatants fought bravely and restored peace to Liberia to the admiration of the Liberian people, Africa as a whole as well as the world at large and to the pride of Nigeria.

The activities of the Boko Haram insurgent group has to a large extent demystified the Nigerian Army and is eroding the reverence and high esteem if not the awe with which the people held the armed forces of Nigeria who are generally believed to be indomitable, staunch and invincible.  There is the need for the military to revise this ugly trend by devising a strategy to rout the insurgents and bring their nefarious activities to a halt. This is more so when their recent offensives is considered against the background of the low level of patriotic fervour prevailing among the citizens. If the insurgents manage to hold the captured areas for long, within a short period of time many people either out of coercion or persuasions will openly switch allegiance to the so-called Sultanate Caliphate.

The seemingly intractable security challenges confronting Nigeria at the moment can be overcome if the army becomes more resourceful by deploying the available material and men to the best advantage. Nigeria has one of the largest armies in Africa, second only to Egypt. The soldiers can be drafted to the occupied areas in large numbers to stem the tide of the insurgents’ advance. The presence of soldiers in large numbers will serve a dual purpose of moral booster for the troops of the Joint Task Force [JTF] while at the same time lend a hand in the war against terrorism.

President Goodluck Jonathan has recently presented a provisional appropriation bill before the National Assembly requesting approval for a foreign loan of $1 billion to procure equipment for the military. Much as the need to enhance capacity in the armed forces cannot be overemphasized, the immediate need of the army as far as the war against insurgency and internal insurrection is concerned is not the acquisition of mortars, howitzers, gunship, rocket launchers or other large artillery but machine guns, bazookas hand grenades, gun-trucks, operational vehicles and such other light weapons that enhance the effectiveness of the infantryman.

The position of the infantry soldiers in the battlefield has remained one of utmost significance even as scientific breakthrough and technological innovations have revolutionized military weaponry over the ages. From the use of dagger, sword, tomahawk, spear along with bow and arrow as the main weapons of war in earlier times to the discovery of gunpowder in the medieval era to the emergence of the nuclear weapon in the modern times, the foot soldier remains ever relevant and crucial in the prosecution of war. The military authorities in Nigeria should place emphasis on enhancing the operational capability of the infantryman in the war against terrorism as this will yield greater result than the procurement of heavy military hardware which have the danger of falling into the hands of the insurgent and further compounding an already worse situation. Besides, there is the need to minimize collateral damage in the battlefield.

The infantryman’s kit should consist of a machine gun that is fed with cartridges rolling continuously from a belt worn across the shoulders in place of the outdated automatic rifle fed by a large magazine still in use by Nigerian soldiers. Alternatively, ballistic experts have recommended the M16 Automatic Rifle with its small magazine that holds 20-30 rounds as having similar firepower as the light machine gun and uses the same 5.56mm ammunition. In a normal full-fledged armed duel the infantry weapon is complemented by large artillery and air strikes. 

It was this strategy of according priority to the infantryman adopted by Communist China that brought the Korean War [1950-53] to an end. The war had proved intractable as it had been raging fiercely among the enemies. first with North Korea having the upper hand, a state of affairs that was reversed upon the involvement of the US on the side of South Korea and thus reversing the course of the war. But when China, the nation reputed as having the largest army globally entered the hostilities ostensibly to prevent the North Koreans from being pushed over its border but actually for ideological reasons, the other rivals were overwhelmed by the sheer number of Chinese soldiers swarming the entire landscape. This approach consequently brought hostility to an end with neither side being proclaimed as the victor or the vanquished.   

When given the necessary counter-insurgency training, modern weapons and other up-to-date operational equipment as well as relevant morale boosting incentives, the infantryman holds the ace in the war against terrorism in Nigeria.

•Agenro, Coordinator, Democracy Orientation Movement, wrote from 18, James Street, Iju-Ishaga, Lagos.  E-mail: [email protected]