Residents of Borno State have written President Muhammadu Buhari on the recent attacks by Boko Haram terrorists, noting that they have lost confidence in the military.
In an open letter signed by Hassan Boguma, a traditional ruler, the residents accused the military of not doing enough, saying Boko Haram now attacks without any countermeasure.
“The attempts by Boko Haram to intimidate and attack communities in the state and the actions of our soldiers in the frontline has made us lose confidence in the recent military’s performance in protecting not only the vulnerable citizens but even the territorial boundaries of the nation,” the letter read.
“Your Excellency, while lauding the efforts of the N/Army for their gallantry in other parts of the state, much is needed to be done in areas around MMC and Jere and in recent attacks on Nganzai, Gajiganna, Gubio, Magumeri, Amurwa, Kalali Abdul, Wanori and yesterday, Dalori villages. The incessant and daring attacks by BHT is becoming a source of great concern to citizens living in the two local governments and five villages simultaneously attacked for three days without any countermeasures or even a response to distress calls from the locals.
“A country’s armed forces were supposed to be a proud and patriotic defenders of both the nation’s territories and its citizens, but our today’s men of the armed forces were either overwhelmed by the desire to amass wealth by all means and, on the blood of the innocent Nigerian citizens, or have been compromised by theories of conspiracy and collaboration by deserting their formations in the face of attacks by the insurgents.”
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On government’s insistence on the technical defeat of Boko Haram, the residents say, “You are either fed with false information, or raising hopes of technical defeat of the BH which is far from the truth,” the letter further read.
“The recent systematic attacks on Gubio a strategic battalion and forcing them to withdraw is not only a shame but a slap on the face of our armed forces and a smack of mockery and abuse on the strength and professionalism of our armed forces which was once a formidable force in the Africa.
“Patriotism being the hallmark of all military operations is near absent, in most cases men that were lacking in experiences of war tactics were posted a seeming guerrilla like operations. The special forces that would have dealt with the peculiarities of insurgency were not properly involved in the operation and munitions that could have been used were not on ground to confront the monster head on.”
Instead of taking the offensive to the insurgents, residents said troops were confined to their trenches, waiting to be attacked.
According to them, there are many questions to be asked in the face of the recent actions of the military in the operation as there is a seeming case of sabotage, collaboration and negligence seen in most of the recent attacks.
The residents lamented that all military formations have been withdrawn from all their strategic locations and this action has made the remaining communities more vulnerable to attacks.
They noted that this had also emboldened confidence of the insurgents to daily attack and ransack communities that were unprotected due to the lack of military presence.