SETTING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT- THE "NIGER AND CHAD OPERATION"

The Nigerian military has raised concern over careless talks and undue exuberance by some individuals from the military of neighbouring countries involved in the Multinational Joint Task Force, MNJTF, which have the implication of destabilizing the spirit of the joint efforts against terrorism within the sub-region.

Reacting to a purported statement in some media by officials from the MJTF that troops from Niger and Chad made deep incursions into Nigerian territory to battle Boko Haram elements, the Director Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, advised that it was necessary for officers from participating countries to beware of the terms they use while speaking with the press and also understand the implications of those terms.

According to him, “The location in question has to be mentioned before one can confirm whether it is part of an assigned or authorized mission or an incursion as described. This campaign against terror only makes provision for collaboration and cooperation; not incursion into territories. I think there is a careless use of terms by some inexperienced people or officials eager to make impression without understanding the implications. There’s no allowance for incursion here.

It would be recalled also that the president of Chad, Idris Deby recently stated that it was he, and not the Nigerian president, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, that called the on-going campaign to decisively deal with the Boko Haram terrorists, a false statement by any means, bearing in mind that it was Mr Deby who lured Nigerian into a fake "Cease-fire agreement" with Boko Haram terrorists sometime last year. 

Also, it is absolutely impossible for troops from neighbouring countries to operate anywhere within Nigerian territory without express orders from the Nigerian government, so the issue of Niger and Chad capturing some towns should not be blown out of proportion as the Nigerian Armed forces getting help from its neighbours to end the insurgency while itself being inefficient to deal with the trend. The recent successes are as a direct result of the combined efforts of the MNJTF and not Chad and Niger dealing with terrorists while Nigeria maintains an "aloof" stance

Again, another report has it that the  Chadians are displaying video evidence of their successes in the current campaign against terror, which in this case refers to the display of dead bodies of the terrorists as well as those of their own soldiers ( for instance in the case of Dikwa which I have seen) while Nigeria only shows captured vehicles, ammunition, weapons, guns, bikes and the like, or destroyed vehicles as the case may be.

The question then is, does Nigeria have to show dead bodies of insurgents before Nigerians believe that the war on terror is being spear-headed, and won by the Nigerian Army, and not Idris Deby and his cohorts??!