Buratai and the battle in the Northeast

People of various communities in North-east Nigeria which has been ravaged by Boko Haram insurgency are pleased with the Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai and hold him in high esteem. When he announced months ago that the Nigerian Army would defeat Boko Haram  by 2016 December, many people doubted the feasibility. […]

People of various communities in North-east Nigeria which has been ravaged by Boko Haram insurgency are pleased with the Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai and hold him in high esteem.

When he announced months ago that the Nigerian Army would defeat Boko Haram  by 2016 December, many people doubted the feasibility. However, most political observers in Nigeria and majority of people in the North-east have confidence in General Buratai, his gallant officers and President Buhari, who have demonstrated the political will to win the war. On Thursday, December 22, 2016 at 1:35pm, to the delight of the nation, Buratai and his men captured the operational headquarters of Boko Haram, the Sambisa Forest, marking the beginning of the end of the war.

Today, people of the North-east are very pleased with the successes the military is recording in the clearance efforts and the crippling of Boko Haram’s capacity to hold any territory or launch a major attack.  In fact, under Buratai, the people of the North-east are experiencing a pleasing difference between the sloppy handling of the war by the former president, Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and the doggedness and commitment being shown by the Buhari government. Anyone who comes to the North-east now would see and get information on the obvious proof that the Nigerian Army has decimated Boko Haram. One must commend Brigadier General SK Usman for his professional management of information as the army spokesman.

The resolve of the Nigerian Army to completely win the war is evidenced in the confidence on the faces of soldiers on the battlefront. The number of war planes and their activities in the sky, especially from the Yola airport certainly demonstrate how serious the Army has taken the battle.

The Nigerian Army is getting massive approval from the North-east, people can now see that the military is on the offensive, taking the war to Boko Haram rather than waiting for them to come. Remnants of Boko Haram are being chased out of villages and their camps in bushes, unlike before when they were capturing big towns, annexing local government areas and renaming them. Boko Haram no longer holds a single territory in any of the 774 LGAs in Nigeria.

On the rules of engagement with both the locals and the enemy, General Buratai has always cautioned his men to adhere strictly to the provisions of international humanitarian laws and laws on armed conflict. Buratai charges his men to enter all fortresses, camps, dens and enclaves of  Boko Haram to completely flush them out and dominate these areas to ensure that they are not reoccupied.

The people of the North-east stand with Buratai and soldiers on the battlefront because they now see that the soldiers are very confident, fully kitted, well-armed and highly motivated. The people are also appreciative of Buratai’s approach to the war because now, the rights of people are always protected by soldiers while the clearance progresses. The recently launched “Operation Deep Punch” was received with great optimism. This is because, as described by Buratai, it is an operation aimed at paving the way for return of normalcy to the zone.

Communities ravaged by Boko Haram now see the military as their shield and partners in the Buhari administration’s effort to fast track the healing of scars of the war, restore basic infrastructure and local economies, and return these communities to their pre-war conditions or even better such conditions.

Zayyad I. Muhammad writes from Jimeta, Adamawa State