Wrong Narratives Undermining Military Operations against Boko Haram

The Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj-Gen. Rogers Nicholas, has lamented that a wrong narrative about the ongoing war on terror is undermining the operation and misrepresenting it in the public domain.

Nicholas stated this when the team of experts from the Lake Chad Basin Commission under the auspices of the African Union (AU) visited the headquarters of the Theatre Command, Operation Lafiya Dole in Maimalari Cantonment, Maiduguri.

While fielding questions from members of the team, he stated that the Nigerian state is at war and must be recognised as such to enable the effective mobilisation of all instruments of national power to prosecute the war.

“It is high time we reversed the wrong narrative that the ongoing war is between the Nigerian military and Boko Haram insurgents, it is rather a war between the Nigerian nation and the Boko Haram terrorists,” he added.

The Theatre Commander in a statement Wednesday by the Deputy Director Public Relations, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, pointed out that other stakeholders must play their roles in the multi-faceted war against the terrorists for the attainment of total defeat.

He told the team of experts that the security situation in the North-east theatre is generally calm as the Boko Haram insurgents have been degraded.

Nicholas disclosed that the terrorists have resorted to callously carrying out isolated suicide bombing and Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks on the vulnerable and soft targets.

To this end, he urged the team to be judicious in the execution of its mandate to facilitate the restoration of the socio-economic development in the region.

Earlier, the Lake Chad team leader and a Gender Advisor, Dr. Eleanor Nwadinobi, said it was constituted by the AU in conjunction with the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to proffer stabilisation and revitalisation strategies for the Lake Chad Basin.

Nwadinobi stated that the team was mandated to research and work out strategies in the areas of humanitarian, socio-economic, educational, governance, gender as well as prevention and countering of violent extremism to revitalise and stabilise the Lake Chad Basin.

She revealed that in carrying out its mandate, it was expedient for the team to visit the Lake Chad Basin Commission member states.

She also lauded the Theatre Command and troops of Operation Lafiya Dole for the successes so far recorded in the counter terrorism and counter insurgency operations against the Boko Haram terrorists.