Thread by @DefenseNigeria

The recent abduction of babies by bandits is indicative of a group that is highly motivated and believe they can achieve their objective If they try harder. To defeat this enemy we must demoralize them. Make them see the futility of their campaign.

There is no better way to do that than the arrest and prosecution of Sheikh Gumi. These guys aint stupid. They are not fighting a war to win. They know it is impossible. Every attack carried out by bandits is designed to shock Abuja to the negotiating table. They look at ISWAP

..to see the futility. ISWAP has suffered devastating losses in recent weeks. About 30% of their commanders have been killed. In panic, ISWAPs Interim Council reshuffled the leadership structure and appointed new commanders. 20% of replacement commanders have also been killed.

Heck just yesterday ISWAP appointed new commanders in their attempt at realignment of forces. Incorporating Boko Haram fighters after the death of Shekau no doubt made ISWAP larger and more formidable on paper. People also forget that the Nigerian military of today is not the

...pre 2015/2016 military. They've had a decade of experience in an assymetric battlefield.

There was a time when hundreds of Nigerian troops would flee across the border into Cameroon in confusion. They were faced with a new kind of enemy. One they have never encountered.

The Nigerian army's fearsome conventional weapons and conventional tactics proved ineffective against a new kind of enemy in an assymetric battlespace, where timely intelligence and information was the nuclear weapon, not tanks, not artillery. Not warships.

There is no training manual for a war like this. Neither can a scenario be simulated. Strategies are built upon lessons learnt from years of combat experience.

By 2021 the entire military has been honned into the lethal machine ISWAP & Bandits are now coming to grips with.

The organisation structure has been modified. Where there was once service rivalry, the Nigerian military has become one cohesive dedicated force, with emphasis on speed, technology and intelligence gathering..

..where the army and airforce come under one central command, eliminating time wasting via a beurocratic chain of command.

The weapons platforms aquired underscores the shift in a military that now understands the rudiments of Assymetric and 5th Dimension Warfar.

Insurgents now realize the futility of attrition against a professional and lethal fighting force built to be as fast and as nimble as they they are. Beating them in their own game. It took a decade to get to this point. No amount of money and weapons can buy combat experience.

The armed attack drones and A-29 Super Tucanos haven't even come on stream, yet insurgent groups are haemorageing fighters and commanders faster than they can replace. To fill up their ranks, groups like ISWAP now resort to entice the elderly with a promise of monthly stipend.

It's taking us almost a decade to where we are now. At at this critical junction the only weapon they have left is propaganda by cowardice. Attacking soft targets, killing the innocent in the hope of turning public opinion against the military.

It is at this critical junction we have men like Sheikh Gumi giving insurgent groups the motivation they need to just hold on a little.

Attacking soft targets and killing civilians it was hoped will force Abuja to negotiate a peaceful settlement. So while Sheikh Gumi

..is busy advocating for bandits, admonishing Nigerians for calling them criminals, insisting they are only victims of circumstances and asking for blanket amnesty, the bandits are busy killing as many civilians as possible in their attempt to shock the government to the table.

Obviously that didn't work. Abuja has been able to weather the storm and remain resolute in their stance against blanket amnesty for bandits. Now they are on PLAN C, ramping up the stock value. They are kidnapping toddlers, school children, mostly girls for their shock value.

Just yesterday these marauding bandits, who Sheikh Gumi insisted are victims abducted babies and female nurses from the residential quarters of the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Centre, NTLC, Kaduna, after killing 7 kidnap victims in 3 days.

In their quest for easy money, they have debased themselves to the level of animals. Who goes into a hospital to kidnap new born babies and nurses? ..and more important, why has Shelf Gumi not publicly use "his influence" to condemn this act of barbarism?

Last week Gumi, in an inflammatory statement claimed Abuja is complicit with bandits in kidnapping innocent citizens. He claimed they have no desire to end the war because of money.

He gave a half assed apology saying people misinterpreted his statement (wrong target).

24 hours later he doubled down, this time he accused the Nigerian military of working hand in hand with bandits because of the billions of naira in annual allocation for defence.

What the Sheikh basically thinks is the billions he would have earned in his blanket amnesty for bandits is going to the Nigerian military. He feels cheated. Why should Abuja allot billions of naira for defence annually, yet refuse to yield to his demand for Amnesty.

What this man is basically saying is that bandits are not the bad guys. They are just victims of circumstances. Their cows were stolen, and with no other source of livelihood had no choice than to pick up arms and start killing the innocent indiscriminately. They are victims.

He himself is not the bad guy. All he is trying to do is bring an end to the war by brining the Nigerian government to the negotiating table for an agreed upon settlement. He is only trying to help.

To Gumi the real enemy here is the Nigerian government, for refusing to yield to his demand for blanket amnesty to bandits, afterall 20 years ago such Amnetsy was granted to Niger Delta militants.

The narrative he is trying to portray is that the Nigerian military complicit.

They are the ones enjoying the billions that should otherwise have been used settle bandits to drop their arms.

Yet the Nigerian government has consistently refused to prosecute the religious cleric for his actions that borders on treason.

If any other prominent Nigerian had done this, he would have been arrested, detained, interrogated, taken to court, and if found guilty sentenced to jail. This is supposed to be a nation where nobody is above the law. The double standard in the treatment of Gumi is shocking!!