Thread by @DefenseNigeria

I like to address DMs like this publicly for those who share similar opinions.

In Nigeria we have a myriad of militant groups that has an external dimension to it. This is not your stereotypical Niger Delta MEND agitating for a "cause" kind of group.

They use high profile

..events and the media to
boost their notoriety. They marry unconventional warfare tactics with conventional military hardware. We talking 88mm mortars, 120mm artillery guns, improvised rocket artillery systems, armoured vehicles, drones for surveillance, dedicated snipers.

..gun trucks fitted with anti-aircraft guns. Boko Haram once had a rocket making factory in the Sambisa forest. Where do you think they got the technical know-how from? ..that's right..Hezbollah. Where is Hezbollah. .middle East.

When Nigerian troops introduced the deadly "Shilka" into the theatre take out BHT armour, Boko Haram responded by fitting their gun trucks with anti-tank guns and recoiless rifles.

This person also questioned the Nigerian army's inability to stop the attacks on soft targets.

Nigeria is a very vast country. We talking almost a million square kilometres of territory. Many of the locations they target are in very remote areas. If i was ISWAP/Boko Haram or bandits, i will use that remoteness and lack of resources to my advantage.

The Nigerian army will need 10 million soldiers to man every remote location, school, villages, beauty salons, worship centres etc in Nigeria. This army belongs to the barracks not on our streets, schools and public places. The army should not be carrying out

..forensic investigations and solving kidnapping cases. This functions falls on the Police Force.

However in all fairness, i dont think we can blame the Police for their inability to handle these cases or even running away in some instances. They are outgunned, under resources,

It will not make sense to put them as Nigeria's first line of defence in these situations..so deploying the army on civil operations as a stop gap measure makes sense. But we have to remember these are soldiers, not riot policemen. Their training and indoctrination

..is different. All you need do is look at the Lekki incident. It matters not what happened or who is right or wrong, the underlying factor here is that when you bring troops that belong to the barracks to handle protests with no prio training, accidents are bound to happen.

But the Nigerian government has had years to restructure the Police Force in size and equipment so as to take over their statutory obligations so the army can go back to actually fighting a war, rather than hiring lawyers and attending public trials and doing forensics

..on TV, making a public spectacle. Also Nigerians have a knack for underating the military and hyping those of neighbouring countries.

These countries will crumble like a pack of cards if they are faced with the full force of Boko Haram, ISWAP, bandits simultaneously

A British minister stated recently that if the UK were to face the myriad of challenges Nigeria was grappling with, that is Boko Haram, ISWAP, bandits, ESN, they will not survive. She was perturbed at the disconnect between the exploits of the military and the civilian populace

Nigeria has been battling ISIS/BHT alone for years without western support. This is no small feat. Very few nations can keep an insurgency of such nature localized, protecting 90% of the Nigerian populace from the horrors of war. Not Libya, not Mali, not Syria,...heck..

..it took a coalition of 62 countries to tackle ISIS in Syria. The richest, largest and most powerful terrorist group in all of history. A group that swept aside the Iraqi army, where troops fled, leaving behind M1 Abram tanks and hundreds of gold plated armour. They took Mosul

..with relative ease and were advancing towards Baghdad before they were stopped on their track by American F-18 hornets launched from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean.

President Obama released $500 million to train FIFTY..yes FIFTY moderate terrorists to fight ISIS..

The very same week President Obama blocked Israel from selling helicopters to Nigeria, citing human rights concerns.

On the day of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris, where 12 people were killed, 2400 Nigerians were killed by Boko Haram. On the same day.

..yet it barely registered on the news. World leaders, including Israel, locked in arms walked down the streets of Paris in a show of solidarity and support for France, meanwhile simultaneously Nigeria's attempt to buy arms from Israel and South Africa was being sabotaged.

In an attempt to circumvent Obama's arms ban on Nigeria, a Pakistani C-130 Hercules plane laden with light helos took off from a Pakistani airbase, destination - Nigeria.

They never got to Nigeria.

It was intercept in Saudi airspace by two F-15 fighters and forced to land.

Despite all these, 90% of Nigerians experience the war on ISIS/ISWAP, Boko Haram by what we see on television. Despite efforts by agents of destabilization to replicate the situation of Libya in Nigeria, the conflict remains localized, Nigerians remains a functioning democracy.

Does Nigeria get the credit and respect it deserves for its resilience? NO.

Last week France24 claimed Boko Haram controls 70% of Nigeria. They portray Nigeria in a light that makes you think Afghanistan is better. When you touch down in Abuja or Lagos airport you don't get the

vibe of a war zone. There are no military outposts with soldiers behind sandbags. There is starvation, no drought. Only in a few select northeast/western states will you find palpable evidence of a nation battling for survival, and not one in a thousand Nigerian has seen this.