Thread by @TJ_Insuranceman

BUHARI, NIGERIA AND INSECURITY: THE DETAILED JOURNEY SO FAR
OBJECTIVELY SEPERATING FACTS FROM FICTION

As at May 29th 2015, Nigeria was on literally fire. I mean real fire. Not the largely orchestrated noise we have today.

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Nigeria was practically about being run over by Boko Haram terrorists; from the North East to North West down to Abuja FCT in the North Central and emboldened to dream of heading south. Churches and Mosques, Markets and Malls and other public spaces were being bombed all over. 2/

Even our police headquarters was not spared.

Our soldiers were not all in Sambisa or other forests and bushes. Many were in Abuja, the nation’s capital trying desperately to protect and defend our Churches, Mosques, business places and even police and military facilities.

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Any sincere person can attest to these. The danger and confusion were real and the fear palpable unlike the fear mongering, inciting fake news and propaganda being deliberately and mischievously spread on WhatsApp and other social media today.

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Such was our undeniable, sordid, scary and dangerous situation when General Muhammadu Buhari Rtd came on board with the selfless support of many other patriotic and well-meaning Nigerians and the grace of God.

He came and first changed the Service Chiefs from potbellied ‘political’ Generals to battle tested professional soldiers. He literally and practically ordered them to stop hiding in their offices in Abuja that they had barricaded leaving us the bloody civilians to face …6/

….sometimes certain death and take the battle to the devils in the bushes, forests, state capitals and local government areas of the North East and North West that had become over ran and almost surrendered or 'ceded' to terrorists and they did.

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Within months, Abuja was secured, the barricades all over Abuja were removed, people were once more free to go to Churches and Mosques without fear of being bombed to death and without the indecency of being frisked by hand and scanned with metal detectors.
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More importantly, more of our soldiers were able to join their colleagues in the forests where the real battle was. Gradually, some degree of sanity and sense of normalcy began to return to the North East and the North West but the war was by no means over.

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Unbeknownst to many Nigerians, that was just part one of Buhari's assault on the insecurity bedeviling us and the nation.

As soon as 2015-16, realizing that our national armory was seriously depleted, military assets run down with no real weapons to prosecute the war…

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he put his military experience & personal integrity & good will to work for d good of our military & d nation. He was able to convince d West to sell vital & state of the art military assets which had been denied d nation on account of d irresponsible behavior of past Admins…11/

Contracts for sophisticated war Planes, Aircrafts, weaponised Drones & other hardware were signed & productions started. Remember dis things take time. They are not sold off d shelves. Even sanctions placed on Russia by d US were waived so that Nigeria could order from Russia.12/

This was the same Nigeria that had become a pariah of sorts in international and military circles before Buhari came on board.

These Military Assets Ordered And Acquired Include Among Others:

▪️ 2 Nos Mi-35 Helicopters from Russia ordered in September 2015 and October 2019
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6 Nos Leonardo AW109 Helicopters from Italy.

▪️ 12 Nos Super Tucano Light-attack Aircrafts from the United States.

▪️ 2 Nos Mi-171E Helicopters from Pakistan.

▪️ 3 Nos JF-17 multi-role Fighters from Pakistan.

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Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System from the US. Dis are precision-guided munitions with a Distribution Aperture Semi-Active Laser Seeker with an effective firing range from 11km.
-2 Nos Landing Ship Tanks, (LSTs) for the Nigerian Navy. Ordered in 2019 & completed this yr 15/

That done and waiting for delivery, while many of us were shouting 'sack Service Chiefs', President Buhari quietly faced the military institution head on. Personnel welfare, morale, training and professionalism issues were addressed.
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Recall dat b4 he came, our soldiers were so demoralized such that protests were common and they were even being driven into neighboring nations by Boko haram.
Those issues were extensively addressed and our troops regained confidence and fought Boko Haram with what they had….17/

Equally worthy of note is the fact that our local capacity in military weapons, equipment, arms and ammunition production and repair has been revamped under Buhari's watch. The Nigeria Airforce garage was revived and it started in-country refurbishment of military aircrafts…18/

At least 23 formerly unserviceable aircrafts have been locally refurbished and restored to flyable condition now

These Include Among Others:
▪️ 2 Nos Mi-35P attack helicopters
▪️ Alpha Jet NAF 455
▪️ C-130H Aircraft in Lagos
▪️ Alpha Jets in Kainji
▪️ 3 Nos L-39ZA ..19

In addition, the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) was revamped and it started manufacturing weapons; from bullets to 30mm rockets to even producing Nigeria's first Mine Resistance and Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, which was named the EZUGWU MRAP.

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To complete d package, over 200 personnel including pilots & Engr were trained in diff countries of d world.

NAF even went into partnership with Innoson Vehicle (IVM) for d local manufacture & supply of spare parts for military jets conducting airstrikes against insurgents. 21/

At one point the military announced that BH had been 'technically defeated" but many people did not comprehend. But YES it was indeed. How? BH was so decimated and incapacitated that its hitherto ability to carry out brazen attacks on cities and towns and take over entire LG..22/

Having been so denied that joy, they faced our military with ferocity and venom and our military consistently took the hit on our behalf, while sadly many of us denigrate them and refuse to acknowledge and appreciate their sacrifice of blood, tears and death.
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Now, as it became obvious that we were succeeding; old, not-so-new & new security challenges emerged. Farmer/herder clashes which had been with us for ages was given a new breathe of life, banditry; fueled mainly by d disruption of activities of illegal miners of gold ….24/

In addition, secessionists from d SE & SW either birthed or ramped up their activities & all that added to d heightened state & perception of insecurity in d nation. Yet our military rose to d task..defending d nation from both external and internal aggressions and aggressors.25/

Then, 6 yrs later, a significant amount of d heavy artillery & military assets proactively & intelligently ordered by Buhari started arriving and our already motivated troops have now happily taken d fight (what I call d 'last fight') to d misbehaving elements across d nation 26/

…and the results we are all seeing; with scores of militants, bandits and Boko Haram terrorists neutralized and hundreds of them flying the white flag of surrender daily.

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As that is happening, of course they are not expected to give up easily which is why we see d cowardly resort to attacking & abducting innocent school children including d recent attack on d Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) which regrettably cost d lives of two of our soldiers. 28/

WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW?

Unpatriotic opposition elements, people who didn't believe that PMB would succeed in caging terrorism & insecurity, those who do not want & insecurity to be tamed or end so that they could continue to exploit it for their mindless politics…29/

whether ethnic, political or personal and those who want to use it as a justification for their own failures; teaming up with a lazy, unpatriotic and irresponsible media; feeding on the large population of gullible and impressionable Nigerians have tried to ramp up the noise..30/

playing down on d undeniable exploits of our brave military under PMB while playing up & amplifying d few “breaches” of these terrorists and enemies of the nation so as to create the impression that nothing is being done, nothing has been achieved; WHICH IS CLEARLY NOT TRUE…31/

THE INCONTESTABLE TRUTH

A lot has been done & is being done. YES. Insecurity is still present, no question but our military has d upper hand & are running things now unlike b4. Beautifully PMB still has 22 clear months left in his tenure to consolidate on the fight….32/

This is very much unlike the case in 2015, when weeks to end of the tenure of the last Administration, elections were postponed for 6 weeks purportedly to allow for the military to push back Boko Haram so that elections could hold….33/

Very importantly d PMB Era has significantly and undeniably re-built, re-equipped, re-professionalized and re-positioned our military such that whoever succeeds him from 2023 would have the proper military assets and resources to continue with the task of securing the nation. 34/

A task which by d way is a continuous undertaking. There will always be security challenges; old/new, esp in a nation like ours with many politicians who ‘be made blood their political capital added to a citizenry who do not think or understand that security is everyone's biz 35/

FACTS ARE SACRED.

Anyone who says he or she is a sincere or patriotic Nigerian (even critic) who does not know, pretends not to know, cannot or does not understand and acknowledge this true, unbiased and factual narrative that I penned here, is not worthy to be called one. 36/

My Igbo people usually ask in a proverb: 'How many times will a man kill a lion before he is called a lion killer (Ogbuagu)'? The answer is once.

Buhari is a Lion Killer (Ogbuagu), whether anyone acknowledges it or not and posterity will be kind to him. He is the father of the modern Nigeria nation and Military. Those who cannot realize it now, will do so later.

#GodBlessNigeria

Dr Uche Diala
[e-mail]

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