Cameroonian troops yesterday crossed the border into Nigeria, shooting sporadically and sending Nigerians fleeing, some taking refuge in camps for internally displaced persons.
This is a calculated offensive from Cameroon
on Nigeria. They have yet again shown outright defiance to Nigeria’s territorial sovereignty and dammed the consequences of crossing the international boundary to intimidate and harass already alarmed citizens.
The govt owned media in Cameroon accuse Nigeria of sheltering Anglophone insurgents. Since the media is governments owned, it means the Yaounde is preparing the people for any eventuality. This is the second such incursion in the space of one month
The Nigerian army which has been monitoring Cameroonian moves have forward positioned field artillery troops and air assets. The army has said it will have no choice than to send troops across the river that demarcates both countries and create a buffer on the other side.
Militarily it is a mismatch. Cameroon has a standing army of 14,000 men. Nigeria has a standing army of 250,000 and another 50,000 in reserve. The disparity in air power is even more ridiculous. These are delibrate unprovoked attacks designed to elicit a response from Nigeria.
Its like there is disappointment when that response never materialize so they try again. There seems to be a foreign power prodding Cameroon to ply the path of confrontation with Nigeria with assurance of military support should hostilities erupt.
Cameroonian troops have received training from U.S and French troops despite horrific human rights atrocities. The U.S has a drone base in Garoua 60km from the Nigerian border.
Here we see Cameroonian soldiers leading a woman and child to an unknown location, blindfolding her with her baby at her back and executing. All hell will break lose if images of Nigerian troops carrying out such horrific attacks ever came out.
We are not privy to the information the Defence intelligence or army intelligence are privy of, neither do we know why Nigeria continues to exercise restraint. But we do know that field artillery forces are the standoff attack component of the army. From the safety of Nigerian
..territory military bases and other targets are well within range of the 155s and 122s. Not since the days of Abacha has offensive field artillery units been deployed to the Cameroon border.
Once again we are witnessing the same ole dynamics at play. Each time the Nigerian
..military is making serious gains we have anyone front. It used to be Boko Haram and herdesmen. When that wasnt enough we had ISWAP. When ISWAP was being dealt a decisive blow bandits pop out of no where. When bandits was at the receiving end of a reinvigorated military
..we had Sheikh Gumi calling for an end to hostilities and Amnesty for Bandits. Then we had a resurgent Boko Haram. A resurgent ISWAP. But there has been a paradigm shift. We now have a revamped military. After years of delays the Super Tucano
..is finally here. Complimented by the JF-17 fighters, both with precision guided munitions. Wing Loong II and CH-4 armed attack drones with PGMs as well, 3rd Gen. Battle Tanks, Tank Destroyers and long range artillery. The result is there for all to see. For the first time
..since the insurgency, we have witnessed the mass surrendering of fighters. Over 15,000 so far. Four top ISWAP commanders eliminated within a month. They have installed a new commander. Chances are he will meet the same fate in a matter of days or weeks.
It has become clear the Nigerian military is now too powerful for any armed insurgency to effectively contain. The likes of Sowore and Omokri with their $500,000 grants have tried their best, but its has not been enough to stir insurrection and make Nigeria ungovernable.
Suddenly we are faced with a hostile belligerent neighbour staging unprovoked attacks. Taunting Nigeria in a manner that, frankly makes no sense. Another front designed to force the military to divert forces away from the front to meet this new challenge,
..and "hopefully" stretch the already overstretched Nigerian military to near breaking point.
Anybody who thinks these events are random and there's nothing to it is in denial.
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To cap it all, here is Italy's deputy Prime Minister blaming France for the migrant crises, accusing France of impoverished African nations with its colonial policy, and even going as far as calling for sanctions against France.
When you have a first world developed nation financing its public debts with the external reserves of 14 of Africa's poorest and least developed nations via its colonial taxes, you realize France will never let go of Africa. They are ready to sponsor coups and go to war.
In April, Macron himself said " Democracy can WAIT" and warned France will not tolerate any threat to Chad. There is a good reason why Cameroons Paul Biya has maintained his grip on power for 40 years. There is a reason why Idris Derby maintained his grip on power for 36 years.
In a clever bit of subterfuge they are accusing Turkey of having ulterior motives and drawing a false equivalent between Russian involvement in Mali and Nigeria.
This guy is basically saying the Governor of Zamfara is unilaterally aquiring arms, drawing up its own foreign policy and trading with a foreign power.
Make no mistake, this is not borne out of ignorance, he is fully aware of how Nigerian Federalism works.
But thats beside the point. The main objective here is to paint Nigeria as a failed state where the central government has fallen and its all man for himself. He is preying on the fact that majority of viewers dont know better any better.
After returning from a trip to Turkey months ago, Zamfara state governors said he is helping secure a deal for first class drones from Turkey. France 24 somehow manages to spin a narrative suggesting the Nigerian military is so weak state governors are now unilaterally
.aquiring their own armed attack drones. Not only is this a delibrate and malicious distortion of the fact, they bring in a panel of analysts that, from they say know nothing about the military.
Nigeria has the most extensive intelligence gathering assets in sub saharan Africa. Preceding any airstrike ISR aircafts take to the skies to hunt for insurgent positions. Once spotted fighters are scrambled.
Those having fits over Nigeria's re-armament are in for a rough ride as the NAF prepares to take delivery of the first Squadron (twelve) of M-346FA in December.
Twenty four M-346FA's will replace the iconic Alpha Jets fleet of 16 aircafts. Aquired in the mid- 80s they are the oldest serving aircafts in the NAF inventory. 1990
The Alpha jets were deployed to Liberia during ECOMOG peacekeeping operations where they sunk ships running guns for Chalrlse Taylor in the Seaport of Buchanan and hammered rebel gun emplacements at Charles Taylor’s headquarters in Kakata, forcing him to move his base.
FRANCE24 analysts criticizing Nigeria's investment in its military at the expensive of the economy. Is this a joke?
Nigeria spends less than 2% of its GDP on defence compared to 6% on infrastructure. As a percentage of GDP Nigeria is not spending near enough on defence given is security imperatives. France's greatest ally, the late Derby never made investments in economic development.
Prioritising security, defence expenditures at a rate of 14% of the national budget. The result has been 20 years of worsening economic conditions for the already impoverished people of Chad. Highest infant mortality and illiteracy rate in the world. Chad struck oil in 2003..
After 44 watsed years of military dictatorship Nigeria returned to democratic governance in 2000. The first three years was peaceful. GDP grew at a staggering 200%. Since then Nigeria has been mirred by a myriad of security challenges and strife for 18 uninterrupted years.
We built the largest economy, greatest infrastructure, greatest music and film industry, a high tech hub...all on the back of epileptic power supply and one insurgency after another. Can you imagine what will happen if we had just a decade of stability to focus on development?
Three decades of peace transformed China into a worlds infrastructural juggernaut. In one year alone China built a high speed rail network of over 10,000 km, far exceeding that in any other country and larger than the network in the European Union.