The Jonathan Administration: Entering self-destruct mode?

by Eze Eluchie

With the ease with which terrorist elements brandish military hardware they seize from Nigeria’s military forces, it is natural to expect suppliers of such equipment to express some reservations with regards to providing more sensitive and technologically up-to-date military equipment to an army that cannot guarantee safe custody of such weapons and are prone to losing same to criminal elements or worse still, whose top brass may surreptitiously be ‘handing over’ such weapons to terrorists. Some equipment in Nigeria’s military arsenal, the prior loss of which had not been made known to the Nigerian public, which Boko Haram had displayed with glee in some of its video releases include, Tanks, Armored Personnel Carriers and endless cache of M-16 and AK-47 guns.     

The above scenario clearly founded the reluctance of United States authorities to sell “Cobra attack helicopters” to the Nigerian military – a reluctance which certainly did not augur well with the some at the helm of affairs in Nigeria.

The further escalation of the situation by Nigeria’s cancellation of ongoing Military Training exercises   for our soldiers being conducted by the United States military is an ill-thought, most unfortunate and deplorable descent into very murky waters.

The following issues immediately come into focus:

1.      Who in heavens name in the Jonathan administration suggested the discontinuation of training programs for Officers and men of the Nigerian Army by United States military authorities?

2.      What was the intended outcome of such discontinuation?

3.      Was it merely to ensure the continuations of schism with an entity the administration can least afford a confrontation with? Is there a ‘Plan B’?

4.      Considering that key allies of the US will not step in to fill the void, did those who proffered this discontinuation foresee alternative arrangements with other countries and the logistic and lingual barriers such alternatives may pose?

This discontinuation is akin to the push by some elements in the Nigerian Government, led by the present Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Adebowale Adefuye, to frustrate earlier efforts to designate Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), an effort which portrayed the present administration as bereft of unified approach at tackling terror and unable to pinpoint its enemies/problems.

By all means, you can make new friends, but certainly not in the middle of a war! You stick to the folks you are familiar with and if there are differences, you amicably sort it out. Not cut off relationships!

Mr. President, if you are looking for 5^th columnists in your ranks, look no further than the source of the advice to discontinue and cut off military ties with the US. And if, per chance, God forbid, the advice and decision was initiated by your goodself, then clearly Mr. President, the administration has taken further action which appears to set it in a ‘self-destruct’ mode.

With the abundance of anarchist elements posturing as 'opposition politicians', and a full fledged terrorist onslaught at its northeastern flanks, the Nigerian Government is least equipped to take on a cunning and swift extra-powerful opponent. 

Avoid schisms. Make peace!

Picture: Training session US soldier and Nigerian soldiers