Obasanjo: Insurgency has lasted 15 years, hope those in charge know what they are doing

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed concern that the fight against Boko Haram in Nigeria has outlasted the country’s civil war that took place between 1967 to 1970.

According to him, the civil war lasted for 30 months, but the fight against insurgents and criminals has lasted for almost 15 years.

Obasanjo spoke during the ‘Toyin Falola Interviews’ conversation, which was live streamed on social media.

The Catholic bishop of the Sokoto diocese, Matthew Kukah, and a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Kingsley Moghalu, were other panelists during the conversation.

Responding to questions on insurgency, Obasanjo said leadership must understand that Nigeria needs a combination of training, equipment, intelligence, and technology to end insurgency.

“There are four important items and I hope that those who are in charge — military, executive, and legislature — know what they are doing,” he said.

“First, there is training. There are different types of training. The military is trained for conventional war.

“If the people you are dealing with are fleeting targets or living among your people, you will need different types of training to deal with them.

“Among the countries that have done that fairly successfully is Colombia. Should we invite them to train our people? There is no shame in that. It is a specialised type of training.

“There is the equipment. The equipment to fight that type of warfare. It is different from the equipment for conventional warfare. The other one is intelligence. You need absolute intelligence. Can others trust us with the intelligence that they have?

“The fourth one is technology. These four have to come together and do other things internally.

“Then you ask the military to be the one buying equipment. It is not done. The whole thing is an industry. It is an industry.

“Civil war lasted for 30 months. Although we thought it would last for six months. But this fight against insurgents and criminals has lasted for almost 15 years.”

The Ota-farmer narrated how he visited Maiduguri in 2011 to find out the origin, grievances, and leadership of Boko Haram.

Obasanjo said the insurgents initially refused to negotiate with the federal government.

He said Boko Haram would later agree to a 21-day ceasefire to allow for negotiations.

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