The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, has said the international community’s conspiracy to deny the Nigerian Military access to equipment prolonged the fight against insurgency.
He also dismissed allegations of rights violations by military personnel in the 15-year fight against insurgency in the country.
The CDS, contrary to allegations by rights groups, the military adheres to international laws of armed conflicts in the fight against terrorists.
General Musa, speaking with Aljazeera recently, said the Nigerian military is a professional force that admits its mistakes and makes amends.
He explained that the Armed Forces of Nigeria has standing court martials for people who have committed offences in the fight.
“Well, I know that we all understand that we’re human beings; we’re bound to make mistakes, and they’re just professional mistakes. Some things are beyond your control. We don’t control the weather, we don’t control the atmosphere, so even when you have it right, mistakes do come, and when it happens, we take responsibility and make amends.
“Fighting warfare for over 15 years and making how many human lives are lost, we’re very sorry about that, but then the war goes on, and we don’t have to stop because if you look at it, we’re not blaming anyone, but any country that is fighting a prolonged war, there are bound to be mistaken, but they are never deliberate, and we take ownership, and we take corrections, so that’s what we’re doing.
“What we do is that whoever commits an offence faces the law,”
He said those responsible for such acts are being prosecuted, adding that they will be investigated if found culpable and face the law, “we have to stand court-martials in all our divisions, you do well, you are rewarded, and then you do badly, you face the law.”
He added, “Then we make amends for the communities, like the Tudun Biri community with issues. The government stepped in, and many incentives and measures have been implemented. We have also corrected and enhanced our training. We have suspended the commanders that were on the ground. We’ve taken the responsibility for what they have done, so the work is ongoing.”
On whether the military will testify before the International Court of Justice for alleged human rights abuses in the ongoing fights, he said, “We’re ready. We’re ready to go.
We’re not scared of anybody. And I can tell you, they have their intent on why they are doing that. I think they want to demoralise my troops,”.
He said those allegations are raised by those who do not wish the military success in the fight against insurgency.
He said, “They want us to look bad because I just can’t understand why anybody will wake up and say that we’re killing people when we’re not doing the same. And guess what? Where you’re talking about it, we have all the humanitarian agencies working there. You have the UN working, and local and international organisations are working.
Are we saying they’re complicit? There is nothing we’re doing in the back. So if they don’t say it, it means Amnesty International and Amnesty are equally there, which means they’re similarly accusing all these other organisations of being complicit.
He continued, “We’re not scared of anything because we don’t have anything of such”.
General Musa said the war against insurgency was prolonged this long due to international conspiracy denying the military access to equipment.
“One of the reasons this insurgency has been going on for this long is because we have been denied access to equipment. Even when we have our monies to get to, it’s difficult,”
The Defence Chief dismissed reports of corruption in defence procurement.
“As I told you, I realised over time that I’ve been in service for almost 33 years. Anytime we seem to be succeeding, somebody throws something at us, and the question is, why? Is it because we’re succeeding, or you don’t want the country to move forward? What is the aim? What’s the intent? That’s the question we’re asking,”
He added that contrary to allegations of corruption in defence procurement, “We have a procurement procedure which is being followed. And to also state that, even with our money, sometimes, we find it difficult to get equipment. And the question is, why?”
He said Nigeria does not have any foreign military bases. “We have that capacity. All we need is to continue to do joint training, which we do, and get the equipment to help us project these wars. If you’re playing this almighty game of catch-up to deal with a type of warfare you have never dealt with before, asymmetric warfare on this scale, you most certainly need partners.
He said that while Nigeria sends its officers and soldiers to friendly nations for training, it does not encourage foreign-based training.
“For training purposes, we have our officers and soldiers trained all over the countries. All our friendly partners, we are together with them, we’re working. All we’re saying is that we don’t need anybody, any boots on the ground.
We’ll continue with our joint training and courses. All we need is the ability to get this equipment, and I assure you that we can secure our area. “
He said allowing a foreign military base would set Nigeria up for a proxy war.
Why are you so resistant to boots on the ground from friendly nations? Because it creates more problems.
“But as an international system, like I said, we don’t produce, we need to buy. Going to purchase these items is sometimes difficult.
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