Former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd), says in tackling Boko Haram, security agencies must concentrate on intelligence gathering.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Trust on Sunday, the former military head said the war against the Boko Haram sect is not a conventional one, hence, the security agencies need more intelligence for their operations, leadership and character to be able to check them.
On how insecurity challenges in the country can be tackled, he said, ” It is a war that has to be won, but it must be won by all of us as a people. The efforts to get it stopped must be from every Nigerian, whether you are in the military, police or government. Everyone of us has a role to play in finding solutions to these problems.”
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“But it is probably not new. In 1970, immediately after the war we had the highest cases of armed robbery in Nigeria, killings and so on, but the government came out very strongly and kept the situation at bay.”
“I think we should concentrate more on intelligence information. For example, on Boko Haram, we need more intelligence about how they operate, their leadership, their characters, who teaches them, who trains them, and so on. A lot of information need to be gathered before you confront them.”
“Don’t forget, they are not conventional army, they are just people, small in number when compared to the regular conventional army. Their job is to inflict maximum casualty or instill fear in the populace. They instill fear in the ordinary people so that they would feel that government is not able to protect them, and that is the whole purpose of hit-and-run approach of the sect.”
