All of us at Daylight Reporters are appalled by the gruesome murder of a lieutenant colonel, 2 majors, a captain and 12 others by a community in Delta state.
The commanding officer of the 181 Amphibious battalion, Bomadi and his subordinates – two majors, one captain and 12 soldiers were said to be responding to a distress call to Okuama community to rescue a hostage, one Mr. Anthony Aboh, who was said to have been abducted over the lingering land dispute between Okwuama and Okoloba communities when they were ambushed and killed.
The fact that the officers were said to be on peace mission further exacerbates the gruesomeness of this dastardly act. We join other well-meaning Nigerians to condemn this heinous crime while also commiserating with their family, the military fraternity, and its commander-in-chief. This is not the first time our servicemen will be targeted and killed by nonstate actors. This dark history started in Zaki Biam of Benue state and Odi in Bayelsa state. However, Nigeria has never witnessed the spike, almost a killing spree of service men and women like it has seen in the last decade or so.
Although it started much earlier, some of the high profile killings were recorded in 2016. One of the most celebrated of such event was when men suspected to be Boko Haram operatives attacked 119 Battalion location at Malam Fatori in Northern Borno killing the commanding officer of 272, Lt. Col. Muhammad Abu Ali. Abu Ali who was famous for being fearless and for demonstrating exceptional courage and gallantry in the war against Boko Haram which led to his accelerated promotion from the rank of Major to lieutenant colonel and was personally decorated by then Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusufu Buratai, was targeted and killed by Boko Haram.
In the same 2016, another Lt. Col., B Umar, was killed in a Boko Haram ambush while leading the troops of 114 Tank Battalion from Gwoza to Yola. The Commnading officer’s vehicle was said to have stepped on a mine and as he stepped out of his vehicle to assess the damage, some insurgents who were lying in wait opened fire on him and other soldiers killing them on the spot. Although troops returned fire and killed an unspecified number of the insurgents, the damage had already been done. In this list include lieutenant colonel O. Umusu commanding 118 Task Force Battalion who was killed by and IED alongside his security details.
The biggest casualty of the war on insurgency, is the killing of Brigadier General, Dzarma Zirkusu who was killed during a November 2021 attack by ISWAP terrorists on Askira town of Southern Borno state. It is estimated that Boko Haram/ISWAP alone have killed upward of 600 hundred officers and men of the Nigerian Army since the war on insurgency began in early 2008. Add those killed in various ambushes in other Northern theatres of operation and you could be forgiven for considering military service in Nigeria the deadliest in the world.
Yet, its not only men of the Nigerian Army that have been deliberately targeted and killed by criminal elements. Beginning from 2022, the Southeast in particular has become almost a burial ground of sorts for men of the Nigerian Police. Only recently, the body or what’s left of it, of the Nasarawa born DPO, Angbashim in Rivers state was recovered. This murder was particularly disturbing because, not only was the officer dismembered, but the dastardly act was also filmed by the daredevil killer, Gift Okpara. In the vein, the decomposing corpse of many police officers have also been discovered in many camps said to be operated by ESN/IPOB elements. In 2023 alone, over 50 officers of the Nigerian Police were said to have been killed in the Southeast with Imo recording the highest. That killing spree has continued unabated this year.
At Daylight Reporters, we believe these deaths are one too many. Security experts have blamed this high turnover of dead security operatives on the failure of intelligence, lack of sophisticated equipment including protective gears, the dearth of adequate and periodic training for special operations, and the poverty of values that appears to be overrunning the nation. The consensus remains that intelligence gathering is the greatest challenge of security in Nigeria and government must look to improve in this area by leveraging on every sophisticated technology out there. We believe this will be a better investment than the billions of Naira earmarked for exorbitant streetlights in the 2024 budget.
Perhaps the Okuama killing could have been averted if instead of powering through warring communities blind, the Army had first deployed UAVs to surveil the general area and guide their advance; play the role of overwatch, an eagle eye in the sky to adequately advise the ground troops on the situation ahead of them. The president must, therefore, move past the dishing out commands whenever a security breach is recorded to actioning the need for better equipment that will give our troops an edge against nonstate actors before Nigerians start avoiding the armed forces and other paramilitary services.
