The Nigerian Military has recorded seven terror attacks on its bases in 2025 despite claimed successes against terrorists and bandits.
The Defence Headquarters in 2024 declared 106 terrorists/bandit leaders wanted with a vow to eliminate them from the battlefield.
While several such terrorist leaders (at least 22) have been eliminated, these successes, however, came at a price.
Abu Bilal Minuki, Haruna Isiya Boderi, Kachallah Alhaji Dayi, Kachallah Idi, Kachallah Kabiru, Kachallah Azailaru, and Alhaji Baldu are among the prominent terrorist leaders eliminated.
The director of defence media operations, Maj.-Gen. Markus Kangye revealed that Nigerian troops seized a substantial cache of arms and ammunition during recent operations targeting non-state actors.
Specifically, 3,002 firearms and 71,532 rounds of ammunition were recovered during coordinated offensives in Sambisa Forest, the Timbuktu Triangle, and the Tunbums along the Lake Chad Basin.
The military also neutralised several high-ranking terrorist leaders and field commanders, including Amir Garin Manzo, Hussaini Ardo, Abu Mohammed, Buba Kachalla Bukar, Abu Rijab, Ali Modu, Munzur Ya Audu, Abdullahi Maishayi, Abba Tukur, Abu Sule, Ari Gana, Mallam Mohamadu, Jibrila Ahmadu, and Saidu Hassan Yellow. These eliminations marked a significant blow to insurgent command structures in the region.
Timeline of attacks on military formations; on 4 January 2025, Boko Haram terrorists riding on motorcycles and gun trucks attacked the troops’ location at Sabon Gari village of Damboa local government area, killing at least six soldiers.
On 25 March 2025, Boko Haram terrorists attacked and dislodged troops under the 120 Taskforce Battalion in Goneri, Gujba local government area of Yobe State.
According to security sources, patrol vehicles, rocket-propelled grenades, general-purpose machine guns, motorcycles and critical equipment were carted away, and armour tanks and buildings in the base were destroyed by attackers.
Again, on March 25, 2025, Boko Haram terrorists attacked a military location in Wajiroko near Sabon-Gari in Damboa local government area of Borno State, killing at least four soldiers and unspecified numbers wounded in the action.
The insurgents, who dislodged the troops, also looted fighting equipment from the military base.
On March 24, 2025, Boko Haram fighters attacked Wulgo military formation in Borno State, killing at least 20 Cameroonian troops, carting away weapons and burning down the base.
On May 3, 2025, four soldiers were reportedly killed and weapons carted away when insurgents attacked the 27 Taskforce Brigade Buni Gari, Gujba local government area of Yobe State.
On May 7, 2025, an army captain and a soldier were reportedly killed by the Boko Haram terrorists during a midnight attack on the Izge community in the Gwoza local government area of Borno State.
On 12 May 2025, terrorists attacked a military base in Marte local government area of Borno State and killed four soldiers.
These attacks led to the loss of soldiers, weapons, ammunition and other equipment. The development has also affected the planned return of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno and other states.
Following these setbacks, the Chief of Army Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede, removed the theatre commander of Operation Hadin Kai and all his field commanders.
LEADERSHIP reports that the Army, according to military sources, has embarked on a tour of the theatre to boost the troops’ morale and retake lost ground.
The country director of Amnesty International, Sanusi Isa, condemned the attacks and called on the military to review its operations and ensure the safety of communities.
“The resurgence of attacks in the North East is a big setback for the efforts to protect civilians from the atrocities of Boko Haram. The Nigerian government must immediately review its plans and ensure that people are protected and communities are safeguarded. Government must desist from compelling people to move back to areas that are not yet entirely safe.”
In an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP, Prof Khalifa Dikwa attributed resurging terror attacks to complicity within the system and bad policies of the government.
He said the government has refused to recruit the required strength and provide modern technology and equipment to its troops.
He said, “Insurgent attacks on government formations are due to the refusal to take advice. When we had the civil war with Biafra, within a very short time, we were able to recruit one million soldiers and train them to fight, but with this Boko Haram, we refuse to recruit, and each time a new regime comes, people are retired, including Generals.”
He added that terrorists sympathisers are in the government, frustrating every effort aimed at ending insurgency in the country.
” Remember when President Jonathan said Boko Haram were in his government, they have always been in government within the corridors of power, and foreign powers such as CIA assets are in government. So, they are trying to reverse the achievements of the Borno governor. The Borno model is different because nowhere in the world have IDPS been returned home. They were always dumped in the camps, where they took videos of themselves and sent them to UN headquarters to get money to share. They are never meant to end. It is a foreign interest that is stopping us from defeating insurgency. Nigeria, by their plan, is supposed to be like Congo, where there are many warlords and armed groups. They started in 1999 during our return to democracy by weakening the traditional institutions. The mai angwa, village heads who had more influence over communities, were removed. Remember, they know everyone and everywhere within their locality, but upon our return to democracy, they removed them deliberately.”
He lamented the recurrent retirement of senior officers based on political ambitions.
“Obasanjo, when you became president, you retired many Army generals, but how do you train people up to the level of a General and retire them? Buhari retired 80 Generals, Tinubu retired 113, so look at this kind of wastage. It is just like training a doctor, and you allow outsiders to take them,” he said.
Speaking on illegal mining and activities, he stressed, “We are aware of foreign influence, but we need to approach it diplomatically. We need to invite ambassadors of those countries whose planes used to drop weapons, used to land in the mine fields to take resources and tell them that Nigerians are not happy about the activities of some of their compatriots who come into our remote areas without permission. They do that in Zamfara, and they used to do it in Borno. They are doing it everywhere there are mineral resources. It has become a business for them, an industry for them, I mean insurgency has become an industry.”
He blamed continued banditry in the country on a complicit banking system.
“Bandits take ransom in millions, but when they are arrested, you don’t see it on them, which means the money goes into the banking system, but the banks are complicit. By law, anything above one million, they should ask for the source, but they don’t. Just like the state will not arrest bandits who use the phone number to negotiate ransom, but arrest those criticising the government.”
He berated security agencies for their inability to track and arrest bandits.
“The security agencies have trackers, but they don’t track the bandits because of a vested interest. I do not see the end of insurgency as long as politicians are alone without technocrats who are appointed to head those agencies. They are there for personal interest. They are loyal to the President alone and not to Nigerians. We need to have technocrats in government at least for some sensitive agencies, especially in the security sector, who are only loyal to Nigerians and the profession, and then you open the finances for their operations, such as money for equipment and the rest. We also need to interrogate as to why we have the weapons and yet troops are not using them, but are waiting to be killed by the insurgents who are using drones. Why are we not using our attack aircraft? Who is preventing us from using them? Especially the Super Tucano. The insurgents are using modern weapons and technology available, but our troops are still relying on the AK-47. It will not end because it is an industry to make cheap money.”
Prof Dikwa said it would be difficult to defeat insurgency and corruption when hunger and poverty are weaponised.
“People will do anything to get food; you cannot blame them. Why did you remove the fuel subsidy and float the currency at the same time? Fuel subsidy is a right. The white man who advised you to remove fuel subsidy, they buy petrol and subsidise 80 percent for their citizens to enjoy but they are telling you to do the opposite. Fuel subsidy directly links to every facet of society, from transportation to the cost of living. Again, devaluation of the National currency is a terrible thing. Bad salary, injustices, coupled with other policies, are driving social vices. People are aggrieved, so they join available gangs for survival.
That is exactly what is instigating youths to join terrorists because when they look at the condition of their parents after working for the nation,” he said.