Following the growing incidence of renewed attacks by the displaced Boko Haram terrorists, a former Director in the Department of State Services, DSS, Mr. Mike Ejiofor, has charged Nigerians to brace up for more of such attacks.
Speaking with Vanguard in Abuja, Ejiofor, who is a security consultant, said with the military’s announcement of the capture of the terrorists’ stronghold, Camp Zero in Sambisa forest, the sect was now in disarray, but more decisive in launching attacks on Nigerians as a way of proving its continued existence.
He said: “In an asymmetric war or unconventional war, it is even more difficult to fight because you do not have a central control. Since the Camp Zero has been taken, Sambisa forest is still very open and that is why we have continued to have attacks, uncoordinated attacks on soft targets.
“Nigerians now have to be more security conscious and to look around their environment with a view to assisting the military because what we are going to have going forward, are these uncoordinated attacks. We should be expecting more of the attacks.
“The capture of Camp Zero is not the end of the war. You know initially they used to plan their attacks there, but now it is no more coordinated, which is their own way of proving that they are still potent because government has also told us that they have technically defeated Boko Haram.
“So, they (terrorists) also want to prove that they are still potent by carrying out such uncoordinated attacks. The thing is that we expect some of these attacks but it should not be left to the military alone. Nigerians have to be on their guards, because it is often said that ‘the price of liberty is eternal vigilance’.”
“We just have to be vigilant to make sure some of these things are curtailed because we cannot just gloss over it. Ireland, Pakistan, Iraq and others have continued to fight this type of war for so long. With the capture of Osama Bin Laden, has that brought the end to the al-Qaeda struggle? No. This is a global war and not a Nigerian affair. “We have the international dimension especially with Boko Haram’s connection with ISIS. So, we have infiltrations from neighbouring countries. What about the issue of herdsmen? It has been established that some of them are not Nigerians too”, he stated.
Commending the military for the successes recorded so far in prosecuting the war, Ejiofor counselled the military to detach itself from politics, urging the Federal Government to focus on ending the war rather than giving in to unnecessary propaganda.
