SABOTEURS AND NIGERIA SABOTAGE is defined as a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity or corporation through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. It is often carried out by enemy combatants, enemy groups, extremist groups, rebel organisations, subversives, underground extremists, etc. A saboteur is also described as a person who destroys or damages something deliberately, a person who performs sabotage. The categories of saboteurs cannot easily be exhausted as they range from economic, political, social to almost every sphere of human activity. I am interested here in military and political saboteurs and Nigerians at this time of our nation building. Saboteurs have been part of life and the leadership struggle for ages. Military coupists are called saboteurs if they fail, but when they succeed they become heroes and valiant men. Saboteurs are a bad dream for any leader and one of the worst challenges any leader could face in any situation. This is more so for the military where obedience, faithfulness, and commitment to the course of the command is demanded by training and all aspects of military life. The course of a good war campaign or onslaught can be completely reversed against the attacker, or destroyed by sabotage. The saboteur for whatever his purposes or intentions may be could either mislead the war plans and execution into wrong strategies or leak the plans to the enemy; either way, sabotage spells doom for the fighting forces and their commanders. It leads to unexpected war casualties in terms of lives and materials, and brings huge discouragement and fear to the troops in any war campaign whether in fighting conventional wars , insurgency, or guerilla war fares. Nigerian military have shown themselves to be good professional combatants in many international wars, including the Second World War, the Congo, Sierra-Leone and Liberia conflicts, to name a few. But their inability to effectively contain the Boko Haram insurgents gives well-meaning Nigerians cause for concern. The attitude and confidence of the Haramites suggest that they have some form of knowledge that boosts their morale. Two Igbo proverbs will help me here. The first says that when a masquerade dances on the road, someone in the bush is beating the drums for it, and the second is that when a child is asked by his father to go and steal, he pushes the doors down instead. Before Chibok, the news was that our military were containing the situation on the North East, especially in Borno State. But soon there were calls by some rich and powerful individuals in that zone threatening to drag the then Chief of Army Staff to the ICC. Subsequently, one thing led to the other and he was retired, and yet some of these men still think the former Chief of Army Staff is their problem. They brought campaigns on the television and social media against our military, and the result is that today, we have the Chibok girls embarrassment which has been on for three months and running. As if that was not enough, the Haramites recently took over the Gwarzo LGA in Borno State after killing their Emir! Something must be wrong with the unity of purpose of our military that they cannot use their air and land power to contain these insurgents. I think it is sabotage. People may write and talk politics, but could it be that sabotage is among the reasons that prevented the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces from visiting Borno State till date? He must have some information which we do not have, and no right thinking Nigerian would want our President exposed to any booby trap.We pray that something be done to flush these Haramites from Nigerian soils. Clement Udegbe, a legal practitioner. To be continued. https://facebook/groups/paff.789/ Paffcomm paffcomm
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 06:21:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015