Navy, Air Force Not Happy With Army-led Boko Haram Operations
Former Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor (retd) says the coordination of Operation Lafiya Dole at some point was handled by Army Headquarters, causing unease among the Navy and Air Force leadership.
Irabor made the disclosure in his book titled “Scars: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum.”
“In contrast to the provisions of the NDP, the coordination of the operation was undertaken by Army HQ at some point, such that the leadership of the other services (navy and air force), whose forces contributed to the operation felt uncomfortable with such an arrangement,” he said.
The ex-CDS also disclosed that at a stage in the fight against Boko Haram, the military resorted to using abandoned and dilapidated vehicles, including those from the Nigerian Civil War, due to poor equipment conditions.
The revelation comes against the backdrop of past incidents in which soldiers were sanctioned for complaining about poor equipment.
In 2014, several soldiers deployed in Borno State were court-martialled after protesting inadequate weapons and logistics to confront Boko Haram fighters.
Some of them were sentenced to death for mutiny, though the sentences were later commuted.
Irabor, who was the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole (the operation against Boko Haram in the North East) between March 2016 and May 2017, stated that the equipment situation in the theatre was “deplorable,” prompting commanders to improvise in order to sustain operations.
He specifically said they scavenged dilapidated and abandoned vehicles to strengthen their fighting capability.
“It is worth noting that at a particular stage of operation, the Lafiya Dole theatre’s equipment disposition was deplorable. In order to boost the fighting capability of the forces, therefore, we resorted to scavenging dilapidated and abandoned vehicles,” he added.
He further explained that following the poor state of equipment, the then Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, authorised the use of trucks initially procured for road construction, as well as tractors meant for mechanised farming, to support military operations.
