President Muhammadu Buhari, during his inaugural speech on Friday, directed that the Anti-Insurgency Command and Control Centre in Abuja be relocated to Maiduguri, Borno State.
- “The most immediate is Boko Haram’s insurgency. Progress has been made in recent weeks by our security forces but victory cannot be achieved by basing the Command and Control Centre in Abuja.
“The Command Centre will be relocated to Maiduguri and remain until Boko Haram is completely subdued,” he said.
However, many media outlets translated President Buhari’s statement to mean that he would move the Defence Headquarters to Borno.
This statement was met with various reactions.
Mukhtar Daniyan, popular know as Mr. Aye Dee, argued that moving the Anti-Insurgency Command and Control Centre to Maiduguri was clearly just a Public Relations move, as “except for a few additional command resources made available,” nothing was going to “change from an operational perspective.”
Daniyan pointed out that former President Goodluck Jonathan had created the 7th Division in August 2013 and placed it in Maiduguri to better engage Nigeria’s military in the battle against insurgency.
- “Bottom line, from a PR perspective “moving” the C&C Center to Maiduguri is commendable, but from a practical perspective it’s not going to change anything,” he wrote.
A political analyst, Ifeduba ThankGod, vehemently criticized the decision, saying that there was nowhere in the world that a military central command would be relocated to the combat zone.
Thank God described it as “senseless” and the height of “unprofessionalism”, a “tactical blunder.”
- “Tactically it’s a great blunder for Buhari to relocate the Military Central command right into Sambisa forest when he knows quite well that these people are non-combatants, they are not infantry soldiers and their area of responsibility covers a wider area than just Boko Haram.
“They monitor, deploy and protect both Nigeria air land and water from both internal and external aggression.
“Relocating Nigeria military Central Command to frontline war zone is the most senseless decision any President has ever taken and such action is capable of endangering Nigeria’s external security, an outside force may invade the nation of Nigeria in times like these,” he said.
Terfa Naswen, however, argued that Buhari’s decision was being misinterpreted. He said that the Command Centre was simply being extended to Miaduguri.
- “Although Buhari used the word relocation, in reality to his context it means extension because issues regarding Boko Haram will all be handled and acted upon immediately at the Command Centre that will be extended to Maiduguri while the Defence Headquarters in Abuja will deal will non-Boko Haram issues,” he said.
“Please note that Buhari is not relocating the Defence Headquarters to Maiduguri, it is only an extension of its command of operations in relation to Boko Haram that will be in Maiduguri to intensively fight
Boko Haram. Other officers and staff will still be at The Defence Headquarters in Abuja to attend to other issues.”
Boko Haram. Other officers and staff will still be at The Defence Headquarters in Abuja to attend to other issues.”
Agreeably, it would be illogical for the President to move the entire Defence Headquarter, which coordinates the Army, Airforce, and Navy, to a combat zone. It would likely leave the country extremely vulnerable.
If the relocation Buhari means is taken at face value, then the entire Defence Headquarters will be relocated and all activities in the Abuja Headquarters will be closed.
An arm like the Navy, for example, has no business being in Maiduguri as it has almost no reason to be stationed there.
With this first decision, many hope that the new President, Muhammadu Buhari, is actually making the right one.
What do you expect the incoming government of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to handle first?
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