By Miracle Ogunde
Former Director, Peace-keeping Operations and Commander of Operations Safe Haven, Major General Anthony Atolagbe has explained the roles played by former President, Muhammadu Buhari-led administration in setting the pace for military warfare in Nigeria.
Atolagbe who stated this on Sunday maintained that terrorism is a major global challenge not peculiar to Nigeria alone.
According to him, “Terrorism is not a basket ball or a football game and you will see that even around the world” adding that “terrorism is not peculiar to Nigeria.”
“Even in advanced countries, you will see somebody will just hold a gun and walk into a place and bring about 50 people down. Those are the kind of things we are experiencing in the country.
“The troops needed time to start getting trained along those lines and get used to that kind of operations. A lot of personnel were taken outside the country to places like Belarus, South Africa and other places for training on special operations of that nature. And then, we did not have the required assets, both air assets and other military assets that we require to deliver the required punch,” he said.
While lauding former President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime in changing the military operations in Nigeria, the former General said, “Thanks to the last government (Buhari’s administration) that made procurements for some aircraft, air fighters as I like to put them, which have changed the face of the warfare. I am aware that the insurgents have been severely degraded and they are disorientated right now, even though we still hear about some attacks in some isolated places.”
He, however, advised the president administration at the federal level to be proactive in fighting terrorism in the country.
“Stop the terrorists before they strike. That is, being proactive. Get the necessary intelligence that they require and then ensure they do a lot of force protection on their own personnel so that they can reduce casualties.”
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