While Nigeria’s fruitless war against insurgency and baseless counter-terrorism campaigns continue to deteriorate, those on the frontlines of national security have decided to repackage their wasteful ways of pilfering public resources by replacing the military with the police in an attempt to bring insecurity to an end.
To me, however, this is simply an advanced way of stealing public funds in the name of counter-terrorism campaigns and counter-insurgency operations, from which many have profited.
Furthermore, it sends a direct message to both past and future victims that unchecked insecurity in the country has come to stay permanently.
Just as the military failed woefully, the police will equally fail in this deceptive and manipulative swapping of security institutions. This is because the strategy, methodology, mechanisms and techniques remain the same, leaving little room for a different outcome.
Under the military’s leadership, the government adopted military and violent approaches. When the police take over the fight against insurgency and terrorism from the military, the government is likely to maintain the same approach, despite the well-documented failures of these military tactics, violent approaches and long-term security plans in Nigeria.
Therefore, this change of approach is not intended to counter insurgency and terrorism in the country but rather to advance the looting of public resources or repackage the deception and manipulation associated with these fruitless and baseless counter-terrorism campaigns and counter-insurgency operations.
Security amateurs and individuals who are not experts in counter-insurgency or counter-terrorism campaigns should understand that it was not the troops who failed woefully. Rather, it was the flawed counter-terrorism campaigns and counter-insurgency operations adopted by the government that failed.
Unless these campaigns are replaced with more suitable approaches, there is no way the police can avoid operating like the military.
Furthermore, anyone who claims in the future that the military failed but that replacing it with the police produced positive results should be strongly challenged.
Previously, the military, the police and other security institutions worked together, which led to the establishment of joint task forces. Above all, a joint headquarters was established in Chad by the late President Muhammadu Buhari. Although various security agencies in the country have counter-terrorism units, they lack counter-insurgency units.
Even those who live in caves know that there are many people who do not want to see an end to insecurity in the country because it has become a credit card for them. To such individuals, long-term security plans and military or violent approaches generate profits and surplus value, while adopting short-term security plans and non-military approaches goes against their financial interests.
That is why they will never replace military strategies with non-military ones, switch from long-term to short-term security plans, or admit that their counter-terrorism campaigns and counter-insurgency operations have been ineffective.
To tell the truth, even if every weapons manufacturer in the world relocated to Nigeria with the sole aim of arming the police to combat terrorism and insurgency, the outcome would still be failure.
Therefore, past and future victims should not be fooled. When these threats first emerged, terrorists and insurgents targeted the police, killing many officers and bombing their stations. Because the sponsors of these groups knew that the police were under-equipped, they decimated the force until officers disappeared from public view out of fear of further attacks.
How can a security institution that was once overwhelmed and driven into hiding by fear and a lack of advanced technology now be reassigned to fight the very same terrorists and insurgents?
Those who come across this article should please reserve their opinions until the proposed swap is finally implemented. Whether I am alive or dead, this article will vindicate me.
Therefore, security amateurs and those who are not experts in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism campaigns should withhold their opinions for now because the consequences will become evident after the swap or replacement.
If they do not, the general public should stop reading my articles.
Comrade Musa Ali Maishanu
A Certified Marxist Criminologist and Pan-Africanist Security Professional
