Why Igbo want to colonise S-South — Sagir Muhammad

Alhaji Sagir Muhammad, who holds the title Waziri Ringim was the leader of defunct Arewa Peoples Congress, APC. Known as a front line General Ibrahim Babangida loyalist, Muhammad, who retired from the military as intelligence officer in the 1990’s, in this interview spoke on burning national issues.
What do you think is responsible for an upsurge in the activities of the insurgents despite claims that they have been technically defeated?
Insurgency is the most difficult aspect of military operation because you don’t know your enemy, you don’t know where he is, you don’t know the kind of tactics he uses which is not conventional tactics, you don’t know the kind of logistic he uses and you don’t know where the logistics are or where they are hidden.
And above all why it is extremely difficult is that the insurgents are usually embedded within the civil society.
If you probably know where their training ground is like Sambisa there may be other training grounds within the civil society. As you are trying to go to Sambisa you find that the insurgents are fighting you from the back, the right and the left.
Then you find that dividing your forces to fight the insurgents is extremely very difficult and probably when you are trying to go to North-East, you hear bomb blasts in Lokoja, Sokoto, Kano, etc. Now tell me how do you plan for this kind of operation? It is very difficult.
In September I heard an interview with the press over the Federal Government’s deadline to obliterate the insurgency. I said it is a mistake to put deadline because of the complexity and the intricacies involved in fighting the insurgency.
Fighting the insurgency

Now, the bulk of the fighting forces of the insurgents had be rooted out but the problem is that so long as there is bomb blast and people are being killed the insurgency has not ended. It is not a question of capturing ground. It is a question of ending the state of criminality and the use of human being to commit terror.
It would still go on because we are saying “we would end the insurgency” but we are not doing anything to tackle the psyche of the insurgents, the foot soldiers and supporters of the insurgency who are everywhere. So it has to be a four-face operation: One – to diminish the effectiveness of the insurgents to launch high level attack like using anti-tank and high calibre weapons.
Two, to use our intelligence and liaison to stop insurgents who are within the society that can turn themselves into human weapon. Three, there has to be spiritual counselling and guidance to get captured or repented insurgents reintegrated into the society and to conform with the acceptable norms of the society. Four, there should be rehabilitation and reconciliation.

For the full story, check the Vanguard newspaper.