SAVING NIGERIAN INFANTRY FROM BOKOHARAM

The issue of security in Nigeria has deteriorated to an alarming state. All eyes are on the army to help restore the country to its former state, but the reverse has been the case. The country is ranked fourth in Africa when military prowess counts. Why are we still wallowing in the battle against Bokoharam? What is the army during wrong?

The wrongs of the Nigerian army are so much that in this article I will highlight a few.  We are living in the 21th century not in the 20^th century. The Nigerian army still has leaders who still think and issue orders as if we are in 1967. The advancement of countries in military knowledge comes when the old ways, tactics and weapon deployment are dropped.

People and soldiers alike complain that the Nigerian army has no modern hardware for combating Bokoharam. It is said the insurgent group has better hardware than our army, I wonder how this is so. In every video released by the insurgents they are seen carrying AK 47 riffles which is the official riffle of the Nigerian army.

The army leaders expect the Nigerian infantry to fight fire for fire(both riffle fire, grenades and sub and heavy machine gun fire) without proper planning. Why should we sacrifice our soldiers without a bit of proper planning and conscience?

Which advanced army sends its soldiers to battle, patrol and reconnaissance mission in a pickup/ helux van? No matter how weak an enemy is soldiers must not be sacrificed to quickly root the enemy out. The most recent example is the Israeli’s war against Gaza that just ended. I did not see for once any infantry unit loaded in pickup van moving towards Gaza from Israel. Gaza is a weak nation but yet Israel deployed hundreds of its armored vehicles. There were both heavy and light tanks, infantry armored vehicles, Missile launcher vehicles etc fighting and patrolling the borders of Gaza. In 2013 I was watching a news flash on Press TV, a Lebanese government official convoy has just been hit by a suicide bomber. The Lebanese army rushed to the scene in armored vehicles, not even one pickup van came in. Egypt and Turkey had armored carriers for their soldiers during the riots, the USA’s coast guards were conveyed to St Louis in armored carriers.

What is the army waiting for in deploying their infantries in armored carriers? The deployed soldiers will definitely be aided in returning fire for fire. We are at war, full scale war and using pickup vans against enemies is outrageous. There should not be one pickup van in the northern states, the pickup vans should be replaced with armored vehicles including tanks. There is what we call psychological effects in war, tanks induces fear. There have been reports of Bokoharam fighters breaking fire to flee into the bush. If Tanks are present during this time a quick bombardment of the bush should be done and sweeping by the infantry after the bombardment.

The development of Tanks was to give protection to Infantries and in the war with Bokoharam such protection is strongly needed. Yes we need planes to carry out coordinated strikes but infantries are needed the most to minimize civilian casualties. The army should and must do away with the Helux vans if we must win this war. What is expected of a unit in a Helux van with only a machine gun to support them if the unit is attacked by men with anti tank guns, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns? Soldiers are humans and I will not blame them if they break up and race for their lives. The army should go with the trends, Ukrainian army uses IFV’s to convey their army in the recent war. Egyptian army patrols the street in IFV’S and Ethiopian army is well beefed with IFV’S. What of South Africa? They are even producing their IFV’s.

Let our army do away with the un-protected vans that cannot give cover to our gallant soldiers.  We should and must leave the vans to other smaller African armies if we want to win this war.

                                        A HISTORY OF ISRAEL IN PALESTINE

Historically the land of Palestine located around the Mediterranean Sea has always been the homeland of Jews. We know through history, Palestine had always been an attraction to invaders.

Around 13^thBc , a small Hebrew tribe migrated to the area in and around Palestine. The old Testament (Torah) recorded this migration, the record showed a tribe coming from the land of Egypt and settling down in Canaan (Palestine) and around today’s West bank.

The settling Jews were immediately subjected to many wars, some they won and some they lost. Again we can use the ancient temple of Solomon to discern the truth, Israel once had position over lands around Palestine and in Palestine during ancient time.

Remember Israel was subjected to war, two of this wars proved evil for them. One was the taking of the ten tribes by the Assyrians. It was not recorded whether this ten returned back to their land. The remaining two tribes were taking into captive by the Babylonians, they returned back to Palestine after the fall of the Babylonian empire.

These two tribes, the kingdom of Judea continued to have their share of both peace and war yet they retained their sovereignty. 

Thus was the kingdom of Judea until it fell into the hands of the Roman Empire. History tells us a lot about the Roman influence on the Jewish state. During this time the Jewish nation was greatly mixed, it had both Jews and non Jews. The land of Bethsaida had a good number of non Jews because of its rich fishing culture. Around the year 70AD, the Romans under Titus attacked and subdued a rebellious Jewish state, many Jews died. Again the Jewish state arose in Rebellion against the Roman Empire, this time in 135AD They were expelled from the land of Judah (Palestine), not all Jews left Palestine.

As the years wore on, centuries later, Jews from around the globe began to think of ways to return to the land of Palestine. In 1890s a Jew Theodor Herzl who was an Austrian journalist became prominent among these Jews calling for a return to their homeland. Herzl gave his fellow Jews the idea of uniting the Jews in other countries with those in Palestine (Zionism)

However Palestine was now inhabited by Arabs who were mostly Muslims and a few Jews living in its main cities. Among the few Jews living in Palestine were Jews from Europe who came on Pilgrimage to Palestine but decided to remain in their country. The land of Palestine was ruled by the Othman Empire, the Empire took less interest in Palestine because its grounds lacked profitable values. Due to the largely presence of the Arabs in Palestine by this time, the name Palestine came to be.

We know the Land of Palestine continued in obscurity drawing mainly pilgrims to its grounds. This changed when the Suez canal was opened in 1869 and the occupation of Egypt by Britain in 1882. Palestine linked the canal with the Mediterranean Sea.

In the late 19^th century and early 20^th century, large numbers of Jews migrated from Europe to Palestine (their original homeland) as the Zionist movement grew in strength. This became sign Herzel’s vision of a people with land uniting with People without a land was soon to take place fully. The returned Jews bought lands from the Arabs who were now in Palestine and established an Agricultural based homes. Little was done in other to stop the returning Jews from setting up homes in Palestine.

                 BRITISH MANDATE AND THE DECLERATION OF INDEPENDENCE

With the defeat of the Othman Empire in World war11 the control of the land of Palestine fell to the western powers. Prior to the end of World war11, Britain promised to give autonomy to the Arabs and Zionists living in Palestine if they fight in their favor. With the war ended time for Britain to fulfill their promise came. Series of letters known as Husein-Mcmahon correspondence were sent between Husien Ibn Ali of Mecca, ruler of the Arabian Peninsula and sir Henry Mcmahon who was the British high commissioner in Egypt.

In 1917 there was a declaration known as the Balfour declaration which somehow gave Palestine into Jewish hands. But this was not to be so for in 1930s the British sided with the Arabs. They prevented much of the Jewish migration to take place.

It was the Holocaust of the war on Jews which prompted the UN to act. Their resolution181 in November 29 1947 which divided the land of Palestine into two, a part for the Jew and the other for the Arabs was accepted by the Zionists but rejected by the Arabs.  

On May 14^th 1948, with more Jews arriving from Europe, a Jewish state of Israel was declared. A year later the Jews were called to war by their Arab neighbors.