Brigadier General John Sura, before his retirement, had served in various capacities in the military both within and outside the country. In this interview with ISAAC SHOBAYO, the retired general speaks on the recent killings of soldiers in Delta State and other security challenges besetting Nigeria. Excerpt:

RECENTLY, no fewer than 16 Nigerian soldiers were killed while on a mission to douse clashes in the Okuama Community of Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State, and the unfortunate incident has been generating reactions. What is your perception of the military operations aftermath of the killings in the area?

The military Is being deployed under internal security. It is a peace support operation, that is to enforce peace among the people, and the military operation within the Niger Delta was purely from this perspective. That is why, when the soldiers got to the community, they held a meeting with the community leaders to see how they could resolve the problem on the ground. And when they could not, they decided to invite the leaders to discuss the issues at stake on neutral ground with the community leaders. From the narrative that we got, the matter degenerated to the point where they had to start defending themselves. When the military was going to that community, they did not prepare for such a thing; it was not a peace enforcement; it was a peace support operation, and that was why they didn’t act until it degenerated. When the officers and soldiers were killed, the next thing is that the military will have to come in to retrieve the dead bodies. This is where peace enforcement comes in because under the UN Charter and African Union, when some of us were in Sudan at a particular time, when you are trying to create peace support and it is not forthcoming, you are forced to enact the next level, which is peace enforcement, and that was what happened when the GOC of 6 Division and others resorted to do whatever will bring peace to the land. So recovering the bodies of the officers cannot be done through negotiation, because if you want to do it through negotiation, you may not get what you are expecting from that end. So whatever is happening at the moment is necessary because in any operation, the moment you cross the red line, what the military is known for is enforcement, and there would be minimum casualties for the people around there.

Though many Nigerians strongly condemned the way and manner in which the men and military officers were killed, at the same time they equally faulted the aftermath of military operations where people were killed and houses burned. What would have been the ideal way of handling such a situation without much collateral damage?

What do you expect when the military goes for such an operation? As I said earlier, those military men went there for peace support, and eventually, when the peace support was failing based on the available narrative, they had to start shooting into the air, and when they were going, some people attacked and killed them. When the full force of the military was coming back to recover the dead bodies and to make the community fall in line, every other person within the community was tagged as a criminal and seen as somebody who had aided the crime, and as such, there was bound to be about five percent of casualties in such an operation.

This is not the first time such an incident would happen in Nigeria; it happened in Niger, Borno, and other states, and people are wondering why such a magnitude operation is being carried out against the people instead of the subtle and diplomatic approach deployed somewhere.

I believe the military wants to do something that will serve as a deterrent to other communities that might want to toe the same line or any group that might want to confront the military in the act of trying to defend the state. Also, if such happens, the community leaders will know that they have to fish out those responsible so that the community will not suffer such collateral damage as we are seeing today. It will serve as a signal that once you want to attack the state through the military and the state decides to release the military to do its normal duty, every other person within the community is seen as an enemy.

With the coming of this administration, the general expectation is that the insecurity in the country will go down to the nearest minimum, but the unfortunate situation seems to be on the increase. What are your suggestions in this regard?

The economic hardship we are facing today has pushed even civilians to begin to fight for their daily means of survival. And in the course of doing what they are doing, they are acting against the state, and once the crime rate is high, the security agencies must be on red alert, and sometimes they may not have the means to quell it. And once it degenerates to miaming and killings and community clashes, of course the military will have to come in. And the military will want to prevent anything that might sabotage the economy of the country. From the narrations that we are getting, some of those who carried out the act might likely not be from the community, and they might likely be from the high seas. All these might be economic factors that cause conflict between two rivals in the community to secure an advantage over the other.

Kidnapping has resurfaced on a large scale again, especially in the Northern part of the country. Recently, 287 students were kidnapped in the Chikum Local Government Area of Kaduna State, the same way the Chibok girls were kidnapped during the administration of the former President Goodluck Jonathan (Cut-n).

There is this wise saying in the military that the enemy is equally trained as you are; the kidnappers have studied the behavioral patterns of Nigerians and the security agencies, and they are aware that security agencies are not deployed everywhere in the country. It is not possible. Even if we have five million security personnel, they will not be able to cover the whole country. So when they are ready to launch an attack, they do it when it is least expected. Like what the present administration is trying to do, like empowering the state government to begin to look into the issue of community police and other means of trying to gather information to secure the people, if we are able to do that, it will begin to stem the tide of things. From my own perspective, we should be able to develop three-layer strategies to defend our people. First and foremost, the government must look for a way to allow individuals to be their own first line of defence, and that is the first line of defence. That is, every man should be able to defend himself, be it stick or anything else, so that there can be resistance when the criminal elements comingú to attack. The second line of defence can be state or community policing; it might also be the likes of Amotekun, the Forest Guard, or the one that has just been launched in Sokoto or Operation Rainbow in Plateau State. This will be at the beck and call of the state government, and the third line should be the security men from the federation; these can only come in when they are highly needed. And again, most of the officers in the military were trained by the retired general at one point or another, so in terms of knowledge, they still have it. There are so many of them that were retired at a tender age that I would have advised the Commander in Chief to go back into the reserve of these security agencies and bring these people out. And for us to stem the tide of this insecurity, most of these retired officers who are in all the nooks and crannies of this country are also relevant; they also pay allegiance to this nation. It hurts when we begin to hear that, despite our contributions to this nation, we have not been able to nip all these in the bud. So my suggestion to the federal government is that this approach should be considered. We still have agile retired officers that can help and give information to those who are still serving.

The kidnapped children are still being held captive; how can they be rescued?

For now, it is going to be very difficult. They have surveillance aircraft that can do that. Some of the boys who escaped said the Air Force plane came and almost came down to where they were, but the kidnappers forced them to lie down so that the plane would not be able to capture them. And now it will be difficult to track them down because these are the people who have been on the move for the past seven days. It is not going to be that easy, except there is information that will lay claim to where they are. However, as they keep moving, they might have passed some villages or people that can give information that will lead to their rescue. It may take a little time, but they will be rescued.

But Sheikh Gumi has volunteered to lead a negotiating team that would lead to the rescue of the children.

The military and the DSS should have picked up the Sheikh and played along with him, and the ransom will not be given, and if given, they must use it to get to where the students are. If that is the best thing to do at the moment to rescue these children so be it. It is an open ended issue let them use it. (Sunday Tribune)

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