A frontline civil rights group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has stated that the counter terror battles can never be won when the elite do exactly what the terrorists want to achieve by engaging in frantic media warfare targeted at demonising the patriotic fighting spirit of the men and soldiers of the Nigerian Army.

The civil advocacy group noted that demotivating the fighting spirit of the Army could be counter-productive.

According to HURIWA, “What we need to do now is to provide all the necessary logistical and citizen-led supports we can muster so the war on terror is concluded on time and for lasting peace to be restored.

“As leaders in the organised civil rights community, we appeal to Nigerians not to despair but to hope for the best and support our hard fighting Army.”

In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA solicited what it called “undiluted collective solidarity from Nigerians all across the world so the Army of Nigeria can come out victorious” adding: “The leadership of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai, has demonstrated the finest patriotic zeal and determination to inflict mortal pain on the terrorists and to restore lasting stability and security in the North East of Nigeria.

“We have over the past three or four years monitored the Army and we can only say that they are doing their best within the available logistical and funding support and the appropriations passed by the National Assembly and released by the relevant agencies within the Ministries of Defence and Finance.

“What we need to do is to urge the government of Nigeria and the international community to provide adequate funding and technical support so the war on terror is brought to a logical conclusion. The Chief of Army Staff as someone from Borno State has shown great leadership example by physically leading the war on terror from the theatre of warfare and has to the best of his knowledge provided the needed supports to his brave fighters.”

“We must realise that the war on terror is not a tea party. The world’s superpowers are still battling terrorists in Afghanistan for over ten years. Nigeria Army needs support not sabotage. We need to support our men/women and brave military to achieve success in record time please.”

HURIWA aligned itself with Gen Buratai that the terror group, Boko Haram, cannot be defeated easily because of the indoctrination they received 10 to 40 years ago.

Said the rights group: “We have read that the Army Chief said the group now has a wide number of recruiters, logistics suppliers and propagandists living within the civilian population. As leaders in the civil society community, we believe these statements to be of fact and not just propaganda. Anyone vast with the undercurrents of the Boko Haram insurgency would know that as a sect, it started way back before manifesting as a monstrous threat to our national security and stability with the inauguration of their terror war targeting Nigeria since 10 years ago when their ideological leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was arrested by the Army and handed over alive and healthy to the Nigerian police force which later killed him in detention thus sparking off the terrorism that has being unleashed on a large scale against Nigerians.

“We view what Gen Buratai said as a fact that insurgents is not what you defeat and it would just fizzle out; they would revert to other tactics. As the Army Chief of Staff stated we believe too that the tertorists will promote propaganda, to the effect that all the institutions of government would be seen to be ineffective. This is what they are doing. They are exploiting the fault lines in our economic and political endeavors to expand the gulf of so-called discord and acrimony amongst various ethnic and religious groups.

“We ask: why are they doing this propaganda, blocking the road and capturing individuals because they are of a particular religion? Unfortunately, they murder those individuals and send it to the world. And we conclude that these are propaganda strategies of the terrorists. These individuals like the Army Chief of Staff restated, may be living with you and you would not know they are terrorists.

“They have a series of informants and logistics suppliers. They have a series of leadership strata that live in the communities and towns nearby. They pass information and organise those that are hidden along the borders in remote areas or communities who come, attack and go back.

“They also have a series of recruiters. We say, like Gen Buratai, that looking at it from this perspective, we would see that it is a complex operation you cannot wish to just go.”

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