Civil rights groups have commended the relocation of the Army Command to Maiduguri, Borno State, for effective battle against the Boko Haram.
The relocation was one of the promises made by President Muhammadu Buhari in his inaugural speech after he was sworn in.
Kemi Okenyodo, Executive Director of CLEEN Foundation, a Nigerian non-governmental organisation that promotes public safety, security and social justice, while assessing the development, stated that President Buhari was right to order the relocation of the army high command to the main theatre of operations of terrorists.
“I believe the relocation directive was in order. The military command cannot be giving instructions or assessing the situation when it is not on the ground in Maiduguri,” she said.
“Challenges on the ground are better understood when the military high command is seeing such challenges first hand. Ideally, in a war situation, the military command should be where the activity is,” Okenyodo posited.
Commenting on the relocation, the executive director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, was in agreement with the development, saying that Buhari who as a former military commander was right to change strategy.
“The president is a former military man,” Rafsanjani said. “He is a former head of state with a security background. He talked from experience. I think he was right.
“We cannot afford to have a disconnect between soldiers in the field and their commanders.”
He added, however, that not everyone believes that strategic changes were needed.
A public affairs analysts, Okwu Okwu, said: “I do not think it was necessary or even strategic to have moved the military command. Nigeria did a similar thing during the Biafra war, and it almost cost Nigeria the war.
“What is required to win the war against Boko Haram is good intelligence-gathering. We should move the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) instead of the entire command and give them the necessary backing to succeed.”
The announced strategic changes came as Boko Haram appeared to be making a comeback, following months of seeing its strongholds bombarded by the Nigerian army and after being dislodged from numerous towns and villages they had seized previously.
