ABOUT a fortnight ago, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Alex Badey, to the surprise of many Nigerians, gleefully announced a ceasefire with the Boko Haram insurgents. He also disclosed that a deal brokered by the Chadian President, Mr Idris Derby, would see to the release of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped over six months ago.

Accordingly, he instructed the Nigerian troops battling the insurgents to hold their fire in order to allow the “peace deal” to go into effect.

The suspicions and skepticism of Nigerians were soon realised, as the insurgents seized the opportunity of lull in the assault by our troops to launch fierce attacks, especially in southern Borno and northern Adamawa areas, overrunning the Defence Chief’s hometown and setting his residence on fire, as if to scorn the peace deal he announced.

Rather than leading to the gradual scaling down in the conflict, the one-sided ceasefire afforded Boko Haram the breather to gain more territory, displacing no fewer than 3,000 people from their villages, some of them fleeing into neighbouring Cameroun. What really happened? Who negotiated the latest hoax? Would there ever be an end to the embarrassments?

How were the nation’s armed forces and Federal Government, once again, hoodwinked into dropping their guards? Since this asymmetrical warfare got intensified in the past couple of years, the armed forces and the federal and state governments have shown uncanny gullibility and eagerness to jump at fake offers of peace deals which only led to further intensification and gains by Boko Haram.

It was a similar deception that led to the abduction of the Chibok girls, an event that hangs on the neck of the country like an albatross. We are dismayed to note that the security and intelligence agencies have allowed this great nation to be exposed to too many expensive hoaxes, which could have been avoided by applying better intelligence gathering techniques.

The military authorities need to exercise more prudence in making public pronouncements. They have to crosscheck their facts beyond doubt. It will be a sad day when the military can no longer be trusted by the public. Some months ago, the military announced the rescue of the Chibok girls. No tangible explanation was given for the blunder which since then has become serial.

Could sabotage in high quarters be responsible for the bungling of the fight with Boko Haram?  When are we going to see some of these saboteurs nabbed and brought to book for treason? A nation at war cannot afford to treat sabotage with kid gloves.It seems that the language Boko Haram will understand is crushing defeat on the battlefield; it would be the lasting ceasefire.