KINGSLEY OMONOBI,  ABUJA

Like a thief in the night, Boko Haram insurgents  numbering  about 300 and allegedly consisting of foreign mercenaries from Mali, Niger, Chad and even Libya, believed to have been hired by wealthy persons purportedly with axe to grind with the political architecture as presently constituted at the federal level, struck  in Maiduguri, Borno State capital.

Time was 3 am on Monday and about 25 Hilux pick up vans were said to have been loaded with the insurgents armed with rocket propelled grenade launchers, GPMGs, AK 47 assault rifles and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Their mission: To set the country ablaze by carrying out the ‘mother of all attacks’ and get the polity attacking the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan as one incapable of addressing the insecurity of lives and property currently  bedevilling the nation.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that after taking off from the border areas, the insurgents knowing  that the roads leading to town were heavily manned by security agencies, took to clandestine routes, passing through communities and villages that were outside the patrol purview of security forces, yet nobody or any of the community deemed it necessary to run to security agencies with the information.
Consequently, they succeeded in entering the city centre, from where they shot their way through the unsuspecting but limited checkpoints on their way to the Maiduguri Air force base, taking on and ransacking military units and police stations they met on the way. The absence of GSM services off course helped their goal.
The question may be asked, why did they go for the Air Force Base? The answer is not far-fetched. Since the declaration of a state of emergency by President Goodluck Jonathan in May 2013, sources close to the security agencies on ground in the epicentre told Sunday Vanguard that the military onslaught to dislodge the insurgents have greatly been helped by the air assault launched from time to time by the Mi34 helicopter gunships.
The helicopters are a nightmare to the insurgents and they dread the Nigerian Air Force for that. When they are to be used, it is either the fighter helicopters take off from the Maiduguri Air Force Base or fighter jets take off to launch sureties from the Yola Air Force Special Squadron.

Sunday Vanguard was told there have been instances when soldiers have stalled in their land assault with a view to avoiding mines, booby traps and ambush until the air force helicopter pilots carried out air assaults to soften the ground raids. It was in one of such raids  that the Boko Haram leader, Imam Abubakar Shekau, was said to have been killed.

It was therefore the thinking of the Islamist group, according to intelligence sources, that unless the AirForce Base was attacked and the aircraft incapacitated, the destruction of such camps at Sambisa forest, Gwoza hills, Benisheik, Gujba will spill over to some yet unknown but existing camps in the North-east.
Hence destroying the air force base will be a major victory in their determination to causing tension and unease within government and security circles. It will also give them some time to regroup and continue their avowed threat to attacking national assets and Islamizing the North.

However, questions must be asked as to the measures put in place by the authorities to forestall the embarrassing and successful attack by the insurgents  to the extent the three  aircraft, the MIG 17s, which are no longer in use in the air force inventory, and two active helicopters were torched.

The NAF is said to be one military organization with the technical equipment and ability to monitor movement of not only aircraft flying illegally into our airspace, their equipment can also monitor large scale movement of machines ferrying people in such combat areas if those charged with the responsibility  didn’t take things for granted.

It is against this background that allegation of sabotage in the area of sponsorship of the insurgents to sneak into the country and find their way to Maiduguri; their ability to find their way to the airforce base, locate the aircraft and destroy them as well as set buildings housing ground and technical support facilities in the base on fire, gain credence.

Before now, there have been talks of fifth columnists in the security agencies and unconfirmed stories have it that during one raid, soldiers, believing that a suspected insurgents  enclave had been bombed and the terrain softened for ground attack, went in and, to their surprise, the insurgents  were everywhere, ambushing and injuring many of the soldiers in the ensuing gun battle.

In some cases, soldiers have faced military court martial for allegedly giving  information to insurgents about movement of troops and equipment that resulted in casualties on the side of troops. Yet the situation persists. President Jonathan himself captured the magnitude of the problem when he said Boko Haram sympathizers are everywhere including among top government functionaries.

The coming of the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army with headquarters in Maiduguri,  no doubt, is a step in the right direction as the long term belief of the Chief of the Army Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika, is that the excesses of criminals and criminality in whatever guise in the North-east axis must be contained.
However, the large and  porous borders that cut across countries like Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Mali, where mercenaries are recruited to come in, perpetrate havoc, maim innocent citizens and go back, have to be addressed.

There are instances where borders have been closed for a period of time to send a clear message to countries concerned that enough is enough. Yes there are religious and commercial affiliations but when a state sits idly by and watches  as its territory is being used by insurgents to launch destructive and murderous attacks against a supposedly brother nation, the country needs to reassess its situation.