steps Nigeria's government has taken would have resulted in
global sensation during the cold war. The United States
would fight to keep their allies.
They would never easily lose any of their allies to then Soviet
Union as now represented by Russia which has, although,
embraced free market economy.
Nigeria, for years, enjoyed close ties with the West and was
seen as a US ally. But the seeming snub or nonchalant
attitude towards it by its traditional allies has reportedly
compelled Nigeria to turn to Russia and China for the training
of its military as well as acquisition of military hardware to
fight Boko Haram insurgents.
Highly placed military and intelligence sources in Abuja told
Saturday Vanguard that the decision to turn to the other two
world military powers was an interim measure to roll back
the military advances made by the Boko Haram insurgents
who have gained some grounds in seizing and controlling
some towns and Villages in the north eastern states of Borno
and Adamawa.
Already, Nigerian security personnel from the Army, Police,
Department of State Services (DSS) have been dispatched to
Russia for training as Special Forces to combat the Boko
Haram insurgents who are mounting stiff challenge to the
Nigerian security services.
According to Saturday Vanguard investigations, following the
increasing sophistication of the Boko Haram terrorists, the
Nigerian government approached American and British
governments to procure arms for its armed forces in order to
effectively counter the insurgents but the two western
governments have continued to dither, a situation that may
have been responsible for some of the gains recorded by
terrorists in recent times.
A senior security Source told Saturday Vanguard: "the United
States and Britain appear unwilling to provide arms to our
armed forces. It is surprising because these are two friendly
countries to Nigeria which is under threat from terrorists. We
have no option but to look somewhere else for our needs
pending when the issues are resolved at the diplomatic level
by our government."
This remark underscored the current lukewarm attitude of
both countries to the Federal Government. The USA had said
that it would not assist Nigeria with land forces and would
not also share intelligence with the Nigerian military. Sources
said that they did not trust the Nigerian military which was
accused of lacking professionalism and which also had moles
within. But Nigeria expected better assistance from USA,
Britain and the like. But their support has fallen below
expectation.
Saturday Vanguard gathered that one of the options was to
turn to Russia which has always been willing to supply
weapons and some other logistics to Nigeria when other
western countries are not forthcoming. The Nigeria Air force
has several Russian fighter jets in its fleet.
It was gathered that Nigeria has entered into contract with
Russian Arms manufacturers for the supply of high calibre
weapons to the Nigerian Army to combat the insurgents in
the North east and has begun discussion with the Israeli
government on possible supply of military hardware.
"When the Chief of Army staff said recently that the Nigerian
army would soon take possession of weapons that would
reverse the trend in the North east, he was referring to the
deal between Nigeria and some Russian arms
manufacturers. We are also in discussion with Israeli
companies. We don't want to be held ransom by our
traditional allies. That is why we are expanding our sources
of supply," the source said.
As part of the agreement between Nigeria and Russia, a
group of Nigerian security personnel are already in Eastern
Europe for training as Special Forces with another batch,
made up of the Army, Police and DSS billed to leave Nigeria
next month to join the other three batches that are already in
training.
President Jonathan recently, at the passing out parade of
cadets at the Nigerian Defence Academy, said the armed
forces would set up a Special Forces Brigade to combat
terrorism in the country.
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