President Muhammadu Buhari made a mistake by announcing his intention to move the Command and Control Center in the war against insurgents from Abuja to Maiduguri.
The President in his inaugural speech on Friday at the Eagle Square, Abuja, said his government will bring the Operational Headquarters closer to the frontline of the counter insurgence effort by relocating the deciding base to Maiduguri.
A retired Army Colonel, Hassan Nabo said all the President needed to do was to send a Memo to the Defence Headquarters by Monday morning and by Friday, the base would have moved without any complain. That would have eliminated all the unguarded comments by people who do not undertand military terms or tactics.
He explained that the real import is that the Generals who are controlling and directing the operations cannot effectively be in Abuja whereas the war is going on in the North East.
“There should be reasonable interval between the front line and the operational head quarters. Moving the Headquarters closer to Maiduguri implies that the front line will push further making it difficult for the insurgents to have space to still operate” Col. Nabo Said.
The soldier said that the importance of relocating the Command and Control Center is that if not for anything else, the Center will for their own safety, ensure the insurgents are pushed further out of the territory.
Col. Nabo pointed out that Command and Control Center is not the same as the Military High Command or the Office of the Chief of Army Staff as some people had erroneously posited. He added that the Center is set up strictly to coordinate the operations of the anti insurgency efforts.
All the military units in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa state report to the Command and Control Center.
He submitted that the controversy being generated by the President’s statement is expected in a country like Nigeria.
“You know here, we are all coaches. Watch when the Super Eagles are playing, everybody assumes to know more than the man who is handling the team”
“If we all understand that the issue in question is purely professional, people should desist from making uninformed comments” Col. Nabo concluded.
