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| John Campbell |
Former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. John Campbell has berated the Nigeria military for often hiding facts on the Boko Haram attacks in the northeast of the country, reports Grassrootreportersng.com
Campbell, in an article written on Council on Foreign Relation (CFR) website said the Nigerian army announcement of a series of successes against Boko Haram lacks credibility.
The article titled 'Nigerian Army Statements Bely Facts on the Ground in Northeast' and coauthored by Jack McCaslin said:
"The media in the northeast is restricted and military spokesmen lack credibility. They often undercount casualties and inflate the number of terrorists killed.
"The government in Abuja frequently states that victory is at hand. Hence, accurate information is hard to come by. The reality appears to be that the Nigerian army is able to secure Maiduguri and the larger towns. It has consolidated its forces into fortified bases in these population centers in part to reduce military casualties. It can even clear episodically certain rural districts. But it is not able to retain the territory it clears nor the territory around cities and towns. In this way, insurgents have at times effectively cut off ground travel to these cities and towns from the rest of the country".
The article added that: "Buratai appears to recognize this reality. In an interview with Nigerian media, he commented that Boko Haram was hard to defeat because its operatives were blended into the population. He suggested that defeat of the jihadi insurrection could require many years. But, the frequent disconnect between official statements and the reality on the ground continues to undermine confidence in the military".
The former ambassador, who is now a fellow of the Council for Foreign Relations is not new to making strong statements on Nigeria.
Earlier this year, he said the 2011 Presidential elections won by former President Goodluck Jonathan, was rigged.
The former president denied the allegation in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Ikechukwu Eze, which reads in parts: “The 2011 Nigerian Presidential elections were adjudged by both local and international observers, including the Commonwealth Election Monitoring Group and even the US contingent of both the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute, as the most credible and transparent elections in Nigeria, since our great nation returned to civil rule in 1999.”
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