Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, says the Nigerian Army did not have sufficient intelligence to foil the December deadly attacks on Plateau communities.
He excused the army’s lack of intelligence capability on the basis that the attackers selected remote areas difficult for the soldiers to access quickly, even when informed of ongoing attacks.
In an interview with Channels TV on Monday, Mr Musa described the Christmas Eve massacre in Plateau as shocking and unfortunate attacks intended to make President Bola Tinubu’s government “look stupid.”
“When I hear people making comments as if it was deliberate that commanders refused to react is not true. One thing I want us to understand is that the general area where this incident occurred is not a small area and people question why the military was not able to react quickly,” Mr Musa said.
Further explaining the delayed response by the soldiers despite distress calls from attacked communities, Mr Musa said, “We all know that in war, the attacker has the initiative. They select the time and place where they carry out attacks based on the distance where you have security agencies. The truth is we cannot be everywhere.”
The defence chief added, “So when incident happen, they pick remote areas where they know the terrain and distance is far and even communicating attacks is difficult. So before the information gets to us and before we get there, they have already done what they want to do and left.”
Mr Musa noted that the military “are leveraging a lot on getting technology, getting helicopter to ensure that we get enablers to make us respond as quick as possible. We assure Nigerians that’s we are sad about what happened.”
Last week Monday, Peoples Gazette reported that over 112 were killed and 47 wounded by killer herdsmen in coordinated attacks on at least 12 communities spanning Barkin Ladi and Bokkos council areas on Christmas Eve.
But the number of casualties has increased to over 195 since then as more bodies were recovered.
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