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INSECURITY: Intelligence As Missing Link

By Armsfree Ajanaku
11 October 2015   |   12:22 am
AFTER staying away for over a year, Boko Haram recently made a dastardly return to Abuja, the nation’s capital. Residents who had been viewing the frequent terror attacks in the North East as some distant events now have a cause to constantly look over their shoulders

blastAFTER staying away for over a year, Boko Haram recently made a dastardly return to Abuja, the nation’s capital. Residents who had been viewing the frequent terror attacks in the North East as some distant events now have a cause to constantly look over their shoulders. Those who had come to the erroneous conclusion that the sect has been effectively banished from the nation’s capital are beginning to have a rethink.

In the unplanned suburbs in and around Abuja, the complacent approach to security that had prevailed is being replaced by a sense of alarm.
Ominously, coming on the heels of Nigeria’s 55th independence celebrations, there are no doubts that the bombings were timed to make a clear statement. The military’s recent refrain has been about how steady progress is being recorded against the terrorists in the North East.

It would appear that the terrorists are desperate to dispel notions that the end is near for their nefarious activities. Similarly, the clear statement of intent by President Muhammadu Buhari, which came in the form of a Presidential directive to the military for a speedy end to the insurgency, is apparently forcing a change of tactics from the sect.

While the pressure on the insurgents has impacted on their capability to take and hold territory, there are other extant realities that must be considered. Unlike a few months ago when they attacked, captured and governed Nigerian territories with reckless abandon, Boko Haram has since refrained from such direct confrontation with the Nigerian State. It appears there group has realised the foolhardiness in trying to battle for territory with an angry military fighting to restore its battered pride.

The new stratagem of the terrorists appears to be about activating sleeper cells in different towns and cities far away from the main theatre of the conflict. With a concentration of government attention, and the dimensions of its hard power in the main theatre of the conflict, the insurgents are navigating towards a much more flexible model of hitting very soft targets to score cheap points.

The sect commanders must be seriously brainstorming and rehearsing how to carry out medium impact attacks that require materials for its favoured Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) to be sourced from within neighbourhoods target areas. This fuzzy and nebulous mode of attacking soft targets is one that would task the security agencies to the limit.

In the recent attack on the office of the Department for State Security in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, Boko Haram exhibited a strategic awareness in being able to take on the secret police at a time the security agency were outnumbered and vulnerable. The element of surprise in that particular attack also points to the fact that the masterminds of the sect are armed with information, in other words, intelligence about their targets.

So, while the nation is making gains in the main theatre of the conflict in the North East, the terrorists are attempting to widen the scope of the war with the intention of stretching the state. The choice of soft, and very vulnerable targets buttresses this point. Markets, places of worship, cars in traffic and even filling stations are now potential targets for the deranged elements in the sect.

If Boko Haram were able to navigate to this new mode of operation, Nigeria’s security forces would have to be on their toes to keep the constant threats at bay. Therefore, unlike the campaign in the North East, which is being won by a combination of soft and hard power of the military, the attempt by Boko Haram to switch to a new mode has to be countered. This is therefore the phase of the war in which intelligence gathering would determine who gets the upper hand.

The real present danger of the new kind of threat posed by Boko Haram, is that the State can no longer rely exclusively on the traditional kind of response. As the terrorists get slipperier, security agencies also have to reorder their mode of countering the threats.

This much was underscored recently by the Chief of Defence Staff who talked about the need to change strategies in order to defeat the terrorists. It is important therefore to make it clear to the insurgents that as they desperately try to make the point that they are still very capable of hurting the nation, the security agents are more than capable of thwarting their sinister plots.

One agency that is critical to this new phase of the war, is the Department of State Security Services. As the domestic intelligence arm of the nation’s security architecture, the DSS requires some repositioning to equip it for the challenges of the war against terror.

This is especially significant as the mission of the DSS is to provide effective internal security coverage of the country within the norms of democracy and the rule of law. This according to the agency’s website is to be achieved through the procurement of timely and accurate security intelligence and the conduct of counter measures to curtain threats.

The primary responsibility of the DSS is therefore to gather intelligence within the country. The DSS is one of three successor organisations to the National Security Organisation (NSO), which was dissolved in 1986. It operates as a department within the presidency and is under the control of the National Security Adviser. While the DSS is charged with gathering domestic intelligence, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) is saddled with gathering intelligence from outside and performing counterintelligence functions.

Similarly, the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) is responsible for military-related intelligence outside and inside Nigeria. With these mandates to provide intelligence needed to protect Nigerian citizens and prevent threats to national security, these agencies would have to up their game in the face of the mutation of Boko Haram and its current adjustments. Professionalism and focus are fundamental if these security agencies are to be equipped to deal with the extant threats to national security. A situation in which the DSS is distracted by clear partisan posturing as seen in the build up to the 2015 general elections, limits its ability to focus on the real issues that threaten the nation’s security. In fact, the secret police should not be seen meddling in such cases that have overt political or partisan dimensions. It should focus primarily on core national security issues by streamlining its areas of interest.

A flash back to the years of military dictatorship in Nigeria would show how effective organisations were in protecting several regime interests. In those heady days of the struggle to return Nigeria back to the path of democracy, the secret police was used to hound, harass and detain activists. Pro-democracy groups like Campaign for Democracy, United Action for Democracy and their allies took the brunt of the security agencies. Journalists were detained, meetings were disrupted, conferences were prevented from holding, just as many activists had to constantly remain on the run.

A flash back to the years of military dictatorship in Nigeria would show how effective organisations were in protecting several regime interests. In those heady days of the struggle to return Nigeria back to the path of democracy, the secret police was used to hound, harass and detain activists. Pro-democracy groups like Campaign for Democracy, United Action for Democracy and their allies took the brunt of the security agencies. Journalists were detained, meetings were disrupted, conferences were prevented from holding, just as many activists had to constantly remain on the run. The eyes of the security agencies at the time seemed to be everywhere; before activists could finalise on where and how a meeting would hold, the agencies already knew.

During this season of anomie, several innocent citizens were subjected to physical assault without government reparations. Such radical and outspoken critics of the government as Gani Fawehinmi, Tai Solarin, and Balarabe Musa were regularly detained.

With this dark past still etched in the memories of many Nigerians, agencies like the DSS must bring to bear that prowess and proficiency of those years in protecting citizens and ensuring that routine breaches of national security end.

If these same organisations could be used to protect despotic regimes in the past, they should be able to draw on experience to ensure that the activities of terrorists are nipped in the bud. Intelligence is the answer to these challenge to the supremacy of the State. The earlier these agencies begin to take intelligence gathering seriously, the better it would be for the nation.

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