leadership is not in dispute. However, the recent declaration by the president of Chad, Idriss Deby, compounds Nigeria’s delicate situation and threatens the nation’s sovereign integrity.
As reported by the AFP in an article captioned, “Thousands see off Chadian troops to fight Boko Haram,” on January 17, 2015, Deby said, in a speech read by the speaker of parliament that the new deployment (of Chadian troops to Cameroon) was aimed at recapturing Baga.
Cameroon had requested and welcomed the deployment that saw 400 Chadian military vehicles arrive in Cameroon.
However, Nigeria was not invited to the table. Nigeria’s military leadership as quoted by the AFP is “lukewarm.” The word is defined by Google dictionary thus: “(of a person, attitude, or action) unenthusiastic.”
Nigeria’s military spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, was quoted in the report as saying, “All support for our operations will be welcome, but it must conform with our own ongoing operations.”
Inasmuch as Baga at the border with Chad and about 20 local governments in Nigeria need various degrees of military liberation from Boko Haram’s control, a Chadian intervention without approval by the African Union or explicit approval by Nigeria’s government, even though lacking and inebriated, infringes on our national sovereignty; and prompts further suspicion of the intentions of Nigeria’s neighbours who have reportedly been permissive and in some cases frankly supportive of Boko Haram.
