It appears there is no limit to the odium Nigerians will endure at the hands of the President Goodluck Jonathan, because even when the administration seems to have hit rock-bottom in governance capacity, it somehow manages to find a way into further depths of ignominy. Imagine that Nigerians have been cheering their troops in the wake of the counter-offensive and recapture of towns held by Boko Haram insurgents, only to now learn that foreign mercenaries; rather than the Nigerian army are leading the effort to defeat Boko Haram. The government has secretly brought in hundreds of mercenaries from South Africa and the former Soviet Union to boost its offensive against Boko Haram before the March 28 election. The mercenaries, who are each being paid $400 a day in cash, are responsible for turning the tide against Boko Haram in recent weeks. This shocking revelation is simply mind-boggling and devoid of any perfunctory exaggeration.Demeaning as it is, this has no doubt dressed Nigeria in the garb of a banana republic, and Jonathan owes the country a full explanation for this embarrassment.
Beyond that, it is an obnoxious reminder of the apparent and intentional mismanagement of the war, which has opened a can of worms regarding the combat readiness of the country’s security forces. That foreign fighters, be they contractors, trainers or technicians as the President claims, are leading the counter-insurgency effort, fighting and killing Nigerians, inside Nigeria, has given credence to all shades of interpretations; not the least of which, is the dangerous internationalization of the conflict, which has already pulled troops from neighboring countries – Benin, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger into the fray. Ordinarily though, internationalizing a nation’s problem is never in that nation’s best interest. The administration should therefore be ready to face the consequences of such actions.
As Nigeria passes through these troubled times, it is important to admit all inadequacies if the times would ever pass and not become permanent. There is no doubt that, the complexity and multilateral dimension of the insurgency warranted a coordinated international response. The government has acknowledged it is getting technical and logistical support from what it calls foreign contractors in the fight against Boko Haram, but government spokesman Mike Omeri, denied the government was engaging in “any backchannel or unlawful recruitment”. In an interview with Voice of America late on Wednesday, President Jonathan said two companies were providing “trainers and technicians” to help Nigerian forces, without disclosing the identities of the companies, and the kind of training and logistics they were providing to Nigerian troops.
Even before Jonathan admitted to the presence of foreign fighters, multiple media reports confirmed the presence of elite South African mercenaries on the front lines. Reuters quoted Nigerian security and diplomatic sources saying Nigeria has brought in hundreds of mercenaries from South Africa and other countries into northeastern Nigeria, including in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, and the epicenter of the insurgency. Reuters also reported that the foreign fighters, equipped with heavy weaponry, attack helicopters and armored vehicles, were linked to the bosses of former South African private military firm Executive Outcomes; best-known for its involvement in Angola’s civil war (1975-2002) and against Revolutionary United Front rebels in Sierra Leone in 1995. It disbanded in 1998, under pressure from the post-apartheid government to curtail mercenary activities.
That foreign fighters have supplanted Nigerian soldiers is, in the first place, an indictment of the government. If anything, this appears to be a desperate ploy to get some tactical success to give Jonathan an electoral boost before the March 28 elections. But now that Jonathan has hired mercenaries to fight his war, it is pertinent to ask: what quality and manner of assistance are the “trainers and technicians” offering? What are the collateral advantages and the collateral damages before and hereafter? Who appropriated the money to pay them? Who commands the operations? Given the unconvincing outing of the nation’s military operatives so far, are there command structures well-heeled to carry out the operation? Ending an insurgency takes time; for how long will these mercenaries remain in Nigeria?
Rumors about the mercenaries were confirmed when pictures surfaced on Twitter showing white men in military gear manning armored vehicles rumbling along Bama road, near the University of Maiduguri, with election campaign posters of Borno state governor Kashim Shettima hanging from street lights in the background, indicating they were taken recently. The South African mercenaries, mostly white, are former soldiers or Special Forces in the apartheid-era regime. Over the past decades, they have popped up in various corners of Africa, often as agents for coup-plotters or on one side or the other of a civil war. These soldiers of fortune have a known history of undermining democratic governments. In 2006, South Africa made it a crime for its citizens to work as “security staff” overseas without permission from the government. South Africa’s current defense minister has declared that any South African known to be fighting in Nigeria will be arrested and prosecuted upon their return home.
Although Nigerian government officials want to give the impression that the “foreign contractors” are simply helping with training of Nigerian forces, evidence from the frontlines suggest the mercenaries are indeed playing a far more direct role in the fighting. “They are playing a very important role; they are in the vanguard in the liberation of some of the communities. They came in with much more sophisticated equipment than the military. Thanks to their involvement the tide is turning. I believe because of them we will witness a seismic shift,” a senior Nigerian official told the New York Times. At least one South African private contractor has been killed in the fighting, according to the Washington Post.
Deluded by a sense of continental pride, Nigerian security chiefs may want to suggest that the foreign mercenaries should be directed by Nigerian military commanders, and that their mission be limited towards one goal: end the insurgency and leave Nigeria. But this seems unlikely, because Nigeria, at the moment, is not strategically positioned for a national cause to define the modus operandi in Nigerian terms. Besides, given their history, these battle-hardened mercenaries fight to win without undermining their own imperatives, which is to make money. Their rules of engagement are carried out on their own terms. Their presence in any country is one of the most potent means of destabilization; nowhere have these foreign fighters taken a tour of duty that ever remained the same. Is the Nigerian government prepared for the aftermath? And are Nigerians ready for the consequences?
Going by the pedigree of these mercenaries, there is an urgent need to draw the attention of the administration to the fact that such a deliberately innocuous situation will cede to a posse of foreign fighters, the upper hand in the management of Nigeria’s internal security affairs. That will compromise our sovereign independence and freedom to always act in the national interest. This is unacceptable. Jonathan must free himself from the fantasy of presidential prestige and power and demonstrate that he understands his responsibilities as commander-in-chief. How can the administration hire mercenaries and the Nigerian people are not informed directly or even indirectly through Parliament? This is a crude attack on the Nigerian State that could be amplified to treason. Nigerians may have borne this violation of their national sovereignty with equanimity, but let the President not be in any doubt that the country has been mightily insulted. The nation has been so contemptuously taken on a merry-go-round of untold shame and embarrassment. And never again should it happen.
