RECENTLY, a mysterious gunshot killed Idriss Deby, the erstwhile president of Nigeria’s neighbor, Chad Republic, days after winning elections for a sixth term
DEBY had led troops to the battlefield, in a bid to beat back rebels who massed along the northern border of the country.
DEBY, backed by the former Libyan strongman, Muammer Ghadaffi, had overthrown Hussein Habre about 30 years ago, to take over the helm of affairs of the West African country.
A day after his death, the Chadian military installed Deby’s son as the new head of state, pending when elections would hold in the future.
UNHAPPY with the development, civil society groups in Chad, backed by opposition political parties, took to the streets, calling for civil rule and an end to military interference in the affairs of the nation.
TO show solidarity with the campaign, France and her allies condemned the brutal clampdown meted out on the protesters, saying that they supported a return to civil rule.
WHATEVER the inadequacies of Deby, The Hope observes that he had been a buffer for Nigeria against Islamic insurgents such as Boko Haram and the Islamic States of West Africa operatives.
WITH his death, the motley crowd of insurgents who had participated in the Western-motivated overthrow of Ghaddafi in 2010, and who are buoyed with ammunition looted through the exercise, will now have the opportunity to further complicate the security situation in the Sahel region of Africa.
FOR Nigeria, Deby’s death is particularly worrisome, because it could further escalate threats posed by Islamic insurgents in the nation’s North-East and North-West.
DEBY had been the singular force able to withstand Boko Haram and its allies, and now that he has died, the buffer he provided for Nigeria may be non-existent, particularly if the new Chadian leaders lack the commitment to tackle Islamic insurgents and other terrorists who profited from Ghadafi’s overthrow.
WHILE Deby showed glaring shortcomings in the area of good governance in Chad, he had been able to prevent the exportation of high-grade equipment of war freed by the Libyan episode into the Lake Chad region, and Nigeria profited from this.
WITH his demise, Islamic insurgents and other terrorists could be emboldened to transport these weapons of war to scale up their activities in the Sahel, putting Nigeria at risk.
UNABLE to defeat the Islamic insurgents in the Lake Chad region, President Muhammadu Buhari had seen Deby as an ally, but with his death, the Nigerian president stands alone in the fight against terrorists, who are gradually overrunning the nation’s military with their sophisticated weapons.
TO complicate matters for Nigeria, confusion appears to rear its head in Chad following Deby’s death, and this could hurt Nigeria in the short and long term, as the development opens Chad up to attacks from rebels and terrorists.
THE Hope believes that the death of Deby should ultimately be of concern to Nigeria’s foreign policy experts, the federal government and the citizens of this country.
SINCE the strategic mistake in the overthrow of Gadaffis has already been made, and since Deby has gone, Nigeria must take bold and strategic actions in the fight against the terrorists.
TO achieve this, the federal government should reach out to its West African allies in the Sahel, towards monitoring the movements of sophisticated weapons from Libya and other places into Nigeria, with a move to checkmate the occurrence.
IN addition, the federal government should also explore opportunities provided by foreign powers such as France, Britain, and United States, and ensure that any assistance given to the country is not rendered ineffectual through misuse and corruption.
ALSO, the federal government should improve its intelligence gathering machinery as related to Boko Haram and cohorts such as the Islamic State of West Africa, since this enables Nigeria to better prepare herself for their onslaughts.
THE federal government should do something about the quantity of weapons available to its soldiers, as the Nigerian military already complains that the amount of weapons at the disposal of insurgents far outstrips the amount it has.
FURTHERMORE, the federal government must strive to police its borders, as this could be the key to ensure survival in these trying times of ISS-sponsored Islamic insurgency in the Sahel.