Nigeria’s Minister of Defence. General Christopher Musa (Rtd), has said the country cannot defeat terrorism through military force alone, insisting that lasting peace depends on combining security operations with dialogue, community engagement and other non-military measures.
Speaking in during the ARISE NEWS Townhall on State Police, Musa said while the armed forces remained committed to eliminating terrorists through professional military operations, sustainable peace would only be achieved by addressing the human and social dimensions of insecurity alongside kinetic operations. “You must be able to bring the kinetic and the non kinetic working together.”
He explained that members of the armed forces operate under clearly defined rules of engagement, which regulate when force may be used during military operations. “Members of the armed forces have their rules of engagement. Once you are deployed out for an operation, you are allowed to take out the enemy using the standards.”
He said soldiers receive extensive training before deployment to ensure they distinguish between terrorists, bandits and innocent civilians while carrying out operations. “As professionals, we train our troops before deploying them. And once they are deployed, they are able to identify who is a bandit, who is a terrorist, and who is a civilian.”
Musa described asymmetric warfare as one of the most complex forms of conflict because terrorists often hide among the civilian population, making it difficult for security forces to identify legitimate targets. “Asymmetric warfare is a very, very difficult operation, because the enemy is within, the enemy is just that individual that you think is your citizen, or is your brother, or is your uncle, that you are protecting, is the one that could help me.”
According to him, experiences from other countries demonstrate that defeating insurgency requires patience and a balanced strategy rather than military force alone. “If you see worldwide, anywhere there’s asymmetric warfare, it takes a very long while before those things are coming.”
Using Turkey’s decades-long battle against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as an example, Musa said countries confronting insurgencies eventually succeed by combining security operations with dialogue. “In Turkey, they’ve been dealing with the PKK for over 40 years. It is just of recent, they are beginning together, and because they had to use the kinetic and the non kinetic.”
The defence chief stressed that no nation had ever achieved lasting peace solely through military action. “No country can shoot itself to peace.”
He argued that military operations account for only a fraction of successful counterterrorism efforts, while dialogue, understanding and engagement with affected communities play a much larger role. “The kinetic aspect is based about 25, 30%. The non kinetic, which has to do with dialogue, discussion, understanding.”
Musa said local communities remain central to the success or failure of security operations because terrorists often operate from within those communities. “These terrorists live within the communities.”
He explained that security forces gain a significant advantage when communities cooperate by providing information, but face greater challenges where terrorists enjoy local support. “If the communities are on their side, it makes it difficult for the security forces to win the battle. And if the communities are with them, the security forces, it makes it a lot easier.”
The defence chief also urged policymakers to focus on the root causes of insecurity rather than concentrating solely on responding to violence after it occurs. “The question we want to ask is, why are we where we are? And are we addressing those symptoms that have taken us where we are to be?”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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