Tinubu should make a statement about security within his first 48 hours of assuming office by launching Operation Gomorrah against Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa Province (Iswap)

Ayo Akinfe 

[1] Insecurity is by far Nigeria’s biggest headache at the moment. It is one area where President Buhari scored zero out of 10 and the incoming president must do something about it immediately 

[2] For me, Bola Tinubu must make an unequivocal statement on security by launching an unprecedented attack against Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa Province (Iswap) in Sambisa Forest 

[3] I want Tinubu to take a cue from the allies during World War Two when they launched Operation Gomorrah against Nazi Germany in July 1943. It was the beginning of the end. Operation Gomorrah, created one of the largest firestorms raised by the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces, reducing the city of Hamburg to rubble 

[4] For me, it is compulsory for our new president to make such a statement because first of all, the rest of the world needs to be told that Nigeria is back open for business. We want to tell investors that they are welcome to Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states 

[5] I would not use kid gloves on these religious zealots because they do not take any prisoners. Do you know that 100,000 Taliban fighters defeated 300,000 US-trained Afghan troops? While the ragtag Taliban army were on horseback and using pick-up trucks, the Afghan Army had tanks, armoured personnel carriers, drone support and all other modern military gadgets 

[6] What the Taliban have proven in Afghanistan is that when you are determined, you can achieve unbelievable things. To defeat them, we need to me equally determined, so adopting a name like Operation Gomorrah will send out a clear message to the whole world 

[7] Nigeria’s army is nowhere near as well funded, supported and equipped as the Afghan Army was, so it still remains vulnerable to a determined group of zealots. I would be expecting a President Tinubu to be reading the riot act to the rest of the world that this is unacceptable 

[8] Unlike Nigerians who keep waiting for a messiah to come to their rescue, the Taliban took matters into their own hands.  Have you not noticed that “religious groups” do not wait for “God to fight their battles.” They get off their backsides and do it themselves

[9] Fortune favours the brave. Personally I have no sympathy for the Afghans as they allowed the Taliban to overthrow their elected government without lifting a finger to resist. As Henri Matisse said: “Every people get the government they deserve.”

[10] During the first week of Operation Gomorrah in 1943, about 1m people evacuated the city of Hamburg, 61% of the housing stock was destroyed or damaged and the labour force was reduced by about 10%. If the Nigerian Air Force inflicts that kind of damage on Boko Haram and Iswap, they will find it hard to regroup