Insurgency: Be asymmetric, security enthusiast tells Fed Govt
Security enthusiast, Sulaiman Salawudeen, has urged Federal Government to adopt full scale asymmetric approach in tackling insurgency and banditry ravaging mostly the North. Stressing that only unpredictable and unconventional combat
Security enthusiast, Sulaiman Salawudeen, has urged Federal Government to adopt full scale asymmetric approach in tackling insurgency and banditry ravaging mostly the North.
Stressing that only unpredictable and unconventional combat methodology can help the country deal decisively with the menace, Salawudeen, who spoke in a statement, clarified that killings of top-rank army officers and lower cadre force men by the insurgents lately is worrisome.
The call comes amid concerns that insurgents seem to be gaining ground, exploiting weaknesses in conventional military responses and targeting high-value personnel, thereby undermining morale in the armed forces.
“The first error is maintenance of military bases, which are targets by those whose movement and pattern is unpredictable and mercurial.
“A prime move is to cancel conventional structures, including moving in large convoy of hardware and maintaining military bases. How can Nigeria maintain any military base or outpost at such a time when those being fought change locations and have remained elusive and mercurial in their mode of movement and killings, Salawudeen said.
He noted asymmetric warfare offers flexibility, unpredictability, and ability to adapt to shifting threats. The combat method protects fighters, and makes their strikes effective and devastating. These are essential in countering adversaries who thrive on surprise.
He said “conventional, symmetric methods - where forces mirror one another in structure and strategy - are inadequate and fatal against insurgents on quick mobility, deception, and unconventional. It is time government stopped the military from predictability” .
His words: “Reliance on traditional combat risks further losses. Insurgents have showed capacity to outmanoeuvre and destabilise these. It is time to think outside the box, and outmanoeuvre them.
“I propose government convenes security experts, including top military, to rework existing methods. Such will allow for discussions on innovative approaches and iron out actual operationalisation of patterns of asymmetric methodology,” he said.
The proposed meeting, he added, must draw from diverse pools of expertise, including unconventional thinkers, to ensure that fresh perspectives are brought to the table, warning against concentrating attention solely on suggestions from armed forces personnel whose training and mindset are often rooted in symmetric or conventional methodology.
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“That mindset, while valuable in traditional warfare, is insufficient for the current realities,” he explained, clarifying that insurgents thrive precisely because they exploit the rigidity of conventional responses, the limitations of which have so far proven costly.
He argued that asymmetric approaches could involve leveraging intelligence-driven operations, community-based security collaborations, and unconventional deployment patterns that make it difficult for insurgents to predict government responses.
The reality, he said, is that insurgents are consolidating their influence across the boiling axis of insurgency, and unless the FG embraces unpredictability, the situation could deteriorate further. “We must outthink them, not just outgun them. Today, unlike before, the situation seems worse. They have infiltrated areas where it was initially thought impossible,” he added.
“The FG has to act swiftly, convene the proposed emergency forum, to enable broad discussions concerning operationalisation of unconventional strategies, before the insurgents spread to and tighten their grip even on other vulnerable regions. I shall welcome an invitation to such a forum to enable me discuss my own operational template of asymmetric warfare methodology,” Salawudeen said.
