Goodbye ‘Lafiya Dole, welcome ‘Operation Hadin kai’

The Chief of Army Staff, Ibrahim Attahiru, had on Sunday re-named the ongoing war against terrorism in Northeast.

Operation Lafiya Dole which was birthed in August 2015 was laid to rest as the new chief of army, Attahiru, a Lieutenant General gave the 12 years old war yet another baptismal – Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK).

OPHK is a final curtain drawn upon the stage that former COAS, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, (retired), now an amassador, had  reigned.

When General Buratai took over from Lieutenant General Kenneth Minima, he too had to alter the then nom de guerre of the then nascent counterinsurgency war from Operation Zaman Lafiya to Operation Lafiya Dole.

The three named operations, each of which defined the war philosophy of the respective chiefs, were all crafted in Hausa as a way of making the world understand the pulse that drives the troops.

General Minima’s Operation Zaman Lafiya which means “living in peace” was replaced by the then new COAS, General Buratai, who felt the peace should be achieved at all cost. Buratai brought Operation Lafiya Dole – “Peace at all cost”. But Attahiru came on board about six years later, he felt force cannot bring about the desired peace. He then brought his Operation Hadin Kai” – which means Collaboration/Cooperation. To General Attahiru, the worsening asymmetric war in the northeast can only be won where there is cooperation and synergy between the civilians and the military; as well as effective Cooper’se amongst all the security agencies.

Nonetheless, a statement containing General Attahiru’s reason for the change of operational identity, said the change “is premised on the fact that the Nigerian Army (NA) has made a lot of progress over the years and needs to re-align for better efficiency.

Attahiru did not only alter the name of the counterinsurgency, he went further to rename designations if all the sub-components and units of the theater of war.

“Army Super Camps which now reflect the nomenclature of the formations and units followed by the name of the locations they occupy while sub-units are redesigned as Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) followed by the name of their locations.

The army chief had ordered that “All these changes are with immediate effect.”

Spokesman of the army, Brigadier General Mohammed Yerima, said “the renaming is in line with the COAS Vision of having “A Nigerian Army that is Repositioned to Professionally Defeat all Adversaries in a Joint Environment”.

General Yerima said the army chief “it is the believe of the COAS that the complete defeat of insurgency is a process that requires the participation of the entire nation using all elements of national power.”

The COAS further assured that “the NA under his leadership will continue to pursue the path of jointness in prosecuting the counterinsurgency war.”