Military Moves to Cut Off Logistics and Funding Sustaining Asymmetric Warfare

Nigeria’s military is focusing on the money and supplies that keep terrorist networks alive, Defence Minister Christopher Gwabin Musa said, as he declared that the era of brazen attacks on communities and military formations had passed.

Musa said the Armed Forces, working with partner intelligence agencies, had disrupted the operational momentum of major networks including Boko Haram and ISWAP. The conflict, he argued, had moved away from structured insurgency toward desperate, isolated criminal cells.

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We don’t have those brazen attacks that used to be.

“We don’t have those brazen attacks that used to be,” Musa said. “Before now, Boko Haram would go to places, attack areas and go. You don’t hear of that anymore. The trajectory has moved from insurgency back downwards towards terrorism, abductions and kidnapping because that is the easiest way for desperate networks to try and raise money.”

The minister attributed the decline in large-scale attacks to aggressive operations carried out directly inside insurgent enclaves. He also cautioned villagers against spying on troop movements or supplying logistics to fighters, saying such activity was prolonging the insurgency and its consequences.

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Before now, Boko Haram would go to places, attack areas and go. You don’t hear of that anymore.

Working with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, security forces have tracked and intercepted illicit funding through proxy accounts, social-media crowdfunding and cryptocurrency, Musa said. After a high-level summit with the United States State Department, Nigeria is deploying international counter-funding tools to isolate foreign influences such as ISIS from local affiliates.

Musa also linked the recent rise in security incidents to a pattern he said had historically appeared before major political cycles. With campaigns for the upcoming elections due to begin in January, he questioned whether political actors were deliberately using insecurity to stir negative sentiment against the government. He nevertheless said security forces would contain the incidents and keep political movements and campaigns secure. He added that military pressure was prompting mass surrenders among low-level fighters who realised they had been deceived.

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The trajectory has moved from insurgency back downwards towards terrorism, abductions and kidnapping because that is the easiest way for desperate networks to try and raise money.