Security expert, Dr. Ona Ekhomu, has described last Thursday’s attack on a United Nations humanitarian flight as a dangerous and grave escalation of insurgency.
He said that the capability and willingness to attack civil aviation, which had not previously been displayed, was exhibited in the UN helicopter attack and has moved the threat level to the highest level – grave.
Ekhomu, who is the president of the Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria (AISSON), said that apparently the UN humanitarian agencies and the Federal Government did not carry out robust risk assessment of the humanitarian flight.
He said that Boko Haram had since 2016 declared that it was opposed to UN humanitarian work in the North East.
It had proven this through the serial murders of several UN workers like Saifura Khorsa, Hauwa Liman and others. Ekhomu argued further that it was well known that Boko Haram has a battery of anti-aircraft (AA) guns.
One of these was used in the September 2014 downing of the Nigerian Air Force jet piloted by a young Nigerian hero, Mr. Manasseh, who was later savagely executed.
Ekhomu said that the attack on the UN helicopter in Damasak was a ground to air attack. The fact that the helicopter survived the attack with bullet holes and flew back 150km to Maiduguri showed that it was apparently an AA gun attack.
“Media reports of a surface to air missile (SAM) attack are not supported by the initial evidence and indicators. A SAM attack would have blown the helicopter up. However, I assume that the insurgents probably have that capability already.”
Ekhomu, who is the author of the book, “Boko Haram: Security Considerations and the Rise of an Insurgency,” argued that the threatscape has changed in the aftermath of last Thursday’s attacks.
He said: “The threat vector is that Nigerian civil aviation will come under ground to air attacks, particularly since high value travellers no longer use patently unsafe roads in the North East.”
He disagreed with the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, who announced the suspension of humanitarian flights for one week. He advised that the flights should be put on hold until a proper risk assessment is done on the civil aviation in the region.
“This is to avert a disaster, and it does not take one week,” he argued.
He urged the Federal Government to urgently utilize the risk mapping methodology in his book to properly assess the risks to civil aviation and develop robust mitigation measures to ensure that commercial and humanitarian flights are safe in the North East.