The Senate says Nigeria is on fire. It has therefore mandated its leadership to schedule an appointment with President Muhammadu Buhari to enable all the 109 Senators to meet with him in a closed session to discuss security matters in the country.
This was just as the chamber resolved on Tuesady to summon the Service Chiefs to brief lawmakers on steps taken so far to address the rising spate of insecurity in the country.
It also mandated the Joint Committees on Foreign Affairs; Defence and National Security to engage the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, National Security Adviser, Babagana Munguno, Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Salihi Magashi (Rtd) and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, on the regional implications of the recent development in Chad.
These formed part of resolutions reached, following a motion on the deadly activities of bandits and Boko Haram terrorists in some Local Government Areas of Niger State and other parts of Nigeria.
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Coming under Order 42 and 52 of the Senate Standing Rules, sponsor of the motion, Senator Sani Mohammed Musa (APC, Niger East) raised alarm that for seven years, “Niger East Senatorial District of Niger State have come under constant and sustained multiple deadly attacks by heartless, venomous and hydra-headed Boko Haram terrorists who are always heavily armed with assorted sophisticated and dangerous weapons unleashing their horror on our innocent populace.”
According to the lawmaker, the negative effects of atrocities committed by the terrorists have led to a collapse of the local economies and educational system in the affected areas.
He said about 42 communities across the two Local Government areas of Shiroro and Munya Local Government have so far fallen under the Boko Haram control with about 5,000 villagers already displaced in the last three days.
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“They have kidnapped many and their wives seized from them and forcefully attached to Boko Haram members.
“Three military camps In Allawa Bassa and Zagzaga in the two local government areas have been sacked and some security personnel killed by the insurgents in the last one month of renewed attacks.
“I can authoritatively confirm that the Boko Haram terrorists have mounted their flags in many of the villages they have captured such as Kaure, Alawa and Magami.
“Inhabitants of these war-torn parts of the State have been abandoned and left to their fate thereby compelling them to wallow in perpetual agony and abject misery”, Senator Musa said.
He adds: “At this moment primary schools in Gwada, Kuta, Pandogari and Minna have hurriedly been turned to IDP camps following the sacking of nearly 5600 villagers from their ancestral homes in Shiroro, Rafi and Munya tocai government areas in the last few weeks by bandits who raided the towns over the weekend. And what this means is that if they can launch attacks without hindrance in Niger East Senatorial District, then I don’t see how Abuja is safe anymore.
“Again note, before the recent Bandits struck Kagara headquarters of Rafi Local Government, Madaka-Gari, Maikujeri, Magami, Zangouru, Bassa, Gusoro, Galadiman Kogo and Kokki villages where all attacked with casualties more than 46 people killed.
“If this menace is not drastically addressed, the attacks will continue, and the danger is that it may escalate further to other communities, which are mostly farming communities, and the farmers may desert their farms this season and this will negatively affect the food sufficiency and economic diversification policy of the Federal Government.”
Contributing, the Deputy Whip, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi (APC, Niger North) said Niger State have become a safe haven to bandits and terrorists who fled parts of the North East region, warning that something drastic must be done by the federal government to nip the problem in the bud.
He said: “Today, we are talking about them occupying Niger state in the manner that has been given earlier by the mover of the motion.
“The number of people that are becoming displaced daily is on the increase, and I think we are definitely feeling very insecure, because these are our citizens, we can’t even go to them as we used to.”
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Mohammed Bima Enagi (APC, Niger South), said, “the situation has become so bad and shameful. Our women cannot go to market, our women cannot go to fetch water from the rivers, our men cannot go to farm, our children cannot go to school.”
He lamented, “Nigerians cannot continue to bear this pain of our women been raped and forcefully married to Boko Haram terrorists.
“We cannot continue to allow Boko Haram to mount flags on Nigerian territory. What is our Army doing, what are the security agencies doing? The situation has become so shameful that a great country like Nigeria will be in this type of terrible situation.
Senator Ike Ekweremadu (PDP, Enugu), said, “in the South East, soldiers are killed, police are killed, police stations are destroyed, and innocent people killed and kidnapped on a daily basis. Same goes for South West, North Central, North West and other parts of the country.
Senator Smart Adeyemi (APC, Kogi West), who underscored the need to seek foreign intervention, lamented that the Nigeria’s security problems continue to worsen despite huge amount of monies appropriated to security agencies.
He said: “Mr. President, insecurity is a serious problem today in Nigeria, and there comes a time when you cannot but speak the truth, irrespective of the sentiments you may share.
“Today, Mr. President, all of us are being threatened – our families, our nation, our state.
“Mr. President, we need not run away from the fact, that more than ever before in the history of our nation, this is the worst instability we are facing. In fact, this is worse than the civil war.
“We shouldn’t pretend that we don’t need foreign support now. Let nobody deceive us. A lot of billions of naira has been voted for security services, nothing is coming out of it.
“We wouldn’t wait until our nation gets burnt. Let us shout and call for foreign support. I am an APC man and I’ve been supporting my party, but the President should get to know it has got to a point that we who are supporters and members of the APC can no longer keep quiet.”
“Mr. President, the nation is on fire. The President must rise to the occasion, it costs us nothing to get foreign support. We must bring these people to save this country or else we will be consumed.”
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