The Senate Committee on Defense and Army,which is led by Sen. Thompson Sekibo had on Wednesday in Abuja urged the Chief of Army Staff to relocate temporarily to Maiduguri. This call was made at the 2014 budget defense of the committee.
Sekibo said the committee condemned what it described as the atrocity being unleashed by Islamist sect Boko Haram on the innocent citizens of North Eastern Nigeria.
He said that as part of measures to curb the activities of Boko Haram, the committee also wanted all schools and health institutions from now on to be provided with special security. “We heard of your planned relocation to Maiduguri. We hereby as the committee overseeing your activities, direct that your office relocate temporarily to the 7th Division in Maiduguri. This is so that you take urgent and appropriate steps to quell the situation. The Chief of Army staff should also re-strategise on possible new ways of curbing these excesses and mobilise all military resources and face the insurgents,”Sekibo said.
The committee further called on President Goodluck Jonathan to mobilize all the needed resources for the Armed Forces to face the challenge. “This battle must be won to sustain our nation’s stability and unity as it is only in the atmosphere of peace and tranquillity that development can be carried out,” Sekibo said.
He also said the committee would take a tour of the three affected states when senate resumed from its recess.
In his response, the Chief of Army Staff Maj.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah said that the Army was in dire need of more funds. Minimah assured the committee that the Army was up to the task and it was just a matter of time before it would bring the insurgents to their knees.
Meanwhile, the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba condemned the killing of students in Yobe on Tuesday,he described it as the “crossing the border of decency”. In a personally signed statement, Ndoma-Egba said the killing of about 40 students showed that the sect planned to plunge Nigeria into a “bleak and blank future”.
He called for an urgent modification of the security strategy to include hot pursuit as this was permissible in international law.
Credit: (NAN)
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