Senate to Consider Committee's Report on Security Next Week .Ahmed: Boko Haram targeting Christians in Adamawa to cause Religious crises

 

Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, on Monday revisited the burning issue of insecurity across the country with an assurance that the upper legislative chamber will next week consider at plenary the report of its Ad-hoc committee on security.

This is coming just as Senator Aishatu Ahmed raised the alarm that Boko Haram insurgents had killed three soldiers and burnt several churches in recent attacks in her Adamawa central constituency.

Lawan, who spoke sequel to the Senate consideration of a motion moved by Senator Ahmed via Order 42 and 52 of the Senate Standing Rules, stressed that the Senate would look into the committee's recommendations with a view to finding solutions to Nigeria’s mounting security problems.

The Red Chamber had in January constituted an 18-man Ad-Hoc Committee headed by the Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, to interface with the security agencies on the level of insecurity in the country and report back to the upper chamber within two weeks.

The Senate, Lawan assured Nigerians, would engage the executive arm of government on the resolutions of the Ad-hoc committee as contained in its report, adding that the upper chamber will also work closely with the House of Representatives and the citizenry towards ensuring that solutions are found to the lingering security problems in the country.

According to him, “The Senate discussed and debated so much on the insecurity in the country and set up an Ad-hoc committee under the leadership of the Senate Leader.

“The committee is working very hard to look for solutions to the insecurity bedeviling the country. We are not going to rest on our oars until we are able to provide solutions.

“This is the essence of our being in government. Of course, it will require that we work with the House of Representatives and the executive as well as the citizens because I believe that the citizens have to be taken into confidence in the fight against insecurity.”

Lawan further stressed that "we will not waste any time as soon as the report is ready, and I believe by next week the report will be ready. We are going to look at the report of the Ad-hoc committee and take the important ones and very viable resolutions, and engage with the executive arm of government.

“I think we are on the same page with the executive arm of government; everybody is worried, and we will do whatever it takes. If we have to invest so much money, so be it, because there’s nothing more important than life, even infrastructure. Life is more important than anything, so we need to protect the lives of Nigerians who have sent us here.

Meanwhile, Senator Ahmed had earlier in her motion raised through point of order the alarm that Boko Haram terrorists are targeting churches and Christians in Adamawa State.

According to her, the targeted attacks on Christians and worship centres are a deliberate move to cause a religious acrimony.

She specifically mentioned a major attack by the terrorists on  February 21, 2020, in Garkida, a town in Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa Central senatorial district, which led to the destruction of millions of property.

She said the insurgents in over seven gun trucks and many motorcycles attacked the town at about 7p.m. and set many buildings ablaze.

"Apart from the three soldiers killed in the dastardly attack, properties worth millions of naira were burnt or destroyed, including public hospital, schools, telecommunication facilities, police station, buses, cars, food stores, private properties belonging to the people of Garkida,” she lamented.

The Senator stated further that: “The Garkida crisis which has led to the destruction of lives and property was planned by the insurgents to have a religious connotation considering that churches and residences of some prominent indigenes were burnt, an act aimed at destroying the foundation of peaceful co-existence among Garkida community residents and Adamawa State as a whole.

 “As a result of this, urgent need and more drastic actions in the face of such affront on the national security architecture, the region and indeed the entire nation should be taken before it is long overdue.”