To reduce the risks associated with their efforts to combat
the Boko Haram insurgents and other security challenges, the House of
Representatives is seeking to equip members of the Civilian Joint Task Force
(CJTF) in the North-east region with light arms.
This move followed a motion by Hon. Mohammed Monguno,
currently under consideration, where he called on the House of Representatives
to consider empowering the CJTF to compliment the Armed Forces in the fight
against terrorists.
Although the motion was not adopted due to a constitutional
provision that only members of the armed forces can bear arms, the mover, Hon.
Monguno was directed to liaise with the Chairman, House Committee on Rules and
Business, Hon. Edward Pwajok to fine-tune it.
In his motion titled: ‘Need for members of the Civilian
Joint Task Force (CJTF) to bear small arms in the fight against the Boko Haram
insurgents’, he expressed the need to pass the motion in the quest to end
insurgency in the region.
According to him, "The President and Commander-in-Chief
of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to issue an Executive
Order under Section 254 of the Armed Forces Act, 2004 to allow members of the
Civilian Joint Task Force bear small arms along the military personnel in the
fight against Boko Haram insurgents."
Lawmakers were however divided over the motion,
necessitating the call for the duo of Monguno and Pwajok to make the document
perfect.
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