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.”
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