Members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday affirmed that Nigerians have lost confidence reposed in the entire leadership and the security architecture owing to the unabated cases of insurgent attacks and killings of innocent citizens especially in the North East region of the country.
The lawmakers’ outrage was vented during the debate on a motion of ‘urgent national importance’ sponsored by Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hon. Yusuf Yakubu, who called on the Federal Government on the need to provide adequate security, reconstruction and relief materials to parts his constituency attacked by insurgents and to “order the Nigerian Army to change strategy on its current campaign against terrorism.”
Hon. Yakub who called for deliberate action towards combating terrorism in the country argued that “these attacks, coming more ferociously after a time the insurgents were said to have been degraded, to say the least, have left our people in even more grave danger and have left our homes, business premises, places of worship, farms and above all, lives at the mercy of the insurgents.
“The House further notes that with these attacks the confidence of our people repose in us, leaders, the Nigerian military and in the entire security architecture of our dear country has completely waned. It is saddening and bears repeating as many times as we go to state the fact that our soldiers are either too few to save our people from harm’s way or too in-equipped to do so or even both.
“Mr Speaker, we are living in very curious and peculiar times. We are living at a time when there is muted disquiet in the entire military, owing largely to the sad reality that generations of soldiers, younger soldiers who have the zeal to showcase their abilities, are now being retired before their seniors.
“Today, the military is being led by what we know as members of Course 29 of the NDA. But sadly, Courses 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 and even 35, we are told are either on their way to retirement or have retired, leaving behind those they met in the Service as their seniors,” he lamented.
The lawmaker further argued that there is an international dimension to the activities of insurgent groups like Boko Haram, ISWAP and other like-minded groups in the Sahel region and the Lake Chad Basin, whose activities and territorial ambitions and agenda have been greatly encouraged by intractable conflicts in the Middle East, in the Horn of Africa, including Libya and Sudan.
In his intervention, Hon. Ahmed Jahal decried the destruction of the church which was built in 1923 and rebuilt in the 90s.
While calling for the intervention of the House, Hon. Jahal stressed the need to save Nigeria and its citizens across the country.
In his contribution, Hon. Musa Sarkin Ada who chided the security chiefs, most of whom are indigenes of the North-Eastern region, for failing to quell the ravaging insurgency, despite the provision of funds and logistics for them to succeed.
Also speaking, Hon. Sarkin Ada called for a thorough investigation into the failure of the security architecture and punish those found culpable.
In the same vein, Hon. Zakaria Nyampa who decried the situation where numerous resolutions of the House towards improving the security of the nation are not acted upon by the security architecture called for a quick and final resolution to the insecurity situation in Nigeria.
In his view, Hon. Ahmed Jaha while expressing sadness at the avoidable and unabated attacks that have continued to ravage the North East, tasked Buhari’s administration on the need to take decisive action before the insecurity engulfs more regions in the nation.
On his part, Hon. Victor Mela called for a change from the norm and for the application of practical strategies to get rid of the insurgents.
Worried by the development, the House tasked the executive arm to as a matter of urgency, deploy enough soldiers to the affected areas, with the view to forestall future occurrence and offer the people of the area a sense of belonging as Nigerians.
The lawmakers also urged the executive to urgently reorganise the entire security architecture of the entire country, as well as commence the process of massive recruitment into the Nigerian Army.
