Members of the House of Representatives, on Wednesday, expressed grave concerns over the Boko Haram attack on innocent citizens in Borno State and the inordinate attitude of the Service Chiefs to the gruesome killings of the citizens.
The lawmakers expressed the concern during the debate on a motion sponsored by Hon. Zannah Usman who decried the insurgents’ attack on some communities in Gubio Local Government in Borno State.
In his lead debate, Hon. Usman, who stated that the initial attack by the insurgents was repelled by the villagers, however, noted that the terrorists regrouped and came back on the evening of Tuesday, June 9th, 2020 and killed scores of residents in the communities and rustled their cattle.
The lawmaker, who argued that the Armed Forces seem to be overwhelmed by the presence of the insurgents, decried the fact that the huge funds expended by the Federal Government to return internally displaced persons from the camps to their indigenous communities may turn out to become wasted as the citizens may deem it necessary to leave their communities again.
He, therefore, called on the House Committees on North East Development Commission (NEDC) to ensure relief to the affected victims, just as he beckoned on the joint House Committees on Army and Defense to ensure adequate security in these communities as they seem to be a favourite target of the insurgents.
In his remarks, Hon. Zainab Gimba, who appealed to the House to stop being diplomatic with security agents as the insecurity in Borno State has become unbearable, stressed the need for the House to use all its expertise to help the Security Chiefs who seem to have lost the mechanism on tackling the situation of insecurity in the country.
Hon. Gimba also called on the Federal Government to apply the same level of seriousness attached to combating the coronavirus pandemic to that of tackling insecurity and gender-based violence.
On his part, Hon. Obinna Chidoka stated that it was heart rendering to see that while one death in America has caused a global uprising; lives are lost in droves daily in every part of Nigeria with no seeming consequence.
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To this end, he called for the strengthening of the border control mechanisms of the country.
In his contribution, Hon. Uche Nam-Obi, who stated that when people lose their sense of security, anarchy is looming; wondered why Boko Haram seems to be getting stronger when the security chiefs have assured Nigerians that they have rendered the insurgents incapacitated.
In his contribution, Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu while decried the level of degradation of the national security situation in Nigeria, wondered why the Service Chiefs are still in office despite their glaring failure to secure Nigerians for so many years.
In the bid to tackle the challenges head-on, Hon. Okechukwu recommended that the Federal government should prioritize providing internal security to Nigerians over providing social intervention and that the constitution should be amended to allow citizens to defend themselves against insecurity where the security structure has become overwhelmed.
Also speaking, the Majority Chief Whip, Hon. Mohammed Monguno, who argued that the security agencies seem to have become overwhelmed, expressed the need for the Citizens to be allowed to defend themselves.
He also called on the Federal Government to focus its attention on the provision of security for Nigerians.
On his part, Hon. Musa Sarkin Ada, who observed that the failure of security is a matter at the heart of all Nigerians, lamented the plight of his Constituents who have has been highly affected by the devastation caused by insecurity in many forms.
He wondered why all the meaningful resolutions made by the House on security issues are not implemented, stating that if some of these resolutions made in the interest of Nigerians are implemented, the problems would at least reduce.
To this end, he called for decisive legislative action against Security Chiefs who seem not to have a clue about the discharge of their duties, with total disregard for accountability to Nigerians and the checks and balances powers of the legislature.
Hon. Ada also wondered why funds are appropriated to the offices of these Security Chiefs who have failed in the discharge of their duties which has directly led to the large and wasteful deaths of Nigerians.