Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki on Saturday expressed anguish over the bomb explosion that reportedly killed 14 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and injured 13 others inside the Malkohi camp in Yola, Adamawa State.
Just as the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu visibly angry said it was bad enough that hapless Nigerians were forced out and dislocated from their homes, but that it was even a worse act of man’s inhumanity to man for anyone to attack and kill them at their temporary shelters.
The Senate President in a statement from his Media Office, condemned in strong terms the Yola blast saying the inhuman act could only have been perpetrated by sadists and evil people now fangci imminent defeat.
Saraki said: “My prayers go out to the victims of the attacks at the largest IDPs camp located in Yola. The IDPs in the North-east need our support now more than ever. The insurgents have resorted to cowardly methods because they are being routed by our military.
“We must continue to pray for the success of the on-going military efforts against the insurgents. We urge the Nigerian military to remain resolute and focussed because we are definitely witnessing the last days of Boko Haram in our country,” he stated.
He called on the security agencies and even ordinary people across the country to increase their vigilance and awareness to prevent Boko Haram renegades from taking cover in their midst to carry out such dastardly acts in future.
He added: “We must not be deceived by these pockets of attacks on innocent citizens and IDPs alike by the insurgents because this attack represents the last desperate acts of a dying evil organization now facing the full heat of our gallant troops.
“Our troops have demonstrated in no unmistakable terms that they are ready to keep a date with the December ultimatum given to the newly decorated Service Chiefs to crush the insurgents by President Muhammadu Buhari,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ekweremadu in a statement issued by his Special assistant media Uche Anichukwu said: “I just led a delegation of the Senate to visit the Adamawa IDP camps in August to see things for ourselves, to encourage IDPs, and to assure them that they were not alone in this hour of dire need.
“The attacks on IDPs centres are a further proof that these murderers certainly bear no semblance of or respect for our cultures and religions, which not hold life in high esteem, but debars anyone from attacking anybody who had run into another person’s arm or home for protection. It is condemnable in its entirely. It is a callous aggravation of an already bad situation”.
Senator Ekweremadu conveyed heartfelt condolences to the affected families as well as the Government and people of Adamawa State, but insisted that the nation would never succumb to the evil agenda of the insurgents.
He added: “They want to break our resolve, but I urge the people of the North East and indeed the entire nation to remain resolute in our collective resolve to tackle and put the problem of insurgency behind us. The Senate will continue to partner with the executive and other Nigerian stakeholders in our institutional and individual capacities to not only end the insurgency, but also to rebuild the affected areas and also bring succour to the victims of this brigandage”
It would be recalled that Senator Ekweremadu had upon his return from the visits to the Adamawa IDPs camps last August dispatched over N9 million worth of relief materials in his personal capacity to the IDPs in the State.
