The House of Representatives on Tuesday summoned the Chief of Defence Staff and the service chiefs to brief it on actions they had taken so far to free the schoolgirls abducted in Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram members.
The lawmakers, who resumed sitting in Abuja after a three-week Easter break, condemned the abduction of the girls and berated the armed forces for their alleged slow efforts to secure their release.
A member representing Chibok/Damboa/Gosa Federal Constituency of Borno State, Mr. Peter Biye-Gumta, who moved a motion on the abduction, recalled that “over two weeks” after the girls were kidnapped, their whereabouts had remained unknown.
Biye-Gumta,who told his colleagues that the parents of the children were traumatised , appealed to the military to “expedite action” in securing their freedom.
He also called on the National Emergency Management Agency to send relief materials to the communities attacked by the insurgents on the day the girls were abducted.
“Some of the parents of these abducted girls are right now lying on the road to the National Assembly, demanding urgent intervention by the government,” he added.
The Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Ms. Nnena Ukeje, called for foreign assistance to support the Federal Government in its anti- terror war.
In his contribution to the debate, a former Chairman, Committee on Education, Mr. Farouk Lawan, said the girls went to sit examinations when the abduction took place.
Lawan, who became emotional as he spoke, asked members to imagine for 30 seconds that their daughters were among the girls.
He said, “We are all parents here. Just imagine for 30 seconds that your daughter is one of them.
“Very little if anything at all, is being done to secure the release of these girls.”
Several other members of the House blamed the inability of the military to free the girls on failure of the government.
This view was spearheaded by the House Minority Whip, Mr. Sampson Osagie, who argued that “never before” had the security and welfare of the citizenry been compromised in Nigeria like in the last five to six years.
Osagie said, “Security issues are not issues of politics, of ethnic nationality or religion. This is clearly a breakdown of governance; a failure of leadership.
“Government must do everything within its powers to release those girls.”
However, Shehu Galandachi brought a different dimension to the debate when he blamed insurgency on political domination at the centre by the South since 1999.
The Kano lawmaker was emphatic in his argument, gesticulating angrily as he spoke.
He told the session, which was presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, that Nigeria had been avoiding the real cause of the insurgency.
According to him, so long as “one zone of the country” continues to control power at the centre, insurgency will not end.
“This matter will continue, far, far beyond us. Since 1999, one zone has been dominating power,” he stated.
But, Tambuwal quickly cut him short by warning him against deviation from the course of the debate.
“Galadanchi, do not go out of the realm of this debate. Please, I beg you,” Tambuwal told him.
But the unperturbed Galadanchi still insisted that the solution to insurgency was the point he just raised.
Although the debate continued, his point did not seem to have been lost on members.
The House later adopted the motion, in addition to calling for a national day of prayers for the release of the girls.
In the Senate , Mark reviewed the activities of Boko Haram and submitted that the situation in the North-East signposted that the insurgents had declared war on Nigerians.
He therefore canvassed full military action in the troubled states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe in order to flush out the terrorists.
Mark, who addressed his colleagues on resumption from the Easter break, lamented the attack on the Nyanya Motor Park near Abuja and the abduction of the girls.
He said, “It is obvious that we are dealing with insurgents and well-funded nihilists who are determined to violently trample upon the secularity of the Nigerian state and destroy the country.
“A modern, vibrant, progressive, multi-ethnic, multi-religious Nigeria is an anathema to them. Because they are fired by zealotry and extremism, they are not likely to be swayed by overtures of any kind. We must henceforth shift from fighting terrorism to fighting insurgency.
“Our emphasis must therefore be on winning the hearts and minds of the communities in the immediate theatres of conflict.
“The full might and strength of our security services must now be deployed to confront this scourge and we expect our security services to rapidly reorient their assets and capabilities so as to overcome this difficult challenge.
“This must be done within the shortest possible time frame with minimal casualties. Let me emphasise that for them to achieve this, they require the cooperation of all and sundry.”
He advised that the government must do all it could to immediately identify the sponsors of the insurgents and their funding sources.
“In this connection, nobody who is implicated, no matter how highly placed, should be treated as a sacred cow,” he said.
The Leader of the Senate, Senator Victor Ndoma – Egba, who moved the motion on behalf of his 108 other colleagues, noted with grief, the abduction of the girls.
Senator Ganiyu Solomon, who seconded the motion, suggested the summoning of the military chiefs to brief the Senate on their efforts to restore normalcy to the troubled parts of the country.
Senator Ahmed Zannah painted a gory picture of the plight of the girls when he informed his colleagues that majority of them had been married out to the insurgents and scattered in villages and towns in Chad and Cameroon.
Zannah said, “I have been constantly in touch with the security agencies, telling them the movement of the girls from one place to the other and then the splitting of the girls and eventually their being married out to the insurgents.
“What bothers me most is that whenever I inform them of where the girls are, after two to three days, they will be moved from that place to another and still, I will go back and inform them ( military) that this is what is happening.
“I lost hope two days ago when I found out that some of the girls were moved to Chad and Cameroon. Actually, some of the insurgents move through the Mandara Mountain in Gwoza.
“Even now, some of them are in Kolofata, Cameroon, which is about 15 kilometres or even less to our border.
“One of the insurgents called somebody in Bama and said ‘I just got married and I am now settling in Kolofata.
“Unless there is a renewed seriousness on the part of our military, we have no hope of getting those girls. Even if we are going to get them; it may be two, three, four or five at a time.
“They are now scattered. So it is not possible for us to get 50, 60 or 100 in a particular place. This is the position as of today.”
Ali Ndume explained that when the insurgents arrived in Chibok, they went to the motor park and seized seven vehicles.
He said, “We heard of their activities immediately and we informed the military but unfortunately, while the abductors escaped with the girls through the eastern part of the area, the military pursued them towards the west.”
Senate spokesman, Eyinnaya Abaribe, said the war against insurgents was lingering because of internal sabotage.
He wondered for instance, why a senator would give information about the terrorists to the military and no action was taken.
Senator Atai Aidoko said President Goodluck Jonathan should go to the troubled areas and provide motivation to the military.
“Our people have given the government the necessary support to tackle insurgency, but unfortunately our leaders are paying lip service to the fight.”
Senator Ayogu Eze suggested that ambassadors whose countries were believed to be harbouring insurgents should be summoned to explain what their home governments were doing to tackle insurgency.
The sessions by the two chambers of the National Assembly coincided with protests by women at the gates to the legislative building, who were demanding urgent actions to secure the release of the girls. – Punch.
