Barely two weeks after the Federal House of Representatives called on Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen. Kenneth Minimah to relocate to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital due to increasing attacks by the Boko Haram sect, the Senate on Wednesday re-emphasised the call for the army chief to temporarily relocate to the state capital.
The Boko Haram sect has recently masterminded series of attacks on villagers in the state, as well as Yobe, a neighbouring state where over 40 students of a secondary school were killed on Tuesday.
The new directive came from the Senate Committee on Defence and Army, whose chairman, Thompson Sekibo spoke at the 2014 budget defence of the committee.
While condemning the attacks, Sekibo argued that relocating to Maiduguri would help the chief of army staff to reduce the killings, just as he called for the bolstering of security in all schools and health institutions henceforth.
“We hereby, as the committee overseeing your activities, direct that your office relocates temporarily to the 7th Division in Maiduguri. This is so that you take urgent and appropriate steps to quell the situation”, he told the COAS.
“The chief of army staff should also re-strategise on possible new ways of curbing these excesses and mobilise all military resources and face the insurgents. The committee would grant the budget for the Army accelerated consideration as a result because, for us, the quelling of this insurgency and giving confidence of safety to Nigerians is of utmost priority.
“This battle must be won to sustain our nation’s stability and unity as it is only in the atmosphere of peace and tranquility that development can be carried out”.
He assured that his committee would tour the affected states where Boko Haram has been carrying out their activities once the Senate resumes from its recess.
Minimah informed the committee that the Army is in serious need of fund, adding that soon, the Boko Haram Islamist sect would be crushed. But he said for this to happen, the Army needs the support of Nigerians in the fight against insurgency.
