Yobe massacre: Relocate to Maiduguri, Senate orders army chief

    
The Senate Committee on Defence and Army passed a resolution on Wednesday, directing the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Kenneth Minimah to relocate his office to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital in order to step up the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency.

The resolution followed the massacre of about 50 students of Federal Government College in Yobe State on Tuesday by the insurgents.

The development came just as the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma Egba and the Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Senator Bukola Saraki, in separate statements, described the perpetrators of the massacre as “bunch of animals.”

The Defence Committee passed the resolution when the Chief of Army Staff led top officers to the upper chamber on 2014 Budget defence .

The issue of Yobe massacre was raised by a member of the committee, Senator Babafemi Ojudu through a point of order predicated on orders 42 and 102 of the Senate standing rules.

The Committee in a two-page statement containing the resolutions, explained that, it came up with the decison after they engaged in a two-hour brainstorming session with the Army chief on the way forward out of the Boko Haram menace in the North Eastern part of the country.

It directed the Chief of Army Staff to relocate his office temporarily to the 7th Division of Nigerian Army in Maiduguri for urgent and appropriate steps to quell the insurgents’ repeated attacks in the area.

The Committee also directed the Nigerian Army under Minimah to re-strategise on possible new ways of curbing Boko Haram excesses in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states by mobilising all available military resources in fighting the insurgents.

The statement reads in part: “The Senate Committee on Defence and Army condemned the atrocity being unleashed by the Boko Haram element on innocent citizens of Nigeria and in particular the Tuesday massacre of students of Federal Government College Buni Yadi in Yobe State where scores of Students were gruesomely killed.

“The Committee has by this, issued a directive that the Chief of Army Staff take the following actions (a), Re-strategise on possible new ways of curbing these excesses, (b) mobilise all available military resources and face the insurgencies., relocate your office to Maiduguri for urgent actions to curtail the repeated attacks of the insurgents on innocent Nigerians.”

The Committee led by Senator George Sekibo, also said all Schools and Health Institutions should also be provided with special security to prevent repeat of the senseless attacks and killings of the innocent ones.

It gave express approval to the 2014 budget of the Nigerian Army, and told the Army Chief that what was of utmost priority to it now was quelling the killing spree going on in the North East through Boko Haram insurgency and not the budget details.

The committee further noted that “No one goes to the town square to dance when there is fire”, hence it will take a tour of the troubled area upon resumption of the Senate for plenary as from March 11.

It also called on President Jonathan to rise up to the challenge by mobilizing resources for the Armed Forces to fight the war against insurgents decisively.

Meanwhile, the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), on Wednesday, described the Tuesday’s Yobe killings of about 40 students as “crossing the border of decency.”

Ndoma-Egba, in a statement in Abuja, said the killings showed that the sect had planned to plunge Nigeria into a “bleak and blank future.”

He said, “It is obvious that we are now dealing with a bunch of animals to whom human life is now totally meaningless and worthless because when you attack students, you are attacking the foundation of the country’s future.“

Also, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Senator Bukola Saraki, said he was devastated by the recent attacks in the northern part of the country which had left over 43 school children dead.

Saraki, in a statement in Abuja, noted that the country had recorded another monumental loss with the latest attack on the innocent school children killed at the Federal Government College Buni Yadi.

“I can’t find the right words to describe the activities of this man-made locust that continues to wipe away our communities and children needlessly,” he said.