Disturbed by the recent killing at Federal Government College Buni-Yadi in Yobe state, the Senate Committee on Defence and Army has directed the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen. Kenneth Minimah, to move his office to Maiduguri, Borno state.
The Committee gave the directive when the Army Chief led other top officers to defend the 2014 budget proposal.
According to the committee, relocating his office to Borno state which has witnessed renewed deadly attacks on innocent people of late would enable Gen Minimah, to device other means of ending insurgency in the north east.
A member of the committee, Babafemi Ojudu, had raised a point of order, calling on his colleagues’ attention to the latest killing in Yobe, stressing the need urgent steps to addressing the ugly situation.
The committee chairman, George Sekibo, promptly sustained the order and allowed other members to also contribute and they unanimously condemned the dastardly act.
Consequently, the committee issued a statement directing the Army boss to relocate to Borno.
The army was also urged to “re-strategize on possible new ways of curbing these excesses, mobilising all available military resources to face the insurgence, relocating temporarily to the 7th Division in Maiduguri and taking urgent and appropriate steps to quell the situation.”
The committee also directed that “all schools and health institutions should be provided with special security, as we do not want a repeat of these killings of our innocent citizens.”
Realizing the need to adequately fund the Army to tackle insurgency, the Committee expressly approved the budget proposal without the usual scrutiny.
The chairman said, “Because of the situation, the committee will receive your budget proposal without going through the lines as no one goes to the town square to dance when there is fire in his house. For us the quelling of this insurgence and giving of safety to Nigerians is of utmost priority.”
Gen. Minimah in his response promised that his men would intensify effort to ensure that insurgency becomes a thing of the past in due course, assuring that they have what it takes to contain insurgency.
