Senate to Jonathan: change your tactics on Boko Haram

Senators yesterday gave the Executive a wake-up call on the Boko Haram insurgency.
The Senate urged the Executive to consider other options and strategies that would be effective in fighting the crisis.
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, at plenary in Abuja, described the multiple explosions that left dozens dead in Kano on Monday as regrettable.
He said it was high time the Federal Government tackled the security challenge headlong.
He also urged relevant Senate committees to critically appraise the entire appalling scenario with a view to making a positive input.
Ekweremadu said: “What happened in Kano is regrettable and we must do everything possible as a country to ensure we end this kind of carnage.
“The Federal Government should consider other options towards resolving the crises.
“I also would want to urge relevant committees to look at the whole scenario and possibly advise the Senate on the way forward towards addressing the situation.”
Members of the Igbo community in Kano State have rejected the usual mass burial given to victims of bomb explosions.
They insisted on retrieving the bodies for proper burial.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije (Abia North), who spoke on behalf of the group, requested that security be tightened in the state to protect all citizens.
Chukwumerije urged the Federal Government to directly manage whatever monetary compensation is to be allocated relatives of the dead.
Chukwumerije and Senator Kabiru Gaya (Kano South), coming under Order 43, expressed concern over the government’s inability to combat the ugly trend of insecurity in the country.
Chukwumerije specifically alleged that the insurgency has assumed ethnic and regional dimensions.
He called for immediate action to forestall likely exploitation of the circumstance by enemies of the state, whose primary objective is to pitch the various ethnic groups in the country against one another.
Chukwumerije said: “From the feedback one gets from Kano and from the consequences of the bombings, this now seems to take the focus of ethnicity and eligion and we believe that this must be addressed at the earliest possible opportunity because we know that the special fabric of this country suffers from two fault lines – ethnicity and religion – and this is the fault lines any enemy of state can exploit in order to cause tension within the country.
“The true perception of the Igbo all over Kano was that this was primarily targeted at them. They lost so much property and human beings.
“We are therefore saying that the Nigerian state, for which belong the basic responsibility of providing security to all members as a part of its social contract, should rise to its responsibility.
“There are two strategic options now facing Nigeria in order to deal with the situation.
“One is ensuring that the environment of insecurity is a challenge that must be visibly and effectively tackled.
“The Nigerian government and security operatives would always be ready with statistics, saying they are doing their best but this kind of game is like a football match.
“It is not about dribbling but how many goals you scored.”
The lawmaker representing Abia South further noted that there was already a disconnect between the government of Kano State and the people and stressed the need for effective security system to safeguard lives and property.
He said: “The government must triple its effort to bring the issue to an end.
“Another point is that the issue of effective security system to safeguard the people is long overdue.
“Another is the issue of averting the danger of disconnect between the state and the citizens.
“When this crisis happened, the Governor was nowhere to be seen. The main anger of the victims was that they are human beings and not woods.
“The government has lost an opportunity of isolating the terrorist as a marginal group outside the mainstream of the society.
“The victims will have the impression that everyone is against them.
“This would have given the government the opportunity to prove that these are agents of government who wanted to knock the heads of social groups together in order to achieve their goals.”
Senator Gaya recalled that Kano was a hub for the Igbo for many years and insisted that some forces were deployed to create disunity between the North and the South.
He said: “Let me clearly say that from history, Kano and the people of Sabon-Gari have been business partners and have lived together for long even though we have had issues here and there.
Gaya said it is time for lawmakers to be strict on the executive over their resolutions.
“We must take a decision now, it is our responsibility to take a decision in this chamber and make it binding on the government”, Gaya said.
The Senate in its usual manner observed a minute silence in honour of those who lost their lives in the blast.