The President of the Nigeria Senate, Senator David Mark has called for a clear, unambiguous and decisive military response from the Government, beyond the imposition of a state of emergency against the Boko Haram Insurgents in the North-Eastern region of he Country.”
Mark said an urgent military action, beyond the state of emergency must be put in place at the moment to end the war against Boko Haram Islamist Fighters. He made the call in a speech at the resumption of plenary session on Wednesday adding that it is clear Nigeria state is at war with Boko Haram insurgents.
According to him; “The enemy has clearly and unequivocally served the nation notice of its vile intentions and therefore, a clear, unambiguous and decisive military response from the Government, beyond the imposition of a state of emergency, is urgently required in this circumstance.”
“This is an option we must consider now!” he insisted.
Boko Haram in less than 24 hours after killing at least 75 people in a motor park bomb attack in Abuja, with many injured, abducted over 200 girls from a government girls school in Chibok, a small town, south of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. The girls are yet to be found while some reports claim they have been sold off to foreigners.
Scope of Boko Haram’s assault on the Nigerian State cuts across places of worship, schools, police stations, military facilities, government installations, and defenseless communities.
Pupils have been brutally murdered en masse in their dormitories; school girls have been brutalized and kidnapped from their schools; police stations and army barracks have been attacked and incinerated; lives and property have been destroyed and whole communities destroyed by the insurgents.
“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,” the senate president said. “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. And this must be done within the shortest possible time frame with minimal casualties.”
The operational structure of Boko Haram is not publicly clear but the government appears convinced the insurgents are funded by both foreigners and local politicians with an intent to cripple Nigeria’s political institution.
The group is believed to have received support from politicians in both the ruling People’s Democratic Party and the opposition All Progressives Congress.
Former governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, now a member of the ruling PDP, was accused of making monthly donations of N10 million to the sect. Isa Yuguda, the governor of Bauchi State and a member of the ruling PDP has also been accused of sponsoring the sect at N10 million monthly.
Former governor of Borno State and an opposition member, Ali-modu Sheriff, under whose watch Boko Haram gained prominence, is also believed to have sponsored the group financially.
Ali Ndume, a sitting senator, as well as Saidu Pindar, Nigeria’s ambassador to Sao Tome, both members of the ruling PDP, have also been accused of sponsoring the sect.
Despite the established links between politicians and the sect, the Nigerian government is reluctant to hold anyone responsible beyond political rhetorics and party accusations.
“The Government must do all it can to immediately identify the sponsors and the source of funds to the terrorists and the insurgents. In this connection, nobody who is implicated, no matter how highly placed, should be treated as a sacred cow,” the senate president said.
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