The Senate has urged the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, send fighter jets to flush out terrorists in their hideouts from where they perpetrate kidnappings and killing of Nigerians.
The upper chamber’s resolution followed a point of order raised by Sen. Bello Mandiya (APC-Katsina), on Wednesday at plenary.
The point of order was on the “Urgent need for the Federal Government to take drastic actions to bring to an end the act of banditry and kidnapping in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina”.
Relying on Orders 41 and 51 of the Senate Rules, Mandiya noted that the act of banditry and kidnapping had become a daily incident in Katsina with huge consequence of loss of lives, means of livelihood and displacement of communities.
The lawmaker recalled that, “on Sunday, 31st January, gunmen struck at Ruwan Godiya, a Community in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State, where 38 members of the community were kidnapped”.
He stated that the Federal Government had made frantic effort to curb the menace by setting up Operation Sharan Daji and Inter-Agency Task Force to tackle cases of banditry, cattle rustling and kidnapping in the state.
“Worried that the continuous security challenges and related attacks by bandits on towns, villages and communities in Faskari Local Government Area have meted untold hardship on the people”, Mandiya said if not drastically and promptly addressed, the consequences will be huge on food sufficiency since the affected communities are mostly farmers.
Contributing, Sen. Kabir Barkiya (APC-Katsina), faulted the inability of the military to contain the situation despite several calls for it to act.
“Enough is enough. What is happening in Katsina shows that we don’t have to only condemn it, we have to do something very serious.”
Similarly, Sen. Adamu Aliero (APC-Kebbi) said, “it is indeed a national disgrace that this thing is happening on a daily basis.
“Something needs to be done urgently and our security forces have to be encouraged and supported.
“We have provided support to the security agents. I remember last year alone, there was a Supplementary Appropriation. We approved over N865 billion and this year’s budget, I know we have close to about N1 trillion and we are getting little in terms of the outcome.
“By now, we are supposed to have a very peaceful country. Unfortunately, on daily basis, we have people being kidnapped and killed.
“There is need for security agents to do whatever is seemingly possible to calm this situation,” he said.
Also, Sen. Abdul Kwari (APC-Kaduna), said: “The issue of banditry in this country has assumed a very alarming proportion.
“The testimonies we have been receiving around the country are really testimonies that should get us moving.
“Where are the Tucano Fighter Jets that were recently acquired by the Federal Government and heavily celebrated by all of us?
“The whole nation should rise and get whatever that is needed to be gotten for the use of this fighter jets on this bandits for us to move forward,” Kwari said.
In his remarks, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said the repeated cases of kidnappings and killings made it imperative for the military to “wake up” to protect Nigerians.
He wondered why full-scale action is yet to be carried out by the military in spite of increased funding for security in the 2022 budget by the Executive and National Assembly.
He said, “the expectation of this Senate is that there is supposed to be a remarkable difference in success in terms of the fight against insurgence, banditry and militancy in Nigeria.
“When we declared the bandits as terrorists, my understanding was they are going to be dealt with ruthlessly now. I wonder whether that is the case.
“The military, like some of our colleagues have said, needs to wake up. We want to see a difference because we have made a difference in terms of funding.”
