The Senate has begun a heated debate on Nigeria’s worsening security situation, following a motion by Lola Ashiru from Kwara South, on the urgent need to address escalating insecurity in Kwara, Kebbi, and Niger states, and calls for immediate and comprehensive federal intervention.
The motion highlighted recent attacks, including the abduction of schoolchildren in Kebbi, and concerns about military withdrawals, as well as compromised operations.
The Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, said the security challenges confronting the nation were surmountable but required international support.
“We should seek assistance from overseas, urging collaboration with global partners to stem the crisis,” he said.
Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, in his argument, described the current wave of insecurity as a turning point that must not be business as usual.
Bamidele warned that the nation risks losing it unless decisive action is taken. While he welcomed the safe rescue of abducted captives, the lawmaker expressed concern that there were no words on the terrorists neutralized in the process.
Referencing the debate by some lawmakers in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, calling for a shutdown of the National Assembly, the Senate Leader cautioned lawmakers to avoid grandstanding.
Senator Bamidele described the argument as a move geared towards the abdication of responsibility. He also challenged the Senate to examine its own internal structures.
“If we are calling on the President to rejig the security architecture, we must also look into our own arrangement. I am not impressed with our Committee on Security and Intelligence. We should rejig it ourselves,” he said.
An opposition lawmaker, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, however, criticized efforts to blame past administrations, insisting that the current government must take responsibility for today’s failures.
Abaribe cited reports that troops withdrew shortly before the attack in Kebbi school.
He asked, “Who asked them? Nobody knows. If I were the Commander-in-Chief, I would demand answers”.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, highlighted reports that the location of a brigadier general killed in Borno was compromised, raising fears of internal sabotage.Akpabio also expressed concern that despite security advisories and defensive training given to students in Kebbi, bandits still invaded the school unhindered.
An uproar occurred when Senator Seriake Dickson, in his argument, warned that Nigeria was losing prestige and integrity before our eyes, accusing the majority caucus of managing the issues rather than confronting them.
Dickson’s comments triggered an uproar from lawmakers of the All Progressives Congress (APC), leading to the cutting off of his microphone.
As some lawmakers continued to propagate the claim that security agencies know the locations and motives of bandits, Senator Akpabio condemned attempts to frame the crisis along religious or sectional lines.
“This is orchestrated to damage the image of democracy. There is nothing like targeting Muslims or Christians. It is an attack on all. This country is under attack,” he said.
Meanwhile, Senator Adams Oshiomhole defended President Bola Tinubu, saying he is doing his best under difficult circumstances. He demanded a probe into the troop withdrawal before the Kebbi school attack.
“Who ordered the military to withdraw? That person should be tried for terrorism. The Senate subsequently adopted this demand among its resolutions,” he said.
Senator Oshiomhole also questioned what he called inconsistencies in the justice system, noting that a convicted terrorist named Hassan received a 20-year sentence while people who killed a bandit in self-defense were sentenced to death.
Some lawmakers are pushing for the death penalty to be imposed on kidnappers.
