Joshua Lidani, senator
representing Gombe south, says the country is empowering Boko Haram insurgents
by paying ransom for abducted persons.
Lidani said this on Thursday
while contributing to a debate on motion on the missing schoolgirls in Dapchi,
Yobe state.
The senator said measures should
be put in place to ensure that schools, particularly those for girls, are
secured.
“We need to be very proactive in
this case because the idea of sitting down to always negotiating and paying
ransom with this action, we are empowering the Boko Haram so that they would
continue to do more,” he said.
“This may not be the end of it
because after this, if they have abducted these girls, they will demand ransom
and if the ransom is paid, it means they would continue to engage in this.
“But the most worrisome aspect is
the fact that at times like this, whenever we are faced with this kind of
situation, the nation ought to hear from the president. He ought to say
something. When there were killings in the United States in a school, the
president himself went to that school to sympathise with the students.
“He ought to utter words of
sympathy he ought to come on television and say one thing or the other. It
would bring comfort to those who are in distress. People will have the feeling
that the president has them in his heart.”
Moving the motion earlier, Bukar
Abba Ibrahim, senator representing Yobe east, noted that there has been no case
of killing.
“Nobody is sure if it was a case
of abduction or some of the girls who ran home have not yet come back,” Ibrahim
said.
“These are yet to be confirmed.
The federal government has already sent a high power delegation; three
ministers to go and stay in Damaturu and report to Mr. President on a
continuous basis until the matter is resolved.”
Contributing to the debate, Ahmed
Lawan, senate leader, commended Ibrahim Geidam, Yobe governor, for ensuring
that families of the missing girls were comforted.
“What happened is a lesson for
us. That Boko Haram sees girls or women as value targets. What they did in
Chibok earned them some funds, because negotiations were held somehow and they
got a lot of money,” Lawan said.
“Now, the lesson is, we need to
be extra careful and take extraordinary measures in protecting our schools;
especially girls’ schools, in those states especially Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.”
But when Hassan Mohammed, senator
representing Yobe south, got up to speak, he said it was “disheartening” to hear
Lawan commend the state government.
“This is the primary
responsibility of the government; to protect the lives and properties of its
citizen,” he said.
“The state government of Yobe has
serially failed in this regard. It has abdicated its primary responsibility in
doing that.”
But Lawan got up to challenge him
citing order 53 (7) of the senate rules.
“If my colleague doesn’t see
those reasons and he has his perspective, he doesn’t have to refer to me that
what I said is not in order. I have my facts, he has his facts. I will advise,
that he states his fact without making reference to me,” he said.
The senate further urged the
federal government to recover the girls so that it would be another case of the
Chibok girls.
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