The November 25 meeting of the Senate with the military chiefs over security situation in the country lasted for eight long hours.
According to Vanguard, those present at the closed-door meeting from the military side were Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Kenneth Minimah, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosun and the Director of Department of State Service, Mr. Ekpenyong Ita.
The Senate, which last week was unable to come to a unanimous solution over President Goodluck Jonathan’s request to extend the state of emergency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, disclosed however that the Nigerian military seniors were mounting pressure on them calling for Jonathan’s move adoption.
They allegedly stressed the importance of heavy military presence for them to conduct operations in a manner that will end Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East.
Punch adds with reference to the Senate spokesperson, Enyinnaya Abaribe, that altough the emergency rule issue was not discussed during the meeting, military officials touched upon it.
He also said that the major security challenges, so as army problems, equipment and other auxiliary problems were identified during the session.
The senator revealed that the state of emergency was a separate matter, which would be discussed “in open plenary”.
Briefing journalists on the results of the Tuesday meeting, Abaribe said:
“The interaction was very frank and it was very detailed. We looked into what have been the constraints of the Nigerian Military in dealing with the insurgency; we also looked into the budgetary provisions for them and we looked into what has been done so far by the military in containing the insurgency.”
He commended the chiefs over their good report on the current security situation.
“And I can tell you, the senate was very impressed with the response from the military and like I said, the military has shown itself to be capable of dealing with the insurgency. The fact that they are capable of dealing with the insurgency means that the senate will do all in its power to support the Nigeria military so that we can bring this insurgency to a quick resolution.”
It would be recalled that last week not only did the Senate fail to arrive at a decision over emergency rule extension, but also the House of Representatives.
House speaker Aminu Tambuwal was prevented from entering the National Assembly and holding the meeting, which situation eventually caused havoc among the lawmakers.
Meanwhile yesterday the capital of the troubled Borno State, Maiduguri, was hit by a twin explosion launched by female suicide bombers. According to the official data, 24 people died on the spot, however various sources put the death toll at up to 60.
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