By Peter Obiechina
Irked by the growing menace of killings ravaging the northern parts of the country, a group of legislators are set to dig deeper into the issue tomorrow, at plenary.
On Saturday, November 28, no fewer than 43 rice farmers were slaughtered by Boko Haram in Kwashebe and Koshobe villages, Jere local government area of Borno State.
Top on the list of demands of the angry lawmakers is a prayer that all heads of the country’s security apparatus, especially Service Chiefs and the National Security Adviser (NSA), must go.
Although calls for the replacement of the top security chiefs have gone on almost forever, with the President adamant on retaining them, 365Daily gathered that should tomorrow’s motion be treated with similar inaction, it could be a precursor to the commencement of impeachment proceedings against President Muhammadu Buhari.
Across many legislative platforms yesterday, the issue dominated discussions, with many rabid supporters of the president, for the very first time, declaring angst at the country’s parlous security situation.
“I’m now convinced beyond all reasonable doubt that all the service chiefs have outlived their usefulness and should be sacked with ignominy. “Allah ya isa, wallahi”, one of them from a North West state stated.
Said another member from Kano: “We are tired of receiving briefings, mostly cooked up rhetorics, which are often misleading. I don’t mind if the President himself should resign, if that will take us to sanity and safety. Haba.”
The seeming turnaround and new feeling of ‘togetherness’ among the legislators led them to agree to “urge members to take unanimous position to proceed on indefinite boycott of all legislative duties, including the 2021 Appropriation Bill – currently receiving final touches – until all the service chiefs are relieved of their appointments.”
365Daily gathered that tomorrow’s motion on the issue is being coordinated by Hon. Aminu Suleiman, All Progressives Congress (APC), member, representing Fagge Federal Constituency of Kano State.
Suleiman, who is a third-term member and chairman, House Committee on Tertiary Education and Services, in a contribution on the issue noted, ” If the unrest begins, remember only four people in the whole National Assembly have the full compliments of security and protection. Me and you will be easy prey to be dispensed with easily. I’m tired, disappointed, frustrated and not sure if my party, APC, has delivered on security.”
In spite of the upbeat mood of the legislators to frontally tackle the issue tomorrow, few of them urged cautious optimism, wondering if the presiding officers won’t, as usual, turn the sitting into yet another hollow ritual of condemning the killings, observe a minute’s silence in memory of the dead, summon the service chiefs, dispatch a communication to the Executive to rejig it’s security architecture…and thereafter, life goes ahead.