Senate asks military to set up base in Auno, probe attack

The Senate, on Thursday, urged the military authorities to establish a base in Auno community to intensify their efforts in the fight against insurgency in the North East.

Suspected Boko Haram fighters, on Sunday night, invaded Auno village in Borno, killed 30 people, burned down shops and commercial vehicles and abducted dozens.

The upper legislative chamber strongly condemned the dastardly act and directed the Defence Headquarters to set up a panel to investigate what transpired at Auno and find measures to forestall future occurrence.

It also urged the military and all relevant agencies involved in the fight against Boko Haram to re-engineer and/or rejig their approach towards fighting insurgency in the North East and other parts of Nigeria.

The Senate also asked the Federal Government to begin a process of rehabilitating the affected communities through the North East Development Commission and send relief materials to the families of those affected by the attacks.

The resolutions were sequel to a motion of urgent public importance by Senator Kashim Shettima (Borno).

Shettima, in a lead debate, lamented that there was no single military personnel to engage the attackers, nor re-enforcement from Maiduguri despite the proximity of Auno to the headquarters of Operation Lafiya Dole.

He said it was time for Nigerians to unite against the scourge of insurgency, killings, banditry and other social vices.

Senator Hadejia Ibrahim (Jigawa) said the Boko Haram attackers seem to have intelligence reports which they use to perpetuate their dastardly acts.

He, however, said there was the need for the security agencies to be preventive in their approach to fighting the insurgents.

“We need to direct our security agencies to focus on security, we need to change our focus on security, we are being reactive. Intelligence gathering, technology driven security apparatus should be adopted in nipping this in the bud,” he said.

Gabriel Suswan (Benue) said the Senate need the buy-in of other arms of government. “If there is no strong synergy with other arms of what we are saying here will only end up in the chamber.

“I think it is high time we approach this differently. We as elected representatives of our people must move beyond talking on the floor here,” he said.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan said Nigerians must continue to be focused and united to deal with insecurity.

“In a time like this, it is extremely essential that leaders come together regardless of their political platforms or beliefs. We have to continue to remain focus and united to ensure that we deal with this security challenge in our country.

He said time has come for the government to ensure that governance is done like it is business.

He said, “If you employ someone, give them personal targets and if the targets were not met with no cogent reasons, he/she should go.

“When we hold people responsible, they are likely to perform their job. We are talking about lives of the people that we represent. We should ensure there is proper training for the security personnels.”