Senate Urges FG To Send Fighter Jets, Flush Out Terrorists From Hideouts

Senate Urges FG To Send Fighter Jets, Flush Out Terrorists From Hideouts

The Senate has asked the Federal Government to, to send fighter jets to flush out terrorists in their hideouts who are behind the kidnappings and killings of Nigerians, aso Naija reports.

The call was made on Tuesday during plenary in resolutions reached following a point of order raised on the “Urgent need for the Federal Government to take drastic actions to bring to an end the act of banditry and kidnapping in Faskari Local Government Area.”

The point of order was raised by Senator Bello Mandiya (Katsina South)

Relying on Order 41 and 51 of the Senate Rules, Mandiya noted that the act of banditry and kidnapping has become a daily incidence in Katsina with huge consequences of loss of lives, means of livelihood, and displacement of communities.

A statement from the Senate quoted the lawmaker as recalling that on Sunday, January 31, 2022, gunmen struck Ruwan Godiya, a Community in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State where 38 members of the community were kidnapped.

He stated that the Federal Government had made a frantic effort in curbing the menace by setting up Operation Sharan Daji and an Inter-Agency Task Force to tackle cases of banditry, cattle rustling, and kidnapping in Katsina state.

“Worried that the continuous security challenges and related attacks by bandits on towns, villages, and communities in Faskari Local Government Area have meted untold hardship on the people and have subjected the affected areas under serious survival threat; and

“Further worried that if this menace is not drastically and promptly addressed, the consequence is going to be huge on food sufficiency since the affected communities are mostly farmers”, Mandiya said.

Contributing, Senator Kabir Abdullahi Barkiya (Katsina Central), faulted the inability of the military to contain the situation despite several calls for it to act.

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, in his remarks, said the repeated cases of kidnappings and killings make it imperative for the military to “wake up” to protect Nigerians.

He wondered why full-scale action was yet to be carried out by the military in spite of increased funding for security in the 2022 budget by the Executive and National Assembly.

He said, “The expectation of their Senate is that there is supposed to be a remarkable difference in success in terms of the fight against insurgence, banditry, and militancy in Nigeria.

“The military is getting better funding from the government and what we expect is to see an improvement in output.

“I know the resources are not enough, but recently for one and a half years, the government has upscaled the level of funding for our military.