The Senate recently debated a motion sponsored by 73 of its members on the general insecurity in the country, making far-reaching resolutions. Ayodele Adesanmi covered the session and filed in this report.

IN the past, mosques and churches were places of refuge for people who were in danger. People in distress were sure of adequate protection if they decided to seek for cover in these holy places dedicated for worship.

However, with the present situation in the country, it would be suicidal to seek refuge in worship places during crisis situations, as one might realise it too late that one has made a tactical blunder, and might not be alive to explain why the place of worship is not a perfect place to run to for safety.

Equally, Fridays and Sundays are holy days set aside by Muslim and Christians, respectively, for worship. Worshippers, in an atmosphere that is devoid of fear, pray to Almighty Allah and Jesus Christ as the case may be.

However, in recent times, worshippers have been observing the two days with mixed feelings due to tension warranted by the high rate of insecurity in the country. Places of worships during the holy days are always condoned off and worshippers’ bodies, with even the holy books they carry, searched before they gain entrance into the premises. Many a times, bombs have exploded in the places of worships, with this dastardly act reported to have been carried out by members of the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram. This sect has unleashed unprecedented violence on the worshippers, leaving tolls of deaths on its trail.

The number of lives that have been wasted through the activities of the Islamic sect is colossal. But places of worships are not the only targets, as relaxation centres, the Nigeria Police Force headquarters, the United Nations building, both in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, among others, are equally not spared the firestorm of the attackers. Of the recent event which occurred at at St Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, during Christmas Day service where close to 100 lives were lost, observers posited that the attack had religious undertones, being targeted at Christians. However, one of the high profile stakeholders in the polity who refused to buy into this view is the Senate President, David Mark, who believed that “no special groups have been targeted deliberately; those who are doing this are miscreants, misguided Nigerians who are being sponsored obviously. And if the government knows who is sponsoring them, they must pick them out and deal with them once and for all because we cannot condone it (terrorism).”

The effects of all these, among others, made the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, with 72 other senators, to sponsor a motion entitled “General Insecurity in the Nation.” Ekweremadu, in the motion, noted with a deep sense of grief, the dastardly bombing or St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, on Christmas Day. He implored the Senate to note with sadness the bombing spree of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church, Jos, many other churches and the State Security Service office in Damaturu, Yobe State, on the same day.

Ekweremadu observed with serious concern, “recent, related episodes of bombing and indiscriminate shooting of worshippers in other parts of the country, notably, Gombe, Mubi and Jimeta between January 5 and January 6, 2012, leading to loss of scores of lives.” He urged the Senate to observe that “while violent attacks and bombing of any form are callous and condemnable, the new waves of attacks on innocent and unsuspecting worshippers and places of worship, be it a church or a mosque, are bizarre affronts on our collective cultural and religious values, the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of worship, and an outright offensive against the Almighty God Himself.”

The Deputy Senate President insisted that he was “aware that the Madalla attack was not only a direct onslaught on a place of worship which should otherwise be held sacred, but a clear and grave assault on Nigerians of South-East origin who obviously constituted both the majority of worshippers at the said church and, most sadly, the overwhelming majority of both the dead and the wounded as the list of casualties published in national dailies showed.” According to him, “the singular Christmas Day bombing attack on St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla and other places of worship are capable of plunging the nation into ethno-religious crisis and further aggravating the present security challenges in the nation. The Christmas Day bombing which, in some cases, literally consumed entire families and left many orphaned or widowed, has brought untold hardship on victims and their relatives.”

Eweremadu and his colleagues resolved to condemn the attacks in their entirety and observe a minute silence in honour of the dead victims. They commended President Goodluck Jonathan for declaring a State of Emergency in some of the affected parts of the country and called on the Federal Government to pay adequate compensation to the victims of the Madalla bomb blast and the bereaved, as well as those who suffered the same fate in other places. This, however, generated animated debate from members,who took turns to condemn the state of insecurity in the country, accusing with the country’s security apparatus of incompetence.

Senator Mohammed Magoro called for the arrest and prosecution of former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff. Magoro, who is the chairman, Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence, insisted that Sheriff had been accused of complicity in Boko Haram activities and duly indicted, being identified as a mastermind of the Boko Haram sect. To him, Sheriff, having known much about Boko Haram’s origin and operations, should be arrested.

Senator Uche Chukwumerije, in his own contribution, noted that the impression all over the country was that the Nigerian state was no longer able to protect itself, calling for a drastic and immediate overhaul of the security agencies. He recalled that, about two years ago, a foreign intelligence agency predicted that the country might collapse in 2015. The reality of recent events, he said, had given credence to the forecast. According to him “what happened in Mubi, Adamawa State, gives the indication that the attacks have been zeroed down to one ethnic group. Nigeria was lucky to have survived the civil war. The Igbo are prepared to support the Project Nigeria. lf Nigeria cannot protect the Igbo, we are going to protest to the United Nations to protect us. The Igbo are tired of being offered as sacrificial lambs.”

On his part, Senator Olufunmi Adetunmbi noted that the country had very serious problems at hand, saying that the main question to ask should be “where is our humanity?’’ According to him, “our humanity is universal, while ethnicity is peculiar to us. Let us look at the motion, not just in the manifest assault on our brothers from the South-East, but our collective humanity. This motion is on the infractions of Chapter Four of the Constitution that spells out the human rights of the average citizen in this country. It is because the rights of Nigerians have been infringed upon and taken away.”

Adetunmbi wondered where compensation would start from in case of impersonation. He noted that the major problem was that the country’s constitution was fast becoming a tissue of paper. He asked “Do Nigerians have confidence in the security? If we don’t have men to do the job, maybe we should import security.” He, however, urged the Senate “to say it as it is and take steps to ensure necessary changes in the management of security in the country for effectiveness.’’

Another senator, Sola Adeyeye, went philosophical when he was given the opportunity to speak, saying “Even when we cry, we must retain our capacity to see.” He noted that Boko Haram was not mainstream Islam.

According to him, the Yoruba nation would suffer more if there was a religious war in the country, noting that “violence is like a cancer; unless you cut it off, it can only spread.’’ He called for local involvement to solve the problem. All political office holders in areas prone to violence, he said, must be sent home to reach their people when violence occurs again.

Senator Ahmed Lawan, in his own contribution, disagreed with the call for increased funding of the security agencies, saying that the security apparatus had woefully failed the people of the country. He informed that money budgeted for the security should have been used to fund education and provide jobs for the teeming youths of the country.

But Senator Zainab Kure informed the Senate that the bomb explosion at Madalla was quite beyond the events of the day it happened. She appealed to the Federal Government to pay more attention to Suleja, as it shared a border with Abuja, the FCT. She called on the security authorities to apprehend the perpetrators of what she called the heinous act. Senator Kure implored the security agencies to live up to their responsibilities, saying “if not, they should all resign as a sign of failure”

The Senate President, David Mark, who rounded off the debate, asked the Federal Government to go after the dreaded Islamic sect and deal immediately with them and their sponsors. Mark said, “Nobody is so big that he is above the law in this country. If any Nigerian, irrespective of his position, is involved in sponsoring the current level of insecurity, he must be dealt with according to the law and as quickly as possible, because we do not want this to go on, as it is becoming an impediment on our desire to develop our country.”

The Senate President added that Boko Haram activities had no religious colouration, explaining that “it has nothing to do with religion because all the clerics, both Christians and Muslims, have condemned the acts of this terrorists and people who are sponsors.They (Boko Haram suicide bombers) are people who are prepared, with a specific intention to destabilize this country. But they will not succeed, and the only way they will not succeed is when we all play our roles, the security agents and the ordinary person on the streets.’’

He thanked all contributors to the motion, saying that their efforts were an indications of their concern and commended the fearless manner in which they made their comments. “I know that when it comes to the issue of Boko Haram, people have been very scared sticking out their necks or even making comments. But today, we have broken that jinx and because we have been able to speak out, I hope well-meaning Nigerians will be able to join us in condemning in totality, the existence and operation of Boko Haram in this country,”he said.

Mark told his colleagues that all of them usually received threat messages, insisting that Northern senators also received such messages. “People send text messages; if you say this we will kill you, we are going to finish your family. The moment you accept a public office, your security is no more in your hands; it is in the hands of God.And if they want kill all of us 109 senators here for Nigeria to survive, sure, we will offer our lives on a platter of gold for them to do. Those who received text messages, I urged them to disregard them completely because they cannot do you anything.”

Mark disclosed that the activities of the Islamic sect did not portray Nigerians in the correct light, noting that Nigerians were peace-loving people. “We love ourselves and we love our neigbhours. This idea is absolutely foreign to us; it does not represent us and we hope that it will stop.”

The Senate President, however, called on the state governments to be alive to their responsibilities in the area of security, believing that “every state has a responsibility in providing security for the people; in making sure that things don’t go wrong because the governors are the Chief Security Officers in their states. They have a lot of responsibilities

“We have terrorism and insurgency in our hands and if we do not handle them properly, they will get out of control. We must do everything humanly possible, starting with communities, local government, state government and the Federal Government to make sure that we tackle this now before it gets out of control”.

He, however, reminded Nigerians that “we must not allow history to repeat itself. What is happening now is beginning to give the impression of 1966. It must not happen again. No nation may survive two civil wars and we must never allow ourselves to degenerate to that level.”