Senators grill service chiefs for eight hours | PUNCHNEWS The Senate on Tuesday held a closed- door discussion with the Service Chiefs for about eight hours over the insurgency in the North Eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. Those in attendance were Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshall Adesola Amosu; Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah; and the Director of the State Security Services, Mr. Ekpeyong Ita. Senate spokesperson, Eyinnaya Abaribe, who spoke with journalists after the eight-hour session, explained that the military identified problems of troops, equipment and other auxiliary problems as their major challenges. Abaribe said the issue of emergency rule was not discussed throughout the meeting but explained that the service chiefs noted that the extension was necessary to enable them to perfect their operations in the troubled states. He said, “The question of the state of emergency was not on the table today. We are going to wait until it is brought to the floor of the Senate and we will now discuss it. “What the Senate did today was to separate the two questions (insurgency and the state of emergency). “Of course, the military continues to insist that it needs the state of emergency to be able to conduct operations in a manner that would bring it to a quick resolution. “When the Senate now takes the question of the state of emergency, you will be there because it would be discussed in open plenary. “We found from the briefing of the service chiefs that we have some problems, which had to do with the troop levels of equipment and other auxiliary problems, where you have to fight an asymmetrical war; not a formal conflict. “We are very glad that the military at this moment, is gearing up itself to be able to deal with this asymmetrical conflict in the North-East of Nigeria. “As of today, we can assure Nigerians that the military is up to the task of dealing with this matter.”
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 20:25:08 +0000
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