The Senate, during its plenary session on December 30, 2023, lamented the reprehensible carnage that occurred in Plateau State, where scores of residents were brutally massacred on the eve of 2023 Christmas due to what the chamber perceived as failure of intelligence on the part of security agencies in the ongoing war against terrorism in Nigeria. The National Assembly had held a plenary session that day, primarily to pass the N28.77 trillion 2024 Appropriation Bill, so as to sustain the earlier distorted January to December budget cycle, which was restored by the Ninth National Assembly.

However, following the apprehension and rage emanating from the Plateau State killings, the apex legislative Assembly, following a motion by brought to the floor by the Senator representing Plateau Central, Diket Plang, considered the ugly development and made far reaching resolutions on how to forestall future occurrences in Plateau State and elsewhere. While considering the motion, the upper chamber expressed disappointment that, security of lives and property, which is the most important constitutional responsibility of government, is suffering serious threats across the states of the federation.

In his contribution to the debate, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, made it clear that looking at the very coordinated nature of the killings carried out by the terrorists, it had become obvious that it happened as a result of intelligence failure within the security. Senators took turn to lament the helplessness from security agencies before and during the killings, a concern that made the lawmakers to summon heads of security agencies, including the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Chief Air Staff, National Security Adviser (NSA), Director General of the Department of Security Services (DSS), Inspector General of Police and the Director General of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA).

The nation’s highest lawmaking body posited that the killings were so strategically planned and executed, that weapons were kept in the affected villages long before the day of the attack, saying that the attackers simply went to the designated locations, accessed the weapons and carried out their plots.

Ningi’s submission

Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi), while speaking on the issue, said that his findings revealed that those who carried out the killings did so in collaboration with locals in the affected communities, expressing anger that prior information and warnings on the attack was ignored by relevant authorities. Ningi who is also the Chairman of Northern Senators Forum, informed his colleagues that his visit to and findings in Plateau State showed lack of synergy among security agencies, lamenting that such gap could exist among agencies working for the same country under one government.

His said: “I was in Bauchi for the Christmas holiday when the news broke out and instantly on behalf of the Northern Senators Forum, I moved into Plateau, had two sessions with the Governor of Plateau State before paying a courtesy call on some members of the forum as to the gravity of what happened in Bokkos. “What happened in Bokkos is unprecedented, when you have a catchment of bandits over 400 of them moving at a go, and when I sat with the Governor the stories I heard were mind bugging.

“First, there was a rumor of this attack. Secondly, the Governor tried to make this information available but they did not take him seriously. “I was at the Jos University Teaching Hospital and I could see an 18-month old baby with bullet wounds. This is unprecedented. “Until we see the importance of security in this country, we will never move forward. We need to urgently call the security agents to order as there is no synergy among them. “As we speak, Plateau State government is in dire need because right now, they are settling more than 150,000 IDPs; they are feeding them. The entire security architecture of the State failed.

”What we have discovered is that these marauding bandits did not come with weapons. Those weapons were actually domiciled in certain locations, all they did was to come and pick them. “That means there is something behind what is happening in Plateau. Who are these people and why are they doing it because if you go there from the outside you will think it is a religious war, no. There is something behind it that this Senate needs to unravel. It is a very terrible phenomenon. We have forgotten our minds, the carnage you see in a small village, with small differences people will kill fellow human beings in their dozens and it does not prick their conscience.

“What I have also discovered after spending 72 hours, the little information about those bandits, they are not living around the communities. Some- body imported them. Somebody escorted them. “They don’t even know the ter- rain; they were led by some people who know the terrain. And when you look at the communities, the Christians and Muslims are interwoven. “Their communities are intermixed. In a boundary like this we have Chris- tians and Muslims. What happened on the Christmas eve is something that needs to be investigated by security agencies and it should not be rhetoric. Anybody who is assigned responsibility as a security chief and he cannot deliver he must be sent out,” he added.

Lalong dismisses claim on terrain

Also speaking on the pathetic development in Plateau, the immediate past governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, rejected the argument by anybody that difficult terrain and distance made swift intervention impossible. He said: “Yes I will not say I will not start with Plateau, I will say it is something that is entirely on the Northern States. By virtue of the privilege to be the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, for four years, when there were similar things all over the country but with particular reference to Plateau, I had the report from the military this morning.

“I must say that I was disappointed because part of it was that, they couldn’t deal with the situation in Mangu and Bokkos because of proximity and also the terrain. I ask the question for a military, there is nothing like terrain or dis- tance. In plateau State because of crises we have proliferation of outfits, we have operation safe heaven, all by the state government, we have Operation Rainbow funded by the state government. That is increase in capacity. “Where was the Air Force, where were the helicopters? Today, we discuss about Tucano, we discuss about drones, drones are available. My position is that we must first of all deal with the criminals before we come back to deal with the internal situation.

“Like in every society, we have religious conflicts and differences. We have ethnic conflicts and differences but when a dimension like this comes into effect, it calls for the attention of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because the killings that were done were carried out in systematic manner. “But as we move in, I don’t think that the role of the military is always to employ kinetic. We discussed and concluded that as much as they go into kinetic, they must also dwell on non- Kinetic measures in settling disputes in this situation. “This information is not the first; this attack is not the first, always on Christmas Eve.

“So, as we move into this kind of thing, I want to support the bill that could not sail through last time, we are still bringing it back again, the role of traditional rulers in security. “Let us give them constitutional roles and we always talk about State Police when we have traditional rulers that can always produce solution to this kind of thing. The bill failed last time. I will represent the bill and with the help of the senate.” Contributing, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, said that the security chiefs should come and give adequate explanation on the inadequate intelligence on the attack, noting that Nigerians were angry with them for failing to live up expectations of Nigerians,” he urged..

Senate resolutions

After a comprehensive debate on the motion, the Senate, resolved to send a high powered delegation to Plateau State to condole with the government and people of the state and also visit the victims who are in different hospitals receiving treatment, and those in various Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. The Senate also summoned the service chiefs, including the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Taoreed Lagbaja; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar; Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun; Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar; Director General of the Department of State Services, Yusuf Bichi and the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.

The Senate also urged the IGP to establish a Mopol Barack in Barkin Ladi LGA of Plateau State, just as it urged the Chief of Defence of Staff to establish a mobile military unit in Mangu LGA, which is a border point and entry route for the criminals. The Red Chamber also urged the Nigerian military to deploy intelligence and aerial surveillance in the affected local governments of Plateau State and its environs. It equally charged the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to direct its agencies to provide relief materials to the victims of the crisis with immediate effect to enable them relocate back to their homes and decongest the IDP camps.

It further urged the Minister of Solid Minerals Development to immediately take action in putting a check on illegal miners and mining activities in the country, especially in the affected regions, while also urging the Plateau State government to strengthen its environmental and mining laws to check the excesses of illegal miners in the state. The Senate also called on the Plateau State government to upscale dialogue between traditional rulers and religious leaders, especially in the affected crises areas, using non-kinetic solutions to find a solution to the crisis. (New Telegraph)