Senate Summons Service Chiefs To Give Account On Expenditure, Approach To Security In Boko Haram Devastated Northeast

The Senate yesterday summoned the Service Chiefs over increasing insurgency in the North. They are to appear today.
The Service Chief are expected to brief the lawmakers specifically on the state of affairs in the Northeast and the effectiveness of the state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
A senator, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, added that the security chiefs were also expected to give an account of expenditure deployed in the fight against Boko Haram.
For the meeting are Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, Chief of Army Staff, Major General Kenneth Minimah, Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Adesola Amosu , Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, and the Director, Directorate of State Security (DSS), Mr. Ekpeyong Ita.
Senate President David Mark at the start of plenary yesterday charged the military to declare “total war” on Boko Haram.
Mark spoke against the backdrop of the attack at the Government Science Secondary School, Potiskum, Yobe State.
He noted that since it was obvious that Boko Haram had ignored all entreaties for dialogue, the military should flush out the insurgents from the country.
He described the wanton killing of innocent pupils as crime against the country and insisted that Nigerians must unite to defeat terror in all its ramifications.
Abba has said the police would recover illegal arms in circulation across the country before the elections in February.
Abba accused politicians of arming their supporters illegally to perpetrate illegality during elections.
He urged individuals or groups in possession of such firearms to surrender them to the police or face prosecution when arrested.
“The mopping up of arms is a continuous exercise. I have directed the Commissioners of Police in all the states to not only ban the possession of illegal weapons, but to also advise members of the public to return those arms to the police”.
Abba, who spoke during a meeting with senior police officers at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, said the police would ensure violence-free elections.
The police boss said only one of the 30 policemen that were missing following the Boko Haram attack on the Mobile Police Training School in Gwoza, Borno State, a few months ago, had returned and reported at his duty post. The remaining 29 are still unaccounted.

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