By Doris Ferdinand
The speaker of house of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila on Tuesday condemned the recent killing of farmers in Borno State.
Femi, while addressing members during plenary session said the citizens have continued to be the first victims of brutal insurgency that seeks to destroy our country.
According to Femi,
“On Saturday, the 28th of November 2020 forty-three of our fellow citizens in the town of Zabarmari were cruelly murdered and decapitated by insurgents of the Boko Haram terrorist organisation. Forty-three people who set out to their farms to harvest their meagre yields became in one afternoon, the newest victims of the evil that has brought untold grief to too many, for far too long.
“For more than a decade, we have confronted the evil that is Boko Haram. We have not won and do not appear close to winning the war against terrorism in Nigeria. Yes, we have recovered territory and land in places where not so long ago, the black flags of Boko Haram flapped in the desert air as an affront to our nationhood and a rebuke to the failures that brought us to that ignoble end.
“But we must ask, what does it mean to recover territory if our people cannot live, and work and trade in these places? What is the value of land whose only purpose is to bury the unfortunate dead?
“We must rethink this war on terror. We must ask ourselves what it is we are doing wrong? What have we failed to do? How is it that despite the billions in resources expended and the countless lives lost, we still are at the mercy of murderers who offer only the promise of death and the certainty of destruction and condemnation in this life and the next?
“Now is the time to ask difficult questions. We ask these questions in the sincere hope that through our collective and concerted search for answers, we might arrive at a solution that spares us further bloodshed. We ask these questions in the hope that the answers we find will heal our land and make our people whole. We ask these questions because we must.
“In the Legislative Agenda of the 9th House of Representatives, we have committed to specific strategic goals including improved funding of security agencies, better engagement with local communities, innovative, proactive and technological driven responsiveness amongst other things. These goals will help us to achieve the overall goal of a more secure country where people can go about their business free from terror in whatever form.”
Femi appeals that itervention ways be considered in order to compensate the people Zabarmari for their loss.
“While we seek lasting solutions to the problems that threaten us, improving the lives of the people who have lost the most from this conflict must be part of our commitment. In the interim, we will consider interventions that compensate the people of Zabarmari for the loss of their harvest so that they are not so deprived that they return quickly to the killing feeds where already, they have lost so much.
“We will not deviate from these commitments. The continued existence of our country and the progress of our nation’s people depend on it and all of us Honourable members of this House of Representatives.” Femi said.
