By Vivian Okejeme, Abuja
The Former President of the Senate, Senator Ameh Ebute has called on the Senate president, Ahmed Lawan, to convoke and lead the Northeast reconciliation and peace to end Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorism bedeviling the area.
Elder statesman asked Sen. Lawan, to engage other politicians, technocrats as well as businessmen from the northeast to join hands to help in complementing roles that will solve the lingering security crises in the region.
He was reacting to the recent call by the National Assembly on President Buhari to sack his Service Chiefs over the security situation in the country.
Ebute decried a situation where everyone including some politicians who are responsible for the crisis blame President Buhari or the patriotic Service Chiefs for the problem instead of playing their roles with a view to ending it.
Ebute, a former lawmaker from Benue South, in a letter addressed to Senator Lawan on Wednesday, said all hands must be on deck as the fight against insurgency should not be left alone for the Service Chiefs of Mr. President.
“It is time for you to convoke and lead the Northeast reconciliation and peace to end Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorism:
‘’Without the hard and sustained mitigation of the Buhari Presidency, Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorism would have overwhelmed and conquered Nigeria by now. Nigerian military, especially, the Nigerian Army, led by the COAS and leader of the counter-insurgency operations, Lt.Gen. TY Buratai have exhibited tremendous courage and gallantry in the confrontations and repression of terrorists. They deserve our eulogies every day.
‘’But as known to all of us, Boko Haram insurgency is yet to be blighted completely in our land. The repressed and feeble Boko Haram has been enlivened and energized by the more vicious ISWAP terrorists from Iran. It is overstretching the Nigerian military. But they have found strength because of the receptiveness of local accomplices to their evil.
‘’It is obvious that military solutions alone, as we seem to focus now cannot quench the fire of terrorism in the Northeast. There is every need to also apply political and economic solutions to Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorism. It is a problem which should be tackled on all fronts simultaneously.
‘’We cannot dodge the reality that youths in these areas have not felt the impact of government these years. It is reason for their restlessness and why they are easily lured as willing tools in the hands of the Boko Haram insurgents to engage in mischief and evil against their own country.
‘’This is where I find you and your office as the Number three citizen of Nigeria now relevant and sensitive. You have over delayed to act by convoking a parley among all political leaders and business moguls of the Northeast to deliberate and come out with a political and economic remedies to end terrorism’’, he said in the letter.
