Protocol:
1. My Distinguished Colleagues and Bosses,
Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
2. I welcome you all back from your
working short Easter break, and I am glad to see everyone hale and hearty.
3. For all Nigerians, this year’s Easter
was foreshadowed by sorrow, gloom and anxiety.
A few days before Good Friday, there was a bomb blast at Nyanya Motor
Park in our nation’s capital at rush hour. The blast left in its wake, death,
injury and massive destruction of properties. The anarchists
followed up the bombing
in Abuja with other acts of infamy in
the North East, the most reprehensible being the abduction of
secondary school girls in Chibok, Borno State.
4. Our thoughts and prayers go to all
those who are affected by these needless acts of savagery. Our thoughts and
prayers also go to their families. We stand united in grief with the families of
these hapless school girls in their hour of pain, agony and anxiety. We call on
their kidnappers to immediately release them unconditionally.
5. There is no doubt that our nation is at
war. The enemy has clearly and unequivocally served the nation notice of its
vile intentions. Therefore, a clear, unambiguous and decisive military response
from the Government, beyond the imposition of a state of emergency, is urgently
required in this circumstance. This is an option we must consider now.
6. It is obvious that we are dealing with insurgents and well funded nihilists who are determined to
violently trample upon the secularity of the Nigerian State and destroy the
country. A modern, vibrant, progressive, multi-ethnic, multi-religious Nigeria
is an anathema to them. Because they are fired by zealotry and extremism, they
are not likely to be swayed by overtures of any kind. We must henceforth shift from fighting
terrorism to fighting insurgency.
7. Our emphasis must therefore be on
winning the hearts and minds of the communities in the immediate theatres of
conflict. The full might and strength of our security services must now be
deployed to confront this scourge and we expect our security services to
rapidly reorient their assets and capabilities so as to overcome this difficult
challenge. And this must be done within the shortest possible time frame with
minimal casualties. Let me emphasise that for them to achieve this they require
the cooperation of all and sundry.
8. The Government must do all it can to
immediately identify the sponsors and the source of funds to the terrorists and
the insurgents. In this connection, nobody who is implicated, no matter how
highly placed, should be treated as a sacred cow.
9. On our part as Federal Legislators, we
will continue to co-operate and work with all arms of government and the people
to bring this unwarranted assault on our peace and unity to a swift end. We
will activate and deploy every possible constitutional legislative instrument
in aid of the war against terror. Every concerted effort must be made to bring
this reign of terror to a decisive end.
10.
The breadth and scope of this
assault on the Nigerian State makes for somber reading; places of worship have
been violated; pupils have been brutally murdered en masse in their dormitories;
school girls have been brutalized and kidnapped from their schools; police
stations and army barracks have been attacked and incinerated; lives and
properties have been destroyed and whole communities uprooted and made refugees
in their own country.
11. The tragedy is that at a time of grave
national emergency like this when every Nigerian should stand in unity and
openly rebuke evil, some of our countrymen and women, unfortunately only see
this as an opportunity for partisan politics. Appallingly, rather than condemn
in the strongest possible terms they have resorted to destructive partisan
diatribes that can only demoralize our troops, and the nation and encourage the
insurgents. When a nation is faced with clear and present danger, what is
required is a bipartisan approach and a show of support for the government and
the security services.
12. In other democracies where terrorism has
been confronted with substantial success, bipartisan support for the government’s
counter insurgency policy and war efforts have proved vital to lasting success. We must recognize these attacks as an
egregious assault on the Nigerian way of life, and a signal threat to her
corporate existence. We must not quibble, nor speak along party lines. We must
speak out as Nigerians, and collectively, we must flash a powerful signal
against terror. Our instinctive patriotism should be on display and we must
rally bipartisan support for government to confront terror. This was what the
Americans and the British did in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks
and the 7/7 London Bombings.
13. It is dispiriting that at the peak of
bombings, abductions and senseless killings by insurgents, rather than stand
together as Nigerians, some people are speaking along party lines, scheming and
viewing anarchy from the prisms of partisanship. This is condemnable and
totally unacceptable. We should not sell the truth to serve the hour. And the
truth is that Boko Haram has declared war, not just on the present government,
but on any government founded on the principles of democracy, secularity and
tolerance!
14. I
do not by
any means seek
to discourage debate,
nor do I abhor constructive criticisms. But the print and electronic
media are daily inundated with criticisms so destructive that at times one is
left to wonder whether the insurgents are now the heroes while those fighting
them are the villains. The times do not warrant this kind of devious and
divisive politicking. The impression must not be given that anybody who gives
his life fighting insurgency has died in vain.
15. The time has come for us to stand
shoulder to shoulder as we confront this evil. As Nigerians, we must all unite
across party lines with the sole aim of fighting and defeating our common
enemy. If the enemy of unity, peace and progress prevails, there will be no
political parties, except the party of hate, of intolerance, of anarchy, and of
backwardness and bigotry and this must never stand. That is not a prospect that
I, or any other Nigerian, would wish our dear country.
16. I therefore call on every Nigerian to be
patriotic, patient, prayerful and hopeful. There is no way a strange and
anarchic ideology, not supported by any of the faiths to which we subscribe,
will overcome the civilized and collective resolve of Nigerians.
17. In spite of all these, let me
re-emphasise my stand that we should not foreclose the avenue for dialogue as a
means of finding a lasting solution to the current acts of terrorism and
insurgency.
18. Distinguished colleagues, I welcome you
back to this chamber and urge you to brace yourselves for the tasks ahead.
SENATOR (DR.) David A.B. Mark,
GCON, fnim
PRESIDENT
OF THE SENATE.
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