1st December, 2020
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila on Tuesday said Nigeria is not close to winning the war against terrorism.
Gbajabiamila spoke on the floor of the House while reacting to killing of 43 rice farmers by Boko Haram in Zabarmari, Borno State on Saturday.
He lamented that in the towns and villages of the North East, Nigerians had been and continue to be the first victims of a brutal insurgency that sought to destroy the country and remake the world in the image of a discredited idealogy.
“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,” he said bitterly.
Gbajabimila said Nigeria must rethink this war on terror.
According to him, “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.
“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.”
He said in the Legislative Agenda of the 9th House of Representatives, the House was committed to specific strategic goals, including improved funding of security agencies, better engagement with local communities, innovative, proactive and technological driven responsiveness.
Gbajabiamila added that while the nation sought lasting solutions to the problems that threaten her, 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.”
May God bless the memory of the departed. May he grant succour to the ones they’ve left behind. God bless you all, and God bless our Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he stated.