The Senate President, David Mark, on
Tuesday expressed fear at the magnitude of
the attack carried out by the Boko Haram
sect on Monday and their effrontery in trying
to seize Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.
Mark stated this while commenting on the
motion brought by Senator Ahmed Lawan
representing Yobe North in the Senate on the
unfortunate development.
The senate president noted that the
dimension which the insurgency took was
frightening, even as he commended the
military for successfully repelling the
insurgents from taking over the Government
House.
He said, “The insurgents are attacking us
left, right, front and back in the North-East.
But that of yesterday (Monday) was because
they were able to get to the Government
House which gave it a new dimension.
“It has nothing to do with the state of
emergency. The dimension that it took
yesterday (Monday) was really frightening. I
was in touch with the governor for most of
the time and we were all very worried
because of the magnitude of what had
happened in the last few days.
“We have bomb blasts in Kano, the attack in
Borno, the bomb blast in Borno and the
incidence that took place in Damaturu”.
Sen. Lawan had while relying on Order 43 of
the Senate Standing Order, said that the
military took on the insurgents that
attempted to capture Damaturu, even without
the emergency rule in place.
He added that what mattered most was the
determination of the military and not the
name attached to the operations.
He said, “I spoke with you (Senate President)
this morning (Tuesday) on the need for me
on behalf of my colleagues from Yobe State
to make a personal explanation on what
happened in Damaturu yesterday (on
Monday) in Damaturu.
“Mr. President, I will like to formally inform
this Senate that Damaturu was attacked by
the insurgents from about 5am on Monday
and the military or the armed forces, battled
the insurgents and controlled the situation.
“So many lives were lost but at this moment,
we cannot determine the exact number of the
dead and so many were also wounded and
of course, psychologically, hundreds of
thousands of Yobeans and even Nigerians
are traumatised for that incident.
“I want to say this that a war is not won by
the name of the operation; a war is won by
the operators of the operation that operate in
the theatre of war. Our soldiers were
determined to fight the insurgents, they
fought very gallantly and exhibited valour
and they did that because they have
motivation not because there was any state
of emergency existing.
“The significance of what happened in
Damaturu yesterday (Monday) should not be
lost on us. I believe that we can win this war
if we all come together, get the proper
leadership, support the leadership across all
the three tiers of government and across all
the political parties.
“I believe that this war is winnable and I
believe that if we do the right thing, we will
get the right result that we saw yesterday”.
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