Senate probe Baga massacre (Nothing will come out of it)

Posted by admin Legislature, Senate Wednesday, April 24th, 2013

THE Senate yesterday mandated its committees on Defence, Police and National Security and Intelligence to jointly investigate the alleged death of over 185 people in Baga, Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State.

Members of the joint committee have 14 days to turn in their report for the consideration of the Senate at plenary.

The development followed a motion on alleged massacre of over 185 people in Baga, Borno State last Friday.

President Goodluck Jonathan has also ordered a probe.

The motion was not debated. There was silence in the upper legislative chamber as Senator Maina Ma’Aji Lawan (Borno North), who sponsored the motion, recalled what he tagged “the Baga Massacre”.

Lawan used Order 43, which deals with personal explanation, to present his motion.

At a press conference he addressed later, the senator confirmed the story published by the The Nation on its front page that over 10 local government areas in Borno State are under the control of Boko Haram insurgents.

An observer in the Senate gallery described the mood in the chamber as “solemn”.

In subdued voice, Lawan said: “I stand before you today a very sad man. My zone, the Borno North Senatorial District, is today a no-go area for normal operations of government and, for that matter, any civil conduct.

“The issue I want to raise is the burning down and death of over 200 persons, destruction of over 2000 houses in my Senatorial District in particular, Baga town and the general activities of the insurgents that make the place almost inhabitable and completely out of control of any authority.

“It is in this respect that I want to make a brief explanation to the Senate.

“In particular, I want to draw your attention to several national dailies in the last four days.

“For instance, the front page caption of Daily Trust of Saturday that reads ‘Boko Haram rules Borno North’. The Nation front page story that reads ‘Boko Haram grounds 10 LGA’s in Borno.’

“And the very wide and extensive coverage of all the international electronic media: CNN, Al Jazeera, BBC, SKY News that you are already aware of.

“These news items are largely true.

“Coming closer home, my home town of Baga is today in total ruins with 180 to 200 human lives lost and numerous others unaccounted for.

“Over 2000 homes destroyed, 62 cars, 284 motorcycles and tonnes of foodstuff destroyed.

“At this stage, I do not want to immerse myself in the blame game of whether it is Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) or the Joint Task Force (JTF) or the insurgents that carried out the atrocities.

“But it appears to bear some of the hallmarks of Odi.

“However, whoever did it, that level of atrocity is outrageous, unacceptable and condemnable in any civilised society, even in societies that are at war.”

The lawmaker urged the Senate to investigate the matter “as this is a recurring decimal in all such past instances”.

While praying for the souls of the deceased, he urged government agencies, including the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), state and local governments, as well as good-spirited individuals to come to the aide of the surviving victims, “the women, children, the aged that are today totally helpless”.

Lawan spoke of a humanitarian crisis in the area, recounting that the town was shut down for three days.

“Therefore, this aid should come on time,” he said.

The lawmaker thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for setting up the amnesty committee as, according to him, “the ultimate solution to this insurgency is a genuine dialogue that must necessarily address the immediate and remote underlying causes of the insurgency”.

“As I said, almost two years ago on the floor of this Senate, boots and bullets cannot solve the problem. Let’s put our thinking caps on and take advantage of this amnesty initiative and face the problem headlong.”

On the takeover of 10 council areas: he said: “The truth of the matter is that when JTF intensified their operations in Maiduguri, of course, they were concentrated in Maiduguri, understandably because it is the state capital.

“It was too hot for them (insurgents). They ran out and fizzled into the countryside. In the country side, people are helpless. There is no police post standing. In Borno North, there is no police outpost or divisional offices standing. That is the truth.

“What was written is not true of everywhere, but there are certain areas that government officers don’t go for fear of their own lives.

“Ask the immigration officers or custom officers when last they visited their Banki outpost?

“Ask the police inspector when last he was sitting in his outpost where there is supposed to be an inspector and three constables?

“They are not there and when they are not there and there is somebody with a gun, he rules. I thought we are informed enough about the gravity of the situation in Borno.

“Not just Borno but the Borno State in general. So, when the papers reported that government officials have abandoned their posts, whether federal or state, apart from areas where the military are operating, I am afraid, it is largely true.

“And that is exactly why we are talking of this brute application of force.

“About one third of neighbourhoods in Maiduguri are closed already where you see grasses as tall as myself.”

Senate President David Mark said there was no need to debate the motion. He described the Borno situation as “grave” and insisted that the deaths were “totally unacceptable”.

Mark said: “Maina Ma’Aji Lawan discussed the publications with me and it is in almost all the international media.

“Because of the security implications, the importance of it notwithstanding, I think we don’t really need to have any debate on it.

“But the number of people who are said to have been killed, irrespective of who did it is totally unacceptable. That number is just too much.

“I know that Gen. Mohammed Magoro and Saleh would say that fighting in a built-up area is a very difficult operation, but that notwithstanding, there must be standard of engagement and those rules of engagement does not include mass killing or extra judicial killing in any form.

“But I don’t want any debate on it because there is already a committee that has been set up to probe it by the executive.

“We in the legislature will set up a committee to investigate the facts – whether the reports we get are correct or not – and I urge that those who will appear before this committee must have the courage to come up because the problem is not setting up the committee, it is whether people will come and give evidence before it.

“But I urge Nigerians who know the facts to appear before this committee. I will say that the committee on Defence, Police and National Security and Intelligence, the three committees to form a joint committee to investigate and report to us within 14 days.”

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