Nigeria’s House of Representatives is outraged over last Saturday’s suicide bombing in Borno State, which claimed 32 lives and left several others injured. The lawmakers are demanding accountability from the country’s security chiefs and defence ministers, calling for their sanction over the incident.
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has condemned the attack as an act of cowardice by Boko Haram terrorists and vowed to clamp down on the perpetrators. “The terrorists embarked on these cowardly attacks against innocent citizens to project an image of strength to cover their weakness and decline. Citizens must see through the smokescreen of the terrorists,” said DHQ spokesperson Major General Edward Buba.
However, the lawmakers are not satisfied with the response, citing a pattern of negligence and incompetence among the security agencies.
“We had a jailbreak, nobody has been sacked; people are killed, nobody has been sacked. It is high time we found somebody responsible,” Hon. Abdussamad Dasuki, representing the Kebbe/Tambuwal federal constituency of Sokoto State, said. “The earlier we look for a scapegoat which is justifiable. These guys have not lived up to expectations.”
—Ezinwanne Onwuka reports for TruthNigeria from Abuja.
The suicide bombing in Borno, a stronghold of Boko Haram, is the latest in a series of attacks that have raised questions about the effectiveness of the country’s security apparatus. The Nigerian government has vowed to defeat the insurgency, but progress has been slow.
