Senate Heated As Abaribe, Garba Musa Demand Answers On Troop Withdrawal Before Kebbi School ∆bductions

Senate Heated As Abaribe, Garba Musa Demand Answers On Troop Withdrawal Before Kebbi School Abductions

Speaking during plenary, Abaribe insisted that governance requires confronting uncomfortable truths rather than pacifying the public with excuses.

The debate over rising insecurity took a fiery turn in the Senate on Wednesday as Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South) berated the President Bola Tinubu’s administration for failing to hold the military accountable for the withdrawal of troops from a Kebbi school where dozens of students were recently abducted.

Speaking during plenary, Abaribe insisted that governance requires confronting uncomfortable truths rather than pacifying the public with excuses.

Quoting writer George Orwell, he said: “In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

“We are being told every day to be patriotic. We are being told here that we shouldn’t say anything against. We are being told here, ‘Oh, we shouldn’t talk about the past, we should focus on the present.’ Yet on this floor, while we should focus on what we are supposed to talk about, we go back and say, ‘Oh, during 2014, Chibok Girls happened; we are now rescuing people; people were not rescued at that time,’” Abaribe said.

He argued that comparisons with the past are being used as a shield to deflect criticism of current failures.

“People in Kebbi were not leaving all the rural areas and coming to urban areas to stay. People in Niger were not being kidnapped. So why do we, anytime we need to talk about the present issues of today, go back to look for excuses for our failures of today?” he asked.

Abaribe said the government must take responsibility and act decisively. Citing the Kebbi incident, he queried why no one had been held accountable.

“We will take only one example; the governor of Kebbi said that somebody ordered troops out, and people were kidnapped. Till today, nobody in Nigeria knows what happened. No questions have been asked, and we are sitting down here as parliament, talking and talking, yet somebody is responsible,” he said.

He added that if he were the commander-in-chief, he would demand accountability from the military hierarchy.

“If you don’t get me the head of this person who withdrew the troops to put all these children in jeopardy, then you will make an example of him. That is how a country is run,” he said.

“A country is not run on pacification; a country is run by confronting issues.”

Senator Garba Musa Maidoki (Kebbi South) backed Abaribe’s position, stressing that failure to address the troop withdrawal would embolden further attacks on schools.

Maidoki said he was relieved that the 24 girls abducted from Maga in his constituency had been released unharmed but insisted that the root causes must be confronted.

He echoed the demand for clarity on the controversial troop withdrawal.

“The issue that must take precedence is: who withdrew the soldiers from Maga Primary School? On whose instruction? The world wants to know, Nigerians want to know, we that are particularly affected want to know.”

The senator warned that unless the government confronts these unanswered questions, similar attacks will continue to happen.

“If we don’t get to the bottom of this, this incident will keep repeating itself,” he said.

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