Yobe massacre: Relocate to Maiduguri, Senate orders army chief

The Senate Committee on Defence and Army passed a resolution on Wednesday, directing the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Kenneth Minimah to relocate his office to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital in order to step up the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency. The resolution followed the massacre of about 50 students of Federal Government College in Yobe State on Tuesday by the insurgents.

The development came just as the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma Egba and the Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Senator Bukola Saraki, in separate statements, described the perpetrators of the massacre as “bunch of animals.”

The Defence Committee passed the resolution when the Chief of Army Staff led top officers to the upper chamber on 2014 Budget defence .The issue of Yobe massacre was raised by a member of the committee, Senator Babafemi Ojudu through a point of order predicated on orders 42 and 102 of the Senate standing rules.

The Committee in a two-page statement containing the resolutions, explained that, it came up with the decison after they engaged in a two-hour brainstorming session with the Army chief on the way forward out of the Boko Haram menace in the North Eastern part of the country.It directed the Chief of Army Staff to relocate his office temporarily to the 7th Division of Nigerian Army in Maiduguri for urgent and appropriate steps to quell the insurgents' repeated attacks in the area.