Strong indications have emerged that there will be a stormy session today at the Senate Chamber as Senators will debate recent comments made by erstwhile Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd) that Nigerians should resort to self protection in the face of unending killings in the country.
The former Minister of Defence had alleged that the military was colliding with militias to cause havoc in the country.
Though the military had taken a swipe at the retired general’s allegation, Senator Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf, APC, Taraba Central, yesterday rose through a point of order on the floor of the Senate for permission to bring a substantive motion on Danjuma’s outburst.
Yusuf who spoke under Order 42 of the 2015 Senate Standing Orders as amended said that General Danjuma raised fundamental issues that should be debated and investigated by the Senate.
According to him, the General at the event called on Nigerians to take up arms in protecting themselves against armed militias allegedly backed by military operatives.
Senator Yusuf’s prayer however turned controversial when put to voice vote by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki as those who shouted nay! sounded louder than those who shouted ayes!
The Senate President who was a bit confused as to which of the expression to rule on , repeated the voice vote with those who shouted nay ! , still louder than ayes, but he ruled that the ayes have it, paving way for an imminent hot debate on the motion today .
It will be recalled that General Danjuma who spoke last Saturday in Jalingo at the maiden Convocation Ceremony of Taraba State University, however accused the Nigerian military of collaborating with armed bandits particularly the Fulani Herdsmen to kill innocent Nigerians.
He had said that “The military are helping the herdsmen to kill Nigerians. They cannot stop the killings because they are in agreement with them. If you wait for the military to stop these killings we will all die.” He added that the motive behind the killings was nothing but ethnic cleansing, saying “there is an attempt at ethnic cleansing in the state and of course, some rural states in Nigeria. We must resist it. We must stop it. Every one of us must rise up.”
It was gathered that many of the senators did not want the motion to be taken because of division it may cause in the senate .
A senator said, “Senator Yusuf is a Fulani man from Taraba State , the same state the respected General comes from and one of the epicentres of the said killings allegedly being facilitated by military.
“Agreed, as a Fulani man and one of the stakeholders from the state, he has the right to call the attention of the senate to any crisis or problem in his state but going by the way he sought for the motion by misquoting the General to have told Nigerians to take up arms for self-defense, his motion would no doubt be very controversial when debated tomorrow ( today)”, one of the senators said.
It would be recalled that Senator Yusuf on the floor of the Senate in 2016 , openly disagreed with Senator Emmanuel Bwacha ( APC Taraba South ) when the latter through a motion alleged that the fleeing Boko Haram terrorists from Sambisa Forest in Borno State were the ones collaborating with herdsmen on wanton killings in the State.