‘Boko Haram has metamorphosed from a group of religious zealots into an industry’ —Lawan 

The Senate president, Ahmad Lawan, lamented on Thursday that the Boko Haram has metamorphosed from a group of religious zealots to an industry operated by people from different religions and nations.

Lawan stated this after the presentation of a motion on the resurgence of Boko Haram killings in Borno North sponsored by a former governor of the state, Kashim Shettima, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Ali Ndume and Senator Abubakar Kyari.

He expressed sadness that the activities of Boko Haram had persisted despite many resolutions and efforts by the Senate to stop the terror from wreaking havoc on harmless citizens.

The Senate president said: “Boko Haram has metamorphosed from a group of religious zealots into an industry. It is an industry because what they do is not religious. They have people from different faiths and countries who are part of Boko Haram.

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“This Senate passed so many resolutions including the reports of the various ad-hoc committees we set up. Senator Kabiru Gaya once headed a committee on insecurity and he toured many parts of the North West then. I also chaired another committee with a public hearing and everything with all the service chiefs invited. But it has persisted.

“What is necessary is for us to persist. Our Armed Forces have their challenges, and therefore, we will continue to look at those challenges and try to address them.

“However, where anybody is found wanting, our stand should be that people should occupy offices based on their performance. There’s no point if somebody is not registering successes for such person to continue to be there, but that is if you give that person the necessary tools to fight. So, we should give them the necessary tools and then we hold them accountable.”

Meanwhile, Lawan, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, will meet with President Muhammadu Buhari on security challenges arising from the activities of Boko Haram insurgents and bandits in parts of the country sometimes next week.

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