ONE MASSACRE TOO MANY : BEING TEXT OF AN ADDRESS BY THE SPEAKER, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, RT. HON. AMINU WAZIRI TAMBUWAL, CFR, ON TUESDAY, 11TH MARCH, 2014, ON THE “DAY OF MOURNING”SPECIAL SESSION OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO REMEMBER STUDENTSANDOTHER NIGERIANS KILLED THROUGH TERRORISM We cannot claim to be one nation, if we cannot find unity in grief; just as we cannot claim to be a great nation when we are incapable of preventing horrendous attacks on our children peacefully asleep in theirbeds. My dear Honourable colleagues, 1. I welcomeyou back to the Plenary Session of the Houseof Representatives.In the last two weeks, various Committeesof theHouse had been working assiduously on the 2014 Appropriation Bill. The House is grateful to the Committeesfor theirhard work and dedication. 2. Our reunion at times like this has always been one of joy for accomplishment of a civic responsibility. However on this day it is with the greatestsenseof anguish that I welcome you back. 3. On February 25, 2014, the very day the House adjourned Plenary, Nigeria suffereda horrendous terroristattack that strucka fatal blow at the heartand soul of the Nigerian nation and desecratedvalues that decent peoplesof all nations hold dear. On that night, about 59 studentsof Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe Statewere killed in the most heinous manner. Some of our future national leaders were moweddown in gruesome circumstancesin theirsleep. Some were shot dead while many were burnt beyond recognition. Thatday was a day that will live in infamy in the history ofthis nation. 4. Wheninnocent, harmless and defenseless womenand children becomethe targetsof theseheartlessmurderous bandits; when the lives ofsleeping children are so callously snuffedout, it becomesclear that theseagents of terror have murderedsleep and they henceforthdeserve none. 5. Whatever grievances theterrorists harbor against the governmentof Nigeria, Nigeria’s innocent children have nothing to do with it. Nigeria’s children bear no responsibility for eitherpolicy making or policy implementation in Nigeria. It is therefore an actof cowardice worthy ofringing condemnation to targetthe children, to strike at those who are not only innocent but are also unable to strike back or defendthemselves.Therecan beno reason, no justification and no acceptable excusefor this act of mindlessbrutality. Whatever message the terroristssetout tosend to the Nigerian governmenthas been drowned out by the cries for justice by the blood oftheseinnocent martyrs. 6. Itis to remembertheseinnocentchildren and other victims of violence in this country, that the House has declared today“A day of mourning” to expressour collective outrage on thesekillings that have gone on for far too long. 7. My dear Colleagues, please travel with me on an imaginary journey to Federal GovernmentCollege, Buni Yadi. 8. Picture the sceneas the terroristscreep into the hostels and thechildren begin towake up one afterthe other, with theireyesheavy with sleep, each of them convinced that this is some nightmare. 9. Picture the chaos in the roomsand the terror on the faces of thechildren as they watch the murderers attack the first setof students, theones nearest to theentrance, and the studentsbegin to realize that what is happening is not a nightmare but a reality far harsher that any nightmare the mind of a child can construct. 10. Hear the panic in the voices ofthe children as theybegin toscream for help, fromGod, theirparents or security. Butno help will come tonight. 11. Feel the unbearable horror of this night, and hear thefading cries of thesechildren as they finally succumbto themurderous onslaught. 12. Finally, my dear colleagues imagine that it is your own child in the hostels at Buni Yadi on this hellish night. 13. I can still hear the voiceof the father of Aliyu Yola, one of the victims of the school massacre crying, “Aliyu was scaredto go back to schoolafterthe last holiday. I forced him to resumenot knowing he will never come back to me again”. 14. As Jodi Picoult writes in her book “My Sister’s Keeper”, “In theEnglish language there are orphans and widows, but there is no word for the parent who loses a child”. 15. Dear colleagues, please let usrise for a minute silence in honor of the murdered children of Buni Yadi and of the many valuable Nigerians that have been lost in this needless orgy of violence. [P A U S E ]. MAY THEIR INNOCENT SOULS REST IN PERFECT PEACE 16. Today is not a day to apportion blames. It is a day for the expression of our senseof personal and national loss. Butit is also a day for us to look for concretesolutions. 17. In my brief statementimmediately afterthat attack, I warned that Nigeria is running out of excusesfor our failure to live up to our responsibility toprotectour citizens. Today I wish to amendthat commentand declare that we HAVE run out of excuses.We no longer have any excusefor our inability to protectour innocent defenselesschildren from gratuitous violence. 18. In recenttimes, it seemsthe nation wakes up every morning to the sad news ofone gory tale of bloodletting and killing of innocent Nigerians or another: in the NorthEast States of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe; in the North Central States of Benueand Plateau; and in otherparts of Nigeria. 19. We wake up to thedisturbing news of daring and dastardly attackson our military establishmentsresulting in the dissipation of our military infrastructure and the destruction of the lives of the heroic Nigerians who have committedtheir lives to the defenseof our territorial integrity. 20. In Maiduguri for instance, expensive military aircraft and equipment and whole military barracks have been lost in addition to the loss ofmen and womenof our Military and otherlaw enforcementagencies. 21. We wake up to thechilling news of the totalannihilation of innocent, law abiding families and entirecommunities in the most callous, reprehensibleand bizarre fashion. This cannot continue. We must rise up collectively and decisively to stop theseorgy of deaths, destructionand waste. 22. Section 14 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides that the securityand welfare of our peopleis the primary purpose of government. In making this provision, theConstitution places a duty on all of ushere and everyoneelse entrustedwith the mandate of governance and representation to place a high premiumon the securityof lives and property of Nigerians. 23. By this parameter, the Nigerian government must rise to the occasion. And by governmentI do not meanonly theExecutive. We in the Legislature are also part of government.And we cannot thereforemerelyjoin in thechorus of lamentations. Our duty is to act swiftly and decisively in the protectionof the citizenry. 24. In the past, this House had initiated and supportedall measuresneeded to combat terrorism in the Country. Since active terrorism startedmanifestingitself, the House has taken the following steps: i. Wehave passed over twenty resolutionson the issue ofnational security. ii. We amended theAnti-terrorism Act, 2011 to strengthenthe Security Agencies iii. We have appropriated huge sums of money for the Security Agencies. iv. Only recently, January 30, 2014 theHouse in making itsrecommendationsfor Constitutional Amendmentvoted to include the National Security Agenciesand the Nigerian Police on the First Line chargefor purpose of ensuring theirfinancial independence and timely release of fundswhen appropriated. 25. While we await the completionof the Constitutional amendmentprocessin which we have thus sought to removethe funding bottleneckthat impedesthe operational effectivenessof our security institutions, we must in the interim adopt definitemeasuresto ensurethat thesecurity agencieshave all the support they need to put an end to this long-running orgy of bloodbath sothat Nigerians can sleep with botheyesclosed. Thatis the most basic service citizens expectfromtheir government. 26. My dear Colleagues, letus not forget that we have in place a Stateof Emergency in the three affectedNorthEast states.Yet the killings have continued unabated in spite of the gallant effortsof our security forces. It is therefore clear that we need to come up with other ideas for a solution. Thereare certainquestions that this House must now ask. 27. How do we ensurethat the welfare of our military is effectivelyadministered and that they have the appropriate equipment to execute theirhazardous assignment? The sad eventsof recentweeks have once again made Nigerians ask whethermoneysappropriated for the welfare of our security forcesare properly administered. 28. How do we strengthen theintelligence gathering capabilities of our intelligence agencies? 29. How do we encourage theNigerian Police Forceto institutionalize Community Policing as a frameworkfor engaging local Communities in a partnership for checkingcrimeand terrorism? 30. What about integrating local security structuresinto theregular securitywindows of the Nigerian Police Forcewith the Federal, Stateand Local governmentssupporting them with necessaryresources? Is it perhaps time for us to revisit the idea of StatePolice? 31. How do we developan institutional frameworkfor securing theland througha neighborhood audit where a tab is kept on every member and every housing structure whether completedor uncompleted? 32. A fully engaged and strongly organized local population would not allow terrorism in theircommunityor acrosstheirterritory. Nigerian citizens must therefore bemobilized to take back theircommunities.Intelligence gathering will improve tremendously if security structuresat the local levels are tapped effectivelyby the Police. 33. How do we institute a form of ‘Marshall Plan’ to effectivelyaddressthe economic circumstancesof the affectedregions? Such a measure will serve tocheckyouthrestiveness, unemployment and mass poverty.The private sectoralso has a huge role to play in this. 34. What about our traditional rulers, religious leadersand otherstakeholders? Doesthe governmentnow need tointensify engagement with theseelders to take advantage of their unique position, wisdom and influence? 35. Thesefew suggestions are only intended to serve as stimuli for further discourse. I challenge my colleagues and otherNigerians to come forward with other ideas and solutions on how we can as a nation address this situation. 36. The involvement of the citizenryin the fight against terrorismis a vital issue. For the campaign against terrorism tosucceedthe peoplemust getinvolved. A crisis of this magnitudeis beyondthe capacity of any governmentto resolve on itsown without the support of the people. Whenever the stability and survival of a nation is threatened, the most potentweapon in repelling the threat is the active engagementof the peopleof that nation. 37. I humbly appeal to the Nigerian people to join in this struggle for thesoul ofour nation and embrace as a sacred duty the mission of restoringpeace and stability in Nigeria. We must draw fromthe heartbreak ofBuni Yadi, and other areas affectedby mindlessviolence, an inspiration to rededicate ourselvesto the cause of nation building. 38. One hundred years afterNigeria was amalgamated into one country, there are Nigerians who would still prefer to emphasize and celebrate our differentness and blame the British for amalgamating us, rather than embrace the reality of our oneness. At this stage of our journey of nationhood, all Nigerians should be highlighting the ties that bind us. We should be promoting the elements of our common heritage and emphasizing the imperatives of our common destiny. 39. In the light of a heart-wrenching tragedy like this, our peoplemust now seethat those political, sectional and sectarian differences that have made it impossible for usto present a unitedfront against our challenges are petty and self-absorbed. If a tragedyof the Buni Yadi magnitudedoes not bring us togetheras one nation, if theloss of our innocent children whose only offence was that they went to schoolto gain education and wisdom in preparation for a future of service to Nigeria and humanity does not unite us in grief, then we need to ask ourselvesif we truly meetthe basic spiritual requirementsof nationhood. 40. We cannot claim to beone nation, if we cannot find unity in grief; just as we cannot claim to be a great nation when we are incapable of preventing horrendous attacks on our children peacefully asleep in theirbeds. 41. As a peoplewe are known to beour brothers’ keeper. Terror has never been in our character and with Godon our sidewe shall surely defeat this minority tribeof violence. Let us thereforearise with a single-minded resolve that the Buni Yadi massacre is one massacre too many and we shall tolerate no more. 42. My dear colleagues, - Our nation is in mourning, and it is in urgent need of consolation - Our nation is in pain, and in urgent need of healing - Our nation is puzzled, and in urgent need of answers - Our nation is disillusioned, and in urgent need of reassurance. 43. As the electedrepresentativesof the people, it is our duty to offerthat consolation, administer that healing, provide those answers and furnish that reassurancethat our people need to make them continue to believe in the Nigerian nation. 44. Thank you and Godbless Nigeria.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 05:46:19 +0000
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