This came as the military helmsmen at the parley made a strong case for the extension of the regime.
From the interaction of the spokesman of the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, with journalists after the talks, it was clear that the Upper House may make a special case for proper funding of the military, sophisticated weapons and enhanced personnel.
Already, the Senate has granted President Jonathan’s request to borrow $1billion to upgrade the equipment and weapons of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
The Chief of Defence, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah, Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin and the Director-General of the Directorate of State Security, DSS, Mr. Ita Ekpenyong, drew the lawmakers’ attention to the problems they encounter in confronting the insurgents.
They specifically cited inadequate troops and equipment to check the excesses of the insurgents, even as they assured Nigerians of having the capacity to deal with the situation on the long run.
The Senate agreed to discuss last Thursday’s crisis in the National Assembly when members of the House of Representatives clashed with the police in an open session today
Senator Abaribe said: “The Senate, in an executive session has spent more than eight hours with the service chiefs of the Nigerian Armed Forces. The interaction was very frank and it was very detailed. We looked into what have been the constraints of the Nigerian military in dealing with the insurgency.
“We also looked into the budgetary provision for them and we looked into what has been done so far by the military in curtailing the insurgency. And I can tell you that the Senate was very impressed with the response from the military and like I said, the military has shown to be capable of dealing with the insurgency.”
“The fact that they are capable of dealing with the insurgents means that the Senate will do all that is within its powers to support the Nigerian military so that we can bring the insurgency to a quick resolution. We also found from their briefing that we have some problems which have to do with the troop levels, with the levels of equipment and of course, all the other ancillary problems when you have to fight what we call an asymmetrical war or not a formal conflict.
“And we are very glad that the military at this moment is gearing up itself to deal with this asymmetrical conflict in the North-East of Nigeria. As of today (yesterday), we have the briefing and we can reassure Nigerians that the military is up to the task of dealing with this matter.
The question of the state of emergency, according to him, was not what was on the table yesterday, adding that they are going to wait also until it is brought to the floor of the Senate, then, “we will discuss it. What the Senate did today was to separate the two questions. Of course, the military continues to insist that they need the state of emergency to be able to conduct the operations in a manner that will lead to quick resolution.”
“When the Senate takes the question of the state of emergency, of course, you will be there because it would be discussed in the open plenary.
“The matter of the Senate and what happened last Thursday would be discussed tomorrow during the plenary. We are not going to do it by executive session” Abaribe explained.
On whether the President will forward a fresh letter of request since the emergency rule tenure has expired, he said “we should be looking at Section 305 of the Constitution. I think what happens with the state of emergency is there in the Constitution.’’
On the speculation of impeachment process against Mr. President, he said “I do not comment on rumours.”
Senate President, David Mark said they didn’t attend to the crisis of police invasion of National Assembly complex yesterday because of the briefing by the Service Chiefs.
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