By Olusegun Emmanuel, Abuja.
Senators on Tuesday berated the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Alex Badeh over his comment that the military was aware of the location of the abducted Chibok girls held in captivity by Boko Haram insurgents. questioning why the CDS would make public what he considered a military secret.
Similarly, the Senate appealed to Boko Haram to release abducted girls in the spirit of children’s day.
Senators who spoke seperately with newsmen over the comment yesterday in Abuja wondered why the Defence Chief would say that the military has discovered the camps where the abducted girls were being held only to describe it as a military secret just as the Senate urged Boko Haram to release the girls.
Speaking on Tuesday, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, (PDP Abia) ,said it was amazing that the CDS would disclose what the military considers as a secret to the general public .
Also speaking Sen. Abdulahi Adamu, described the statement credited to the Chief of Defence Staff as inappropriate, saying the matter is more serious than how the CDS is handling it. “Some talk before they think, by we suppose to have declare National mourning on the issue,” he said.
Chukwumerije said “I am very much elated by the news that the location of our girls is now known to the army. But like the rest of the nation, especially observers, I am puzzled by one phrase, according to the military spokesman, their location is a military secret.
“Now what puzzles me, is simply this: why do you make public what you consider a military secret?
“As you are announcing the location or your discovery of the location of these girls, the news is being known to those holding them captive.
“And you think they are going to stay there and wait for you until you come to locate the girls and take them away?
“This puzzles me because we know in all American military operations, you don’t hear a word about that until after their mission is accomplished.
“The next you will hear is that their mission accomplished. When the leader of Al Qaeda was dealt with, we know how it was done.
“Nobody even had a wind of what was going on until it was completed. So let us hope and pray that if the news of the location of the girls is true that the enemy is not sufficiently warned to move before our men would strike.
“But to us, it is wonder of wonders that what the military considers as secret is what it announced as secret and want us not to divulge the secret.”
Meanwhile, the Senate has urged the Boko Haram insurgents holding the girls in captivity to release them in the spirit of the Children’s Day which was given a low key celebration across the country yesterday on account of the abducted Chibok School Girls.
Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, who spoke on behalf of the Senate at the plenary, urged the abductors to release the girls in the spirit of the Children’s Day celebration.
Ndoma-Egba also drew the Senate’s attention to the challenges confronting the Nigerian child of today.
He said children can only become true resources and wealth if they are well educated.
He said: “Let me on behalf of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, congratulate the children of Nigeria and the children of the world on this day which is their day.
“Children all over the world represents the wealth hand the resource of every nation. They can be resource only if they are educated. Without education, the children rather than being a resource will become a burden on society.
“It is for this reason that I also use this opportunity to draw the attention of the Senate and the nation to the challenges being faced by our children in the northeast zone of the country.
“May I use this opportunity to appeal to Boko Haram to make this day whole for us as a nation. To make this day whole for as humanity by releasing our children in their captivity.”
