The Senate has attributed the recent suicide bombings in Gwoza, Borno State, to a failure of intelligence among security forces. Senate President Godswill Akpabio made this statement during a plenary debate on a motion concerning the incident, sponsored by Senate Chief Whip Mohammed Ali Ndume.
The coordinated attacks on Saturday targeted a wedding, a funeral, and a hospital in Gwoza, near the Cameroon border, resulting in 32 deaths. Senator Ndume, who represents Borno South, identified the Mandara Mountains, Sambisa forest, and the Lake Chad region as remaining terrorists’ strongholds.
The Senate urged the federal government to direct the military to rethink its conventional strategies in fighting insurgency and other crimes by deploying modern technology and scientific tactics.
Lawmakers noted that relying solely on conventional methods, such as troop deployment, was ineffective as terrorists continued to use non-conventional approaches to kill Nigerians and destroy livelihoods.
The Senate’s call for a change in strategy comes as the military has struggled to contain the insurgency, which has claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions in the region.
The use of modern technology and scientific tactics, such as intelligence gathering and surveillance, has been seen as crucial in combating the terrorists’ tactics.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in a statement by its president, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, also called for collective action to combat the insurgency, noting that the attacks were a sign of a larger problem in the country.
