The Senate would, on Wednesday, debate the statement made by elder statesman and former Army Chief, retired Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, urging Nigerians to resort to self-defence.
Danjuma had, at the convocation of Taraba State University on Saturday, urged Nigerians to resort to self-defence in the face of unending killings across the country.
He also accused the military of complicity in the killings, especially in Taraba, where he alleged that the herdsmen were aided by the military in killing innocent citizens.
The Senate’s decision followed a Point-of-Order raised by Sen. Yusuf Yusuf (APC-Taraba) at plenary on Tuesday.
Yusuf pointed out that Danjuma raised fundamental issues that should be debated and investigated by the Senate.
But while considering Yusuf’s submission, the matter turned controversial when it was put to voice vote by the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki.
There was initial confusion as to where the voting favoured, but Saraki ruled in favour of the “ayes”.
He said that the matter would be debated on Wednesday.
Meanwhgile, a don, Malam Bashir Yankuzu, has advised Danjuma to recall his call for self-defence as there was no circumstances for poor masses to take arms against the state.
The lecturer at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, urged the retired army general to consider his status as elder statesman and withdraw the speech.
He explained that the comment of Danjuma clearly shows that he is a biased elder who could never be trusted by those outside his ethnic or religious enclave.
“Our expectation is that those who became extremely rich and benefitted from the country should be in the forefront investing on areas related to removing poverty and fear in the land.
“Obviously, there are people in this country, including the Danjuma, whose wealth can provide succour to almost if not all the poor masses in their states.
”That is why our youth should wonder why instead of empowering them they are being called upon to take arms against the state,” he said.
