Muhammad Bello, Onyebuchi Ezigbo, Jaiyeola Andrews in Abuja, Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano and Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri with agency report  
Setting partisan politics aside, the House of Representatives on Tuesday applauded President Goodluck Jonathan and the Nigerian military for the latter’s recent recapture of several towns and communities that had fallen under the control of the terror group, Boko Haram, in the North-east, particularly Borno State.

Similarly, the All Progressives Congress (APC) showered the same praise on the troops, but blamed Jonathan for allowing the insurgency to fester and the resultant deaths of 15,000 Nigerians.

But their praise coincided with the condemnation by the president of two suicide bombings yesterday at bus stations in Kano and Potiskum which resulted in the death of 27 persons in both cities.

Prompted by a motion of urgent national importance moved by Hon. Muhammad Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno), the House praised the military for its bravery and steadfastness, noting that in previous months, Boko Haram had nearly over-run Borno State, but added that the tide was turning against the insurgents as a result of the gallantry of the soldiers.

According to Monguno, prior to the new offensive against the terror group, Boko Haram had subdued some communities, hoisted their flags in the local government headquarters and subjected the people to despicable acts of torture.

“Almost all the local governments taken over by Boko Haram have now been liberated, so the armed forces require some encouragement from us in the parliament,” Monguno stated.

Arguing in the same vein, Hon. Abubakar Momoh (SDP, Edo) also commended the effort of the military in chasing out the insurgents. “We were aware that a few months ago, Boko Haram unleashed a reign of terror on many parts of the North-east. But today, this has been curtailed,” Momoh said.
“We need to commend the military and the Commander-in-Chief, President Jonathan, who made it possible for the soldiers to operate effectively,” he added.

Similarly, the Deputy House Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta), observed that the development in Borno and other places “is a sign that the military is working”.

“It is therefore important to appreciate what they are doing. We also need to commend other nations – Chad, Cameroun and Niger – for assisting us in fighting this battle.

“We need, also, to commend the Commander-in-Chief for his bold steps in ensuring that there is security in the beleaguered areas within six weeks (before the elections),” Ogor said.

Also, the House shifted the consideration of a motion sponsored by the Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Lagos), seeking to nullify, on constitutional grounds, the use of soldiers to provide security during elections, till today.

If Gbajabiamila’s request sails through, the House may resolve to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the role played by military personnel, and any other person(s) who featured in the said audio tape saga in the run up to Ekiti State governorship election.

It may also call on the federal government, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the military authorities and other stakeholders to obey the ruling of the Federal High Court, Sokoto, which declared that deployment of soldiers during elections is unconstitutional.

In this regard, the House may urge the federal government not to deploy military personnel during the elections in compliance with the decision of the court.

But as the House commended Jonathan and the military for the routing of Boko Haram in some sections of the North-east, the opposition APC elected yesterday to limit its praise to the troops.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said the president bears a huge moral responsibility that would haunt him for a long time to come for deliberately allowing the Boko Haram insurgency to fester, leading to the deaths of over 15,000 Nigerians and the displacement of over three million others in the past six years.

The party further alleged that Jonathan deliberately allowed the
Boko Haram crisis to fester because he and his team saw it as their trump card for winning re-election in 2015.

On the military, APC said the string of victories recorded by the troops over the insurgents had confirmed its stand that the Nigerian military can hold its own anywhere and anytime, if provided with the necessary equipment and if the morale of the troops is not undermined.

It said by his own admission that he and his team “underrated the capacity of Boko Haram”, the president has finally owned up to his globally-acknowledged incompetence, a development which, in truly democratic societies, should be part of a statement of resignation by a leader whose terrible error of judgment has caused so many deaths and inflicted so much pain and sorrow on his compatriots.

APC said: “The truth is that Jonathan deliberately allowed the Boko Haram crisis to fester because he and his team saw it as their trump card for winning re-election in 2015 by currying local and global sectarian sympathy with a Muslim-group-killing-Christians narrative that totally distorts the fact that Boko Haram is a band of marauders who have no consideration for ethnicity, regionalism, religion or any other thing beyond their mad disposition to terror.”

It recalled that the APC had raised the alarm on many occasions, including during an appearance at the British Parliament in 2014 when the party’s spokesman had warned that the PDP and the president were using the Boko Haram crisis as a trump card to retain power in 2015.

“Is it not curious that the same president who has stood by while Boko Haram decimates a whole section of the country over the past six years has suddenly realised there is something he could do to crush the sect in six weeks?

“Is it not curious that a military that has been globally acknowledged for its successes in peacekeeping at regional and international levels has suddenly found itself unable to tackle a band of criminals?

“Is it not curious that the necessary fighting equipment that has not been made available to the military, despite the injection of over $32 billion into the defence and security sector since 2008, have suddenly become available?

“There are more questions to be asked: At what point did President Jonathan begin to have a clear idea that Boko Haram is a major threat to the very survival of our country? Was it after about 300 innocent girls were abducted from their school in Chibok or before?

“Was it after hundreds of boys were slaughtered in a secondary school in Buni Yadi or before? Or was it before or after the Nyanya bomb blast that led to the deaths of hundreds of people? Just when did our president wake up to his primary responsibility?

“The truth is that after their Boko Haram-as-a-trump-card strategy blew up in their face and their electoral fortunes plummeted, the PDP-led Jonathan administration came to the realisation that a stepped-up campaign against the insurgents is needed to revive their electoral fortunes, hence they then decided to pep up the military and rally regional troops - the same suggestions from the opposition that the administration has pointedly ignored over the years - to combat the terrorists.

“President Jonathan, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed
Forces, must take responsibility for the monumental cost, whether of his incompetence or his political strategy-gone-awry or both, apologise to the nation and immediately back down from seeking re-election.

“The president must not be allowed to profit from an error of judgement that has cost 15,000 lives, forced over 3 million out of their homes and cost the taxpayers $32.88 billion.”

The party also expressed concern at the efforts of the Jonathan administration to make Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau look invincible, with the president's statement that Shekau would be caught before the elections.

APC said while Nigerians would undoubtedly be happy and relieved to see the end of Boko Haram, they must be wondering what would have happened if the plummeting electoral fortunes of the president had not forced his administration to push for the six-week postponement of the
general election.

“They must also be wondering what would have happened if the elections had been scheduled for 2016, instead of 2015,” it stated.

The party commended the long-suffering, gallant Nigerian soldiers and called on all Nigerians to continue to support them and the battle against insurgency.

Meanwhile, the president on Tuesday condemned the reversion by the terrorist group to the callous bombing of soft targets in parts of Nigeria in the wake of the ongoing rapid recovery by Nigerian troops and their multinational allies of areas formerly controlled by the sect.

In a statement by his spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, Jonathan commiserated with all the families who lost loved ones in the bombings in Kano and Potiskum.

“The president shares the grief of all the bereaved families and is deeply saddened by the continued loss of many innocent lives at the hands of misguided and desperate fanatics who are now feeling the heat of the intense counter-insurgency operation by the Nigerian Armed Forces.

“The president assures all Nigerians and the people of the North-eastern states in particular that the days of mourning victims of incessant terrorist attacks in the country will soon be over as the tide has now definitely turned against Boko Haram.

“President Jonathan further assures the people of Nigeria that the gallant, courageous and patriotic officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces, supported with new platforms, equipment and logistics provided by the federal government will carry the ongoing operations against the terrorists through to a successful conclusion in the shortest possible time,” the statement said.

The president affirmed that his administration would continue to take all necessary action to guarantee the success of ongoing military operations against the terrorist group and drastically reduce its ability to take and hold territory or recruit, groom and brainwash young persons to undertake suicide bombing attacks on soft targets.

The president’s reaction came on the heels of two suicide bombings in bus parks in Kano and Potiskum yesterday, leading to the death of 27 in both cities.

In Potiskum, Yobe State, 15 persons were reported to have been killed in yet another suicide bomb attack on the town, which is fast becoming the most targeted town by the terror group in the country.

The latest attack, which occurred at a bus park in the town, according to a source at the General Hospital in Potiskum, also left 53 persons with severe injuries.

A nurse at the General Hospital, who did not want to be named,
informed THISDAY that 15 corpses were brought to the hospital morgue from the scene of the bomb attack.

She equally disclosed that 53 wounded persons were brought to the hospital's Accident and Emergency Unit, expressing fears that based on the severity of the injuries, the death toll from the attack might rise.

There was however no clear-cut description of the sex of the person who might have been responsible for the suicide attacks.

A source in the town, who said the explosion happened at about 11.45 am, claimed that a female suicide bomber entered a vehicle at a mini bus park along Kano Road under the pretext that she was travelling.

The driver of the vehicle, a Toyota bus with Kano registration number XA 592 GBT, was waiting for the bus to be filled with passengers when the bomb went off inside the vehicle.

Another source, however, said that the suicide bomber was a female, who moments after alighting from a tricycle opposite the park, dashed into the bus and succeeded in killing 15 people including herself.

In the Kano incident, the bomb blast was said to have occurred at the famous Kano Line bus station located along Zaria Road in the bustling city. Two male suicide bombers who disguised themselves as passengers willing to travel were blamed for the attack.

The state Police Commissioner, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, told reporters at the scene of the blast that 12 persons including the two suicide bombers were killed by the blast.

“Two male suicide bombers disguised as passengers and one of them was able to board a Sharon bus then blew himself and the passengers in the bus,” he said.

Idris said: “The investigation is still at a preliminary stage that is why we cannot give a comprehensive account of the injured ones. But we learned that some people sustained various degrees of injuries. They have since been conveyed to a hospital for immediate medical attention.”

He added that the blast occurred around 3 pm and involved two Sharon buses and one Golf VW car that were burnt by the blast.

Idris however dismissed the notion that the two suicide bombers were set ablaze by angry youths at the scene of the blast.

The suicide bombers were said to be teenagers between the ages of 17 and 18.

Eyewitnesses also gave conflicting accounts on how the tragedy occurred, claiming that the suicide bombers were three in number and had found their way to the station by jumping the fence at the back of the bus park, with one of them reported to have escaped unscathed.

Another eyewitness also faulted the official casualty figures given by the police, stating that the corpses he counted were higher than the ones reported to have been killed.

In a related incident, the Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, has praised Israel for being a “crucial and loyal ally” in Nigeria’s fight against Boko Haram.

“Israel has been a crucial and loyal ally in our fight against Boko Haram,” Omeri, who is also the chief coordinating spokesman of the National Information Centre, told the Jerusalem Post.

“It is a sad reality that Israel has a great deal of experience confronting terrorism. Our Israeli partners have used that experience, and the unique expertise gained over the years of fighting terror within its own borders, to assist us,” he said.

Nigeria has forged closer ties with Israel in recent years under Jonathan. In 2013, Jonathan visited Israel and signed an aviation deal to allow more Nigerian Christian pilgrims to visit the Jewish state.

Israel, meanwhile, has provided assistance to Nigeria in the search for about 300 girls who were abducted by Boko Haram last year.

Nigerian-Israeli relations have also borne fruit on the diplomatic front.

Nigeria recently voted to abstain on a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for Israeli withdrawal from the disputed territories by 2017 and the unilateral establishment of a Palestinian state. THISDAY