From Fred Itua, Abuja

Former Senate Leader Mohammed Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South) has revealed that the Boko Haram insurgency is regaining momentum in the three northeastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan hails from Yobe. Other ranking politicians in Nigeria are from the three affected northeastern states.

Senator Ndume, addressing reporters in Abuja on Tuesday soon after his bill on the establishment of a Federal College of Education in Gwoza scaled a second reading, said many villages and towns are being overrun by the insurgents in Nigeria’s northeast region.

He called on the federal government to do more to protect the people and restore law and order. The senator from Borno complained that the state is still without power supply for three months, and called on appropriate authorities to fix the problem.

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The Senate Committee Chairman on the Army gave an insight into why bandits and insurgents are targeting schools, saying schools make for an easy target where a large number of people can be readily abducted.

The current spate of insecurity in the country, regardless, he said, should not deter the government from establishing more higher institutions across the country. He said the demand for higher education was on the rise and urged the government to respond to the demand.

‘What the rest of the country is experiencing is what we have been having in Borno. Today, no place is safe in Nigeria. Government really needs to step up and ensure that we are safe. This can’t continue like this. We need to act,’ the senator said.

‘Just a few days ago, Boko Haram terrorists overran a place just about 30 kilometres from Maiduguri. A Major in the Army and soldiers were killed. Recently too, about 35 soldiers were killed by insurgents along that Maiduguri-Damaturu road.

‘In fact, in that village that was overrun by the insurgents, it took the intervention of a combined Military operation to regain it. This is a common thing in the northeast now. We want peace in Nigeria and the government must do everything possible to restore law and order.’