TheCable

Idris Wase, deputy speaker of the house of representatives, says the Department of State Services (DSS) shared 44 intelligence reports before the attack on the correctional facility in Kuje.

Wase spoke on the floor of the green chamber during the plenary on Tuesday.

He made the remarks while speaking on a motion sponsored by Abubakar Yallemen from Jigawa state, on the need to halt the federal government’s proposed nationwide ban on commercial motorcycles.

On July 5, gunmen attacked the correctional facility in the federal capital territory (FCT) and freed hundreds of inmates, including suspected Boko Haram members.

Wase said though the ban on commercial motorcycles will affect transportation system in local areas, it is necessary to check insecurity.

“For most of us — 90 percent of my community if not 99 percent — this is the only means of transportation,” he said.

“We appreciate his motion and sensibility, but in line with our principle to help in curbing the incessant insecurity in our country, we have to cooperate with the government.

“You cannot imagine what is happening today in Abuja. I’ll confirm to you that I went through the DSS report — 44 reports were given before the attack on Kuje.

“I want to say so. I want to confirm to you — 44. I read through all the reports and it all has to do with this.

“There is no community that one attack or the other will happen that you will not have intel, and this is part of the intel that they had given as to what is exactly going to happen. So, we have to cooperate with the government.”

THE MOTION

In his motion, Yallemen had said the proposed ban on motorcycle operations “will render millions of Nigerians jobless, which could be catastrophic for a nation grappling with high unemployment and poverty rates”.

According to him, the ban “will inflict untold hardships on the generality of Nigerians as it is a common means of transportation among the citizenry, and may provide the terrorists with a pool of desperate youths to recruit”.

He, however, stepped down the motion after Wase advised that the ban is aimed at tackling insecurity.