Ali Ndume
Ali Ndume, senator representing Borno south, has asked the federal government and security agencies to intensify efforts to locate Musa Uba, a brigadier general and commander of the 25 brigade of the Nigerian Army.
In a statement on Thursday, Ndume also called for urgent action to rescue the 25 schoolgirls abducted on Sunday from the Government Girls Comprehensive School, Maga, in the Danko-Wasagu LGA of Kebbi state.
Uba was reportedly ambushed and captured by fighters of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) on Friday during a convoy operation near Wajiroko village, Borno state.
The jihadist group claimed in an unverified video on Monday that it had executed the senior officer and other soldiers, though the Nigerian Army initially denied the claim.
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President Bola Tinubu, in a statement on Wednesday, later confirmed Uba’s death and described him as one of the “brave soldiers who fell in Borno”.
Ndume, a former chairman of the senate committee on the army, said worsening insecurity across the north-west and north-east — marked by banditry, kidnappings and terrorism — requires coordinated intervention.
He said the government must “act quickly to bring back the brigade commander, dead or alive,” and intensify efforts to rescue the abducted schoolgirls.
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He said bringing them back would “help minimise the trauma faced by their families, friends and Nigerians in general”.
Ndume commended the sacrifices of security personnel in ongoing operations and prayed for divine guidance for federal and state efforts to combat terrorism and banditry across the country.
On Wednesday, Valentine Ozigbo, an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, asked Tinubu to take full responsibility for the rising killings and abductions across the country.
Ozigbo said the security situation in the country has deteriorated to alarming levels, noting that Nigerians are living in fear as violent attacks escalate in several states.
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