Tordue Salem
8 July 2008
The House of Representatives yesterday summoned the Minister of Defence, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed and the Chief of Defence Staff, Andrew Azazi to appear before it on Thursday, over rioting soldiers who took to the streets of Akure, Ondo State to protest the non-payment of peace-keeping operations' allowances to them.
The Chairman, House Committee on Defence, Rep. Wole Oke in an interview with journalists at the National Assembly Complex, said the Committee would seek to know why the Ministry and Defence Chiefs, allowed the situation at Akure, degenerate to a ludicrous drama.
Rep. Oke (PDP Ijesha North-Osun State) said the House was dismayed that the protest would come from an otherwise disciplined military.
According to the committee chairman, the minister and the CDS have been asked to come before his committee on Thursday.
The rioting soldiers were reported to have shut down activities in the Ondo State capital last Friday, while they hurled invectives at the Government for supposed injustices.
According to the legislator, the committee was "shocked to learn that the public protest was due to non- payment of certain allowances to the affected soldiers"
He said the House committee would seek clarification from the minister and the Chief of Defence Staff, before drawing a substantive conclusion on matter and suggesting ways on how to avoid a future occurence.
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