Senate Summons IG over Worsening Insecurity

Passes federal cooperative colleges bill, two others

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The Senate yesterday resolved to invite the Acting Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Mohammed Adamu, to appear before it over the worsening state of insecurity across the country.

This was sequel to a motion moved by Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central) and co-sponsored by the remaining 108 senators, including Senator Joshua Dariye (Plateau Central), who is currently serving a 10-year jail term in Kuje Prisons in Abuja for criminal breach of trust and criminal appropriation of state funds during his tenure as governor of Plateau State (1999-2007).

The upper legislative chamber after discussing Sani’s motion entitled “Senseless killing of a Briton and the abduction of three others in a holiday resort in Kaduna State by armed bandits” agreed to invite the Acting Inspector General of Police to brief the Senate on the initiative put in place by the Police High Command to curb the worsening security situation in the country.

Apart from observing a minute silence in honour of the slain Briton, the Senate implored the security agencies to intensify the search for the perpetrators of the dastardly act and bring them to book.

It further urged the federal government to set up inter-agency task force to tackle cases of banditry and kidnapping in Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and Niger States while the security agencies should give special security cover to foreign workers and tourists.

Senate also advised security agencies to immediately deploy the use of drones and interceptors in tracking kidnappers asking for ransom and urged community leaders, traditional rulers and all stake holders to co-operate with security agencies in tackling this threatening security situation.

Telecommunications companies, according to the Senate resolution, should provide security agencies with information in areas where there are kidnappings.

The Senators also agreed to send a delegation to the British Embassy and condole the British government over the death of the Briton.

Speaking earlier while seconding Sani’s motion, Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, declared “we need to declare a national state of emergency to enable the government put in place measures to end this insecurity problem.”

On his part, Senator Joshua Lidani (Gombe South) said the Senate needs to take urgent steps to address the insecurity problem.

His words: “We need to do something drastic, something unusual that we have not done before. We need to mobilize the military to those areas and we should not be shy of asking for help.”

Other contributors like Senators Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara Central), Emmanuel Bwacha (Taraba South), Andrew Uchendu (Rivers East) and David Umaru (Niger East) also condemned the Kaduna killing and rising wave of kidnapping especially in Northern part of the country.

To Marafa, “the North is at war and unless something is done, I’m afraid that in the next two to three years, the situation might be out of control. This has become a business because there is technically no business in the north. The way forward is to fight corruption and set standards.”

Saraki, however, reminded his colleagues that the Senate had in the past addressed the rising wave of insecurity by engaging the security agencies on the way forward

He said: “If you remember, we had done a retreat, we had done a report, we had done second reading and a few recommendations. If you can recollect, we invited the Heads of the security agencies and directed them to submit to us what they need and there was no response till date.”

He also referred to a particular time in the life of the 8th Senate when a particular Inspector General of Police failed to honour the invitation of the National Assembly to brief the legislators on what the police was doing to address the issue of insecurity.

“We were all in this chamber for one year we could not even communicate, converse or engage with the Nigeria Police. You were all here when the Head of Police refused to even come before us. How can we work together to move things forward because at the end of the day, we must begin to sit down with those in charge and discuss what we need to do, how do we help you. Even if we want to recruit, we can’t do it from here, we need guidance, they need to tell us what we need to know,” the Senate President had said.

The Senate also yesterday passed three bills after they went through Third Reading.
They include National Commission for Colleges of Education Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill, 2019, Federal Cooperative Colleges Bill, 2019 and Federal University of Education, Kontagora, Niger State (Est, etc) Bill, 2019.