The House of Representatives on Thursday summoned the National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gabriel Olonisakin and Service Chiefs, Director, Department of State Security and Inspector General of Police to brief the House on effort being made to bring an end to the killings, kidnapping and armed banditry in the country at next sitting.
The House also mandated the leadership of the House to continue the engagement with all the security agencies on a monthly basis on the progress being made until normalcy is restored.
The Green Chamber reached these resolutions Thursday at plenary following the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by Sada Soli (APC Katsina).
Moving the motion, Soli said the House noted that in recent time, security situation in some parts of the country has degenerated; and cases of kidnapping, killings and armed banditry have become a daily occurrence across the country, especially in Niger, Sokoto, Zamfara Kaduna and Katsina states.
For over one hour, members took turn to lament the increasing cases of insecurity in the land and the failure of the Service Chief to address the issue or hunourably resign their appointment.
A member of the House, Rep. Victor Mela (APC, Gombe) threatened to resign his membership of the House is nothing concrete is done within the next two weeks to address the security situation in the country.
Mela said he was tired of observing one minute silence on the floor of the House while nothing serious is done to bring the killings and banditry across the country to an end.
The House had in February asked the President to declare a state of emergency on the Security situation in the country and sack all the Service Chiefs whom they said has not lived up to expectations.
The Lawmakers were visibly angry on Thursday following a motion or urgent public importance on the need for the relevant security agencies to bring to an end, the spate of kidnapping, killings and armed banditry across the country sponsored by Rep. Sada Soli (APC, Katsina).
The Katsina born lawmaker had drawn the attention of his colleagues to the worsening security situation in some parts of the country which he said has degenerated to an alarming proportion.
He said cases of kidnapping, killings and armed banditry have become a daily occurrence across the country, especially in Niger, Sokoto, Zamfara Kaduna and Katsina states among others
According to him, even a Presidential directives has not helped to drastically reduce cases of kidnaping, killings and banditry in the country due to lack of sustained tempo in the intervention, adding that these criminals have continued to regroup in different camps in the Government Reserve Forests and surrounding Villages across the country
Rep Soli expressed concern that the magnitude of the attacks on various communities have reached an alarming rate as these criminals have continued to perpetuate their criminal acts unabated.
He maintained that if this criminality is not urgently addressed there will be an imminent present danger to our food security in the country, adding that any deferment by the security agencies to abridge the continuous horror and inhumanity will result to an enormous loss of lives, destruction of properties and immobilize the Socio-Economic and Educational activities of various communities.
He argued that the country is currently battling to contain the dangerous community infection rate of COVID-19, added with the persistent attacks by criminals on farming communities across the country the especially in the North-West and -North Central, this may result to serious food shortage .
He alleged that about 500 primary schools and 2000 communities were completely destroyed across the country as a result of these incessant kidnappings, killings and Armed banditry attacks, adding that these criminals are armed to the teeth with weapons supplied by gun runners living in our cosmopolitan cities across the country.
Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase said there are several military operations across Tue country today while the spate of banditry has been on the increase insisting that what is happening in the country today should be of Paramount importance to everyone.
He said the lawmakers have voted so much money for security operations in the country, but wondered why there has not been corresponding reduction in banditry.
Wase dismissed the allusion to poverty as being responsible for the rise in criminality, adding that it was out of place to attribute Tue current act of criminality to poverty in the land saying “there is poverty everywhere.”
He said while the security agents have been doing well, there has not been any collaborative efforts between the military and the police in the fight against insurgency, insisting that there has been no act of patriotism in the fight against the bandits.
He recalled the vote of no confidence passed on the Service Chiefs and the call for them to resign or be sacked and the fact that no action was taken on the House resolution.
The Deputy Speaker point to the leaked memo between the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari and the National Security Adviser which he said was a pointer that all was not well, saying “how do we survive as a nation when insecurity has become the order of the day.”
Wase wants the House to the President to come abs brief them on the state of security in the country and what is being done to address the situation.
Rep Mohammed Muntari Dandutse said there has been no sustained operation in the fight against the bandits in the North Western part of the country, blaming the security agents for turning local government secretariats and schools to resting places while the bandits carry out their activities unchallenged.
He said there was the need for a more serious approach to tackling the situation saying “we have to be more realistic and approach the issue holistically. If people are allowed to take law into their hands, this thing will be a thing of the past as soon as possible.”
He alleged that members of the vigilantes were not being allowed by the security agents to police their communities because of the fear that they are but to take over their jobs.
He said “we are ready to sacrifice our lives to face these bandits for peace to return to our communities. We need to sack these Service Chiefs because they have outlive their usefulness”.
Rep Bello Maigari questioned the where about of the high calibre security vehicles commissioned by the President and what the several billions of naira budgeted for security are used for
On his part, Mohammed Gudaji Kazaure wondered why the government was not paying the so much attention to the question of insecurity in the country like it has done to the Covid 19 pandemic, adding that the bandits has killed more people in one operation than covid 19 has done since it ws discovered.
He questioned the absence of intelligence, while insisting that the Department of State Services has failed to perform their statutory duty of identifying criminals and reporting same to the relevant security agencies for action.
He wondered why the bandits would spend several hours ransacking a village, killing and maiming innocent people with security intervention, only for same security to surface hours later to evacuate corpse of those killed.
He warned against a possible food crisis next year if the issue if not addressed immediately, adding that if the lawmakers fail to act now, Nigerians may be forced to take their destiny in their own hand.
He said it was embarrassing to see state governors who are Chief Security Officers of their states negotiating with bandits, saying “where is the money that is appropriated for security”
Rep. Rep. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha said it was becoming clearer by the day that Nigeria was under siege, adding that it was evident that the Service Chief has failed and should therefore be asked to go.
She said “It is only in Nigeria that you failed and still remain in office. We should not celebrate failure and we should be bold enough to tell those who have failed that they have failed, even if that person is your father”.
Rep. Chris Emeka said it was obvious that the nation’s security architecture has expired as many people come into the country today without proper identification of who is coming or leaving the country.
Speaker of the House, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila said the House may have to subject section 227 of the constitution to constitutional amendment to strengthen issues of security in the country.
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