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Members of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and other opposition parties in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, unanimously aligned to condemn the inordinate attitude of President Muhammadu Buhari administration towards ending the killings of innocent Nigerians across the country by killer herdsmen.
According to the House resolution, President Buhari as the Commander in Chief of Armed Forces, is expected to appear in person before the House in a closed door session, to brief the Lower Chamber on the measures put in place to end insecurity challenges, since the serve chiefs have failed to comply with previous order.
The House recalled with nostalgia President Buhari’s disappointment to the report that the Inspector General of Police, Idris Ibrahim, did not relocate to Benue State at the peak of the killer herdsmen attack on some villages in Benue state, in February, 2018.
The lawmakers who spoke during the debate on the rcent killings in Benue State, condemned the alleged compromise by the security agencies also called for immediate sack of all the security chiefs and appointment of competent personnel.
In demonstration of their disaffection for the level of sacrilege committed across the country, the lawmakers resolved to suspend legislative activities for three days in solidarity with families of hundreds of Nigerians gruesomely killed by the terrorists who hide under the guise of herdsmen.
While giving update on the House resolution, Abdulrasak Namdas, chairman, House Committee on Media and Publicity disclosed that the leadership of the House will determine the three days declared by the House.
He explained that the House resolved to summon the President since previous engagement with the security chiefs yielded no positive result.
He disclosed that the House will follow due process and line of engagement between the Legislature and Executive on the summon earlier issued to the President on the payment of $496 million for procurement of Super Tucano Aircfraft from the United States Government, without National Assembly’s approval.
While noting that the invitation extended to the President should not be misconstrued to be a sign of disrespect to the office of the President, Namdas maintained that the issue of insecurity is no longer about APC, PDP or SDP.
He maintained that the House is “tired of observing one minute silence on daily basis” as a result of incompetence being demonstrated by some highly placed Nigerians saddled with the responsibility of protecting the sanctity of lives of the citizenry.
When asked what will be the next line of action if the President fails to honour the invitation, Namdas said: “we cannot presume that he will not come.”
In his lead debate, Mark Gbillah (APC-Benue) who sponsored the motion, expressed concern over the “allegations that Army personnel depoloyed from the 72 Army Batallion in Makurdi, the Benue state capital to quell the incessant inhuman murder of indigenes of Gwer-East, Gwer-West and several other Local Government Areas in Benue State by unidentified armed herdsmen took the law into their hands in a blatant display of brigandage and criminality and attacked Naka town in retaliation for the alleged murder of one of their colleagues by unknown elements in the bush 1.5km from Naka in the evening of Wednesday, 18th April, 2018.”
In his contribution, Sunday Karimi (PDP-Kogi) who frowned at the ugly development, noted that the president we have today is not the same Buhari of 1985. In fact, its time for the President to go…its time to invoke section 143 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We can’t continue like this, the president had failed,” the Kogi lawmaker alleged.
While venting his view, Dickson Tarkhir (APC-Benue) explained that the Army reported to have lost 27 personnel during the crises, but noted that the state has not experienced peace because the herdsmen have the support of security agencies.
On her part, Joan Mrakpor observed that the lingering crisis if allowed to linger till 2019 may spell doom for the entire citizenry, hence called for deliberate efforts toward halting the life threatening rule.
She opined that will the President clamour to re-contest in 2019, President Buhari has not shown the capacity of addressing the crises.
In his submission, Kehinde Agboola (PDP-Ekiti) who condemned the attacks on innocent Nigerians urged Mr President to toll the honourable path of resigning or change the service chiefs.
In the same vein, Aliyu Magaji (APC-Jigawa) called for the sack of the Service Chiefs and Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.
Also speaking, Ossai Nicholas Ossai (PDP-Delta), urged the House to visit Benue state with the view to have first hand information since the failure of the Police.
On her part, Omosede Igbinedion (PDP-Edo) urger the House to rebrand the killer herdsmen as terrorists.
