By Andy Asemota
The deep concern over the general state of insecurity in Nigeria has come to the front burner on the floor of the Senate once again, eliciting the outpouring of anger and disappointment from legislators.
A motion sponsored by Senate Deputy Majority Leader, Ajayi Boroffice (Ondo, APC) and no fewer than 104 out of 109 senators in the National Assembly urging the President and Commander-in – Chief of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, to direct the National Security Adviser and the newly nominated Service Chiefs and the Inspector-General of Police to device a proposal to rejig the nation’s security architecture and disposition of forces for more effective counter-measures against the current security challenges, caused a stormy session as senators fumed over the issue.
The motion was scheduled in the Senate Order Paper for last Tuesday, but had to be postponed to the next day following the suspension of the business of the day and other legislative activities of the National Assembly in honour of late Hon. Prestige Ossy.
Despite the closed-door session from 10:53am to 11:26am, which the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said deliberated on the issues bordering on the workings of the Senate in particular and the National Assembly in general, the senators who had been on recess since 21st December, 2020, registered their disappointment in strong terms.
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Sen. Boroffice wasted no time in lambasting the reported cases of killings, kidnappings among other acts of insurgency and insecurity in Ondo, Edo, Oyo, Imo, Kaduna, Zamfara, Niger, Nasarawa and Kebbi states, as well as other parts of the country.
The Senate, he said, is not only “concerned that many Nigerians have injected ethnic sentiments into insecurity issues, a development capable of plunging the nation into ethno-religious crisis of ominous proportions”, but also “observes that the nation is entering a very dangerous phase in its governance trajectory characterized by manufactured conflicts, fuelled by ethnic and religious entrepreneurs with divisive rhetorics, and amplified by irresponsible social media activists and platforms.”
The Ondo–born deputy senate leader frowned that while it was responsibility of leaders at all levels to address the security challenges of Nigeria, the local actors and authorities should not absolve themselves of responsibility. He condemned extra judicial killings, banditry, robbery, kidnappings and other forms of violent behaviours in Nigeria.
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The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, in his contribution, said there is no better investment today in Nigeria than making resources available for security of its citizenry.
“What the Federal Government must do is arm the security agencies properly so that they can deal with any security challenge. We should not be frustrated; the executive listens to what we are talking about. We have to address criminality, but we must have to nip in the bud that desire of people picking on ethnic groups. “I want to also say that when our committees will screen the service chiefs we should be as exhaustive and as critical as possible so that they get the impression and perspective the National Assembly has on this insecurity,” said Lawan, who doubles as the chairman of the National Assembly.
Rage in the Assembly
Citing the rampant cases of rape, maiming and killings of innocent Nigerians, Senator Tolu Odebiyi (Ogun, APC), said the acts of suspected criminal elements from other countries were an indictment on the nation’s leadership. “It is upsetting, and we must rise up to this occasion. I rise that the President needs to speak and calm the nation. The President can sign on Executive Order banning open grazing. There are actions that he can take immediately, but nothing is being done,” Odebiyi frowned.
Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia, PDP), on the heels of the notion that the criminal elements terrorizing the nation were coming from other countries and concern that some Nigerians were being sent away from some parts of the country, said: “Criminals are being sent away from the forests where they are. All criminal elements that are coming into the country from wherever they are must be flushed out.” Relying on Section 43 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti, APC) submitted that “the section confers a right as to where you can live and own property. It is not the right of anyone to trespass on the land that belongs to any other person in this country.”
Senator James Manager (Delta South, PDP), warned that government should desist from treating perpetrators of killings and other heinous crimes across the country with kid gloves.
His words: “The problem here is that how many of these people have been arrested and prosecuted? A criminal must be arrested. How many of them have been arrested? That is the issue that is before us. Arrest, prosecute and these people should be sent to jail.”
Also contributing to the debate, Senator Biodun Olujimi (Ekiti South), proposed a declaration of a state of emergency on insecurity, saying “we are part of the system; we must do something drastic and declare insecurity a national emergency. Posterity will not forgive us if we don’t do the right thing.”
Instead of beating about the bush on the nationalities of the insurgents and others, Senator Smart Adeyemi (Kogi, APC), advised that Federal Government should import more arms to fight what he termed international conspiracy.
His words: “To me, Mr. President, most of those involved in the instability of our nation are not Nigerians. And I think we must get the message clear. I am not in doubt that there is an international conspiracy against our nation. We need to police our nation and import more sophisticated weapons.”
On the way forward, Senator Suleiman Abdu Kwari (Kaduna North, APC), said “it is unfortunate that this country has sunk into a level that is being seen as a failed nation. Now that a security outfit is in place, I think the Chief of Defence Staff and other military chiefs have their jobs cut out for them. Troops’ morale should be improved upon and thereafter, we should also coordinate the security intelligence that has been failing.” Enraged by the general insecurity, the Red Chamber resolved, among others, that the need to rejig the nation’s security architecture remained imperative, besides the urgency to checkmate proliferations of firearms and enforcement of laws against illegal possession of firearms by arresting, disarming and punishing anyone in illegal possession of arms.
The Senate added that state governors should implement the National Livestock Transformation Plan designed to prevent farmer–herder conflicts and activate highly productive livestock sector in Nigeria. The lawmakers rose with one-minute silence in honour of all the lives lost to insurgency, banditry and other crimes in the country, and a caution against abuse of ECOWAS Protocol of Free Movement by criminal elements into Nigeria.
