Reps to summon Buhari over security situation

The House of Representatives resolved yesterday to summon President Muhammadu Buhari to appear before it to tell lawmakers how he had been handling the nation’s security.

Though no date was fixed, President Buhari will be expected to face lawmakers’ questions, if he agrees to the summon, on why he had not sacked military and security chiefs having failed to secure lives and properties.

The lawmakers passed a vote of no confidence in the Service Chiefs.

The House  also suspended legislative sittings for three days in solidarity with victims of the killings in the country.

The House requested that killer herdsmen should be declared as terrorists, while all cattle rearers should undergo security profiling.

The decision of the lawmakers followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance by Mark Gbilah  (APC, Benue), who said the Federal Government failed in its primary responsibility of welfare and  security of lives and property  to the people of his state.

Citing the killing of two clergymen and others on Tuesday, Gbilah said killing of people in their homes at night had not stopped.

According to him, army personnel deployed from the 72 Army battalion in Makurdi to quell the incessant murder in Gwer East, Gwer West and several other Local Govermemt Areas (LGAs) by 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.

He expressed regret that security agencies did not employ a proactive strategy to preemptively attack the locations or carry out continuous surveillance of identified flash points.

Another Benue lawmaker Dickson Tarkighin (APC) said the people of Benue had lost faith in Nigeria.

Edward Pwajok (APC, Plateau) said the security chiefs should be summoned to face the lawmakers and be interrogated  in the full glare of the world.

Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta) said the President has breached the constitution by failing  in his primary responsibility to the nation and that the House should not be afraid to activate the relevant provision for such breaches.

Kehinde Agboola (PDP, Ekiti) said: “It is like the leadership of this country is confused, if the President cannot resign, he should sack the Service Chiefs”.

Deputy Minority Leader Chukwuka Onyeama urged his colleagues to be decisive in their decision.

Aliyu Magaji (APC, Jigawa) said though he belonged to the ruling party but President Buhari has not shown enough capacity to convince Nigerians that he is capable of tackling the many challenges facing the country.

“Enough  is enough, this beyond sentiment,the Service chief must go, if there is no Nigeria, we cannot be here,” he said.

The motion was unanimously adopted after it was put to a voice vote by Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

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