House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila lamented that political office holders’ failure to secure lives and properties is underscored each time a person is abducted or killed.
He said: “Every time a citizen going about their business is killed or kidnapped, loses their property or livelihood, we have failed in our obligation. From the abundance of these failures has emerged a culture of self-help in matters of internal security that portends grave danger for our nation’s continued existence.”
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The Speaker added: “If ever there was a time for us to put aside all other considerations, especially the petty concerns of partisanship and politics, it is now. If ever there was a time to set aside our differences of tribe and religion to focus on a concerted effort to defeat the challenges of insurgency and banditry, communal violence, and the violent struggle over land; that time is now.”
The Speaker was making his contribution as federal lawmakers debate the rise cases of insecurity in the country.
Gbajabiamila added, “The forces that threaten our lives and property, our sovereignty and nationhood, do not make any exceptions based on the God we pray to or the language of our native tongue. From every region and state, citizens of every tribe and religion have suffered and will continue to suffer the pain of death and the grief of loss until we put an end once and for all to the terrors of banditry, insurgency and malignant crime in all forms.
“We have to reconcile the obligations we owe to our people with the constitutional limitations under which we operate. But we will not shrink from our role as advocates for the forgotten voices, and we will continue to exercise the appropriation and oversight authority vested in us to hold to account those who bear direct responsibility for the protection of all our nation’s people.”
Meanwhile Senators called on President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the National Security Adviser, the newly nominated Service Chiefs and the Inspector General of Police to “rejig the nation’s security architecture and disposition of forces for more effective counter measures against the current security challenges, particularly in the rural areas.”
This is part of their resolution after the debate on a motion titled: “General Insecurity in Nigeria”. It was sponsored by Senator Ajayi Boroffice and 105 other senators.
