FOLLOWING the refusal of the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari to appear before the National Assembly over rising insecurity in the country, the Senate has summoned the Nigerian Defence Minister, Bashir Magashir, Service Chiefs, the Department of State Security and Nigeria Police force.
This followed a motion moved by Bello Mandiya, senator representing Katsina South over the recent invasion and abduction of students from Government Science School, Kankara, Katsina State.
Seconding the motion, Sani Musa, the senator representing Niger East Senatorial District said ‘enough is enough’ adding that the service chiefs must go.
“There is a need for this chamber to draw the attention of Mr. President that enough is enough, these Service Chiefs should go. I am being very honest and talking from the heart. Enough of this thing. I wish the National Assembly will take drastic action on this. We have been appropriating; where are these funds going to?” Musa questioned.
Other Senators, including the minority leader, Eyinnaya Abaribe also passed a vote of no confidence on the service chiefs over their inability to bring an end to insecurity in Nigeria.
Following similar contributions from other Senators, the Senate condemned the attack on the school while urging Buhari to consider and implement the recommendations of the Senate ad-hoc Committee on Nigeria Security Challenges dated March 17, 2020.
Summoning the minster of defence, service chief and others, Ahmed Lawan, the Senate President said the most important responsibility of a government is to protect the lives of its citizens.
“There is nothing more important today for the government to do than securing the lives of citizens of this country. That is the most important function of any government. I could see the level of frustration so to say.
“We as a parliament should never get tired of talking about issues that affect our people. We have our own limitations because of the structure of how government must be carried out. We must never get tired of reporting what is happening to our people. We should think outside the box and continue to engage with the Executive arm of government until the appropriate actions are taken,” Lawan said.
Recall that Buhari refused to honour a summon by the National Assembly to speak on the government’s inability to curb the surge in security crisis across the country.
Abubakar Malami, the Nigerian minister of justice and attorney general of the federation also said the House of Representatives went out of its constitutional bound to have summoned the president.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via labolade@icirnigeria.org, on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94