Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja and Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, has said Senate is also not happy with the security situation in the country.
Omo-Agege said this when he spoke with State House Correspondents, after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.
Asked what the National Assembly would do to assuage Nigerians, who feel government is not doing enough to tackle insecurity, Omo-Agege replied that a position has already been taken.
“Well, we have taken a position on this. We are not happy like most Nigerians about what is going on in places, most especially Zamfara.
On government’s contemplation to deploy soldiers to highways, as canvassed by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, Omo-Agege said lawmakers will back the move absolutely.
He said: “Absolutely. On a good day it is not something we would encourage because, as much as possible you will want to keep the military in the barracks but, because of the exigencies of the moment, we have no choice but to encourage that. Nigerians need to be assured of their safety at all times, that is the essence of governance as guaranteed by the constitution.
On his part, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, condemned Buhari’s approach to the security of Nigerians by equating it with “all talk and no action.”
In a series of tweets and Facebook post, Atiku said: “Our response to the killings of our citizens cannot be just talk, talk, and talk.
“We must take decisive action to protect the lives of all citizens, not just prominent ones. There has to be change, because if we continue with the way things are, we will get the same results.”
The posts were repeated on his Facebook page.
Atiku was not the only Nigerian who gave the president some knocks, yesterday.
The People’s Democratic Party has also charged President Buhari to listen to the voice of reason, as it relates to government’s alleged poor handling of the security situation in the country.
The PDP spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, said this in reaction to an open letter by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, to Buhari, on the spate of insecurity in the country.
Ologbondiyan said what Obasanjo said in his letter re-echoed what the opposition party and notable Nigerians have being saying about the need for Buhari to “rise to the occasion” and take decisive steps to deal with the worsening security situation in the country.
In a related development, former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, also cautioned the Federal Government against playing politics with lives of innocent Nigerians.
“Government exists to protect lives and property;
they do not exist to release condolence messages after each avoidable death like this. These criminals have declared war against our nation and we should
take the war to them. The Federal Government is expected to lead the war without bringing politics to it and without any emotional bias against the law.
“One of the reasons some of us backed President Buhari in 2015 was his perceived competence to security matters given his training and status as a General in the Nigerian Army. He needs to redeem his image now that deadly criminals have taken over the land, rubbishing all he has ever lived for,” he said.