Reps urge govt to show political will, courage

From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

Members of the House of Representatives have charged the Federal Government to show political will and courage in tackling the escalating security challenges across the country as well as promptly implementing security-oriented resolutions from the parliament.

The lawmakers, who spoke at a special session organised to brainstorm on the rising wave of insecurity in Nigeria, yesterday, expressed concern that infiltration of the security agencies, sabotage and lack of decisive actions by government against terrorism, kidnapping, banditry and other violent crimes were fuelling security crisis in the country.

Jafaru Muhammad, representing Agwara/Borgu federal constituency of Niger State, where over 300 students and teachers were recently abducted from St. Mary’s Primary and Secondary School in Agwara Local Government Area, appealed to the Federal Government to ensure their quick rescue.

Mohammad said terrorists had completely taken over the Kainji National Park in his constituency, once a hub of Nigeria’s wildlife and tourism, noting that the entire area might be overrun if urgent actions were not taken.

“The bandits are currently using the National Park as their harbour and base from where they attack Agwara, Borgu in Niger State, Bagudo and Shanga in Kebbi State, Kaiama/Baruten in Kwara State and some neighbouring communities in Benin Republic. Most of the bandits are foreigners who cannot even speak Nigerian languages; some of them migrated from Zamfara and Katsina, using Ibbi National Park as their link to enter Kaiama National Park and Kainji National Park as their destination.

“The situation in the entire constituency is horrible and will continue to worsen if urgent action is not taken to save the constituency from being taken over by bandits in the next few months,” he said.

Former deputy speaker and leader of the North Central Caucus, Idris Wase, said the zone was the worst hit in the security crisis ravaging the country, stating that many persons had lost their lives, with others displaced as a result of insecurity. However, Wase said that killings in the areas are acts of criminality targeting both Muslims and Christians.

“North Central remains the area where 52 percent of the insecurity in this country is taking place. Our people are dying. Our people are displaced; both those who are in the armed forces and those who are at home. I want to say that there is every need for us to review what is actually taking place.

“Today, Nigeria takes 52 percent of the crime within the West African sub region. What is happening has a lot to do with criminality. I want to disagree with those who are bringing religious inclination into it. And we must brand it as criminality, otherwise that division of religion will have an effect on us and before we know it, we cannot deal with the problem.”

Wase, who said he had lost family members serving in the armed forces in the course of the anti-terror war, alleged sabotage against the efforts of officers committed to the prosecution of the war. The former deputy speaker also stated that there was evidence of instances where criminal elements, including Boko Haram insurgents had been recruited into the armed forces and police.

“Kidnapping happens virtually every day. In one year alone, bandits collected ransom of about N5 billion. This is from statistics. In one year alone, what we lost is more than 30,000 people that are killed as a result of banditry and whatsoever.

“There is a need for the leadership of the House to interface with Mr. President to ensure that our recommendations are implemented. The number of people we have lost in terms of senior personnel, even during the civil war we did not lose our officers in that quantum. 

“I do not believe that we need to negotiate with criminals. I do not believe that we need to allow those criminals outside. Why will criminals come to a wedding in town with guns in a convoy and we have security in the country and we cannot track them? I believe some people are benefitting, that is why they don’t want this matter to end.”

Similarly, Solomon Bob, from River State, who spoke on behalf of the South South caucus, said the security challenges are fuelled by the lack of political will by the leadership of the country to confront the  menace head-on. Solomon noted that the problem of the country is not just weak institutions, but weak leaders.

“What has happened in this country is an abject lack of courage. Every President since 1999 till today has demonstrated an embarrassing lack of courage to deal with an issue that has festered. We are appeasing terrorists. We are placating them. They engage in negotiations. You can’t appease your way out of terrorism. Even here in this house, members come here to speak, they deliberately mis-characterize very serious violent crimes and call them banditry.

“Terrorism is the most dangerous of the violent crimes we face in this country today. We have laws dealing with terrorism.

We have laws dealing with kidnaping with various stiff penalties. No one is being taken in.  As day broke, we were told about the rescue of some school girls, who were kidnapped in Kebbi. And no one has been taken in for any kind of punishment. I can only surmise that the government negotiated. This is not how to run a country. They will come back. It is like a blackmailer. You pay money, they will come back for more. The government must up its game.”

Furthermore, the lawmaker implored the government to live up to its responsibility by confronting those behind the insecurity in the country.

“It is about time we do the right thing. What is the right thing? The Executive must ensure that there is no iota of negotiation with those engaging in terrorism, kidnaping and other violent crimes. Secondly, we must stop the policy of appeasement.

“We hear people come out publicly and say ‘don’t touch terrorists. Don’t touch them. They are our children. In fact, one of them went as far as saying budget for them. In what country? What the hell is this? Budget for them? Recently, it happened. We can’t allow this sort of behaviour to continue in this country. The government must live up to its responsibilities. Go after terrorists. Go after kidnappers. Go after any kind of violent criminals.”

Leader of the South East caucus, Idu Igariwey, while speaking on behalf of the zone, said the issues relating to insecurity in the country were well documented. He noted that it was time the government began to implement resolutions on how to solve the country’s security challenges.

Igariwey said: “The core of the problem we have is implementation. Somebody once said that policy implementation is the graveyard of policy in Nigeria. We have all the beautiful ideas, but when it comes to implementation, that is where we have a problem. That is why some people will tell you, where is the will to implement all these things we are saying? I don’t think there is anything new anybody is going to say in terms of insecurity or how we should combat it in this country. It is all well documented.

“There is hardly any week that we don’t have a plethora of resolutions on insecurity. What has happened to those resolutions? We are not expected to implement our resolutions. Our resolutions are our opinion, the opinion of the House. What I am suggesting is that the leadership should also interface with the executive to ensure that some of these resolutions, including past ones, are implemented.”