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From: FRED ITUA, Abuja
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has said efforts must be made by the upper chamber to protect its members from threat and harassment.
His comments was not unconnected to the alleged assassination attempt on Sen. Dino Melaye and a raid of the home of another Senator, Danjuma Goje, both serving lawmakers in the eighth National Assembly.
Saraki gave the charge, on Thursday, in a speech delivered during the inauguration of the Ad-Hoc committee investigating the attempted assassination on Melaye.
Saraki, who was represented by the Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan, said investigation into the assassination attempt on Dino Melaye, must be fully investigated by the committee, so as to protect members of the National Assembly against infringement and threats.
He said: “The 1999 Constitution guarantees every Nigerian the right to life. Like every Nigerian, a Senator or Member of the Assembly deserves to be protected against infringement, threat and harassment.
“The reported incidence in Kogi State where armed assassins invaded the house of a sitting Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Dino Melaye with the intention of taking his life is frightening and must be fully investigated.”
According to Senator Saraki, “this is to ensure that no Senator or member of the Legislature is put in a position where he or she will feel his life is threatened in such a manner as to affect his judgment and thereby weaken hiss moral compass and ability to act without fear or favour.”
He added that “the investigation will seek to unearth the remote and immediate issues connected with, and leading to the ugly incident.”
Saraki, therefore, called on members of the committee to discharge the task with great sense of responsibility, diligence and care.
In his welcome speech, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Jibrin Barau, said though “the circumstances surrounding these two unfortunate (Dino and Goje) incidents are still unclear”, the panel would probe deeply into the matter so as to report appropriately to the Senate.
He, however, assured that the committee in carrying out its mandate, would do so with the utmost sense of duty, bearing in mind the seriousness of the assignments.
