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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
There is anger in the House of Representatives over the deplorable security situation in the country. Lawmakers are angry over endless kidnapping, banditry, insurgency, attacks on school children as well as other violent crimes across the length and breadth of the country. To underscore the gravity of the issue, the House, recently, held a three-day special session to brainstorm on the deplorable security situation in the country and the way out.
The speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, while setting the tone for the discourse noted that, while the President Bola Tinubu administration is making concerted efforts to tackle the security challenges, “we must, however, accept that certain forms of violence have resurfaced in different parts of the country and are evolving rapidly. The roots of this resurgence lie both within and beyond our borders. “ he said.
He added further that the Sahel has “undergone significant upheaval. Changes of government in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger Republic have created ungoverned spaces that armed groups now exploit. Illegal arms trafficking has increased. Nigeria, therefore, faces domestic and transnational pressures that require an integrated response.
“Amid these challenges, international developments also deserve our careful attention. The Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025 was introduced in the United States Congress, which places Nigeria on the list of Countries of Particular Concern. The Bill suggests that Nigeria permits or encourages religious persecution. Members may recall that this House extensively debated and unanimously rejected the claims.
“The government of Nigeria does not and will never support or sponsor violence against its own citizens. We conveyed our resolutions to the United States Congress, the Department of State and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.”
The fireworks
Lawmakers, in their different presentations, were unanimous that the spate of insecurity that has turned different parts of the country into killing fields must be contained and urgently too. Members of the Green chamber were peeved that while criminals have made the country a living hell for citizens, the federal government is seemingly not doing enough to ensure security of lives and country, with government officials allegedly in payment of ransom to kidnappers and bandits.
Former deputy speaker, Idris Wase, captures the situation thus: “Kidnapping happens virtually every day. In one year alone, bandits collected ransom of about five billion naira. This is from statistics. In one year alone what we lost is more than 30000 people that are killed as a result of banditry and whatsoever.”
He added that “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 town to a wedding 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.”
For Solomon Bob, the insecurity in the country is festering because of alleged lack of courage and political will by the government to confront the issue head on. The lawmaker stated that it is time for the government to take the bulls by the horns, and deal decisively with those behind the insecurity in the country.
According to him, “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 mischaracterise 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.”
Solomon posited that “ it is about time we do the right thing”. He added “What is the right thing? The Executive must ensure that one- there is no iota of negotiation 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? “
Former House leader, Alhasan Ado-Doguwa concurs. The Kano born politician said while President Tinubu’s administration may have been doing its best in the fight against insecurity, its best is not enough. The lawmaker, who noted that the country is at war, emphasised the need for the government to rise to its responsibility, which is the protection of lives and property.
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According to him, “Yes the government is doing its best, the security agencies are doing their best, but I want to say with every sense of responsibility and without any equivocation that their best is not good enough. It is not good enough because the security situation in Nigeria today, Mr. Speaker, is horrific. Mr. Speaker, our security situation is tragic; Mr. Speaker, the security situation, especially in the North, where I come from is devastating. Mr. Speaker, our situation in Nigeria today, in the area of security is unspeakable. It’s unspeakable because our people are left ravaged, in serious tension, fear, all because we are lacking and reneging in our institutional responsibility as a government.”
What next?
After the special session, the House, adopted a 54-point resolution, including a demand for the government to name and prosecute the financiers of terrorism and banditry in the country, as well as the establishment of a special court for prosecution of terrorism and related cases expeditiously and transparently.
However, the question is, after the fiery speeches and resolutions, what next? This is not the first time the House would be taking tough resolutions on the security crisis in the country. In the past 10 years, security has been the most debated issue in the Green chamber.
There is hardly any legislative day that security motions are not brought before the House. Individual members have cried on the floor of the House, countless times, over the horror of insecurity in their respective constituencies, while in the parliament. Ironically, while the resolutions are largely ignored by the Executive, all the parliament does is wring its hand.
For instance, In the 9th Assembly, the House convened a security summit, which came up with far reaching recommendations, which encapsulates both kinetic and non kinetic actions that could be deployed in containing the security challenges in the country. However, no action was taken on the report, which the House transmitted to the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
In 2023, the House adopted a motion to re-present the committee report to the President Bola Tinubu administration. Yet for two years, there has not been any action. Incidentally, former Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, under whose leadership the security summit was held is now Chief of Staff. Nonetheless, no concrete action was taken on the resolutions from the security summit.
Also, in February 2024, the House invited immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, now Minister of Defence, and other service chiefs to brief it on the security situation in the country. However, like in previous circumstances, nothing concrete came out of it.
In May, 2024, the House adopted a motion by the minority leader, Kingsley Chinda and 28 others, to compile all its resolutions on security related motions and transmit them to the Office of National Security Adviser(ONSA) for implementation. Chinda, while speaking on the motion, expressed frustration with the security situation in the country, and noted that “unless the House matches its resolutions with actions, the faith that the citizens have in the House will wane, and more Nigerians will continue to suffer the negative effects of insecurity in all sectors of the economy.”
The leader, South-East caucus, Idu Igariwey, said the challenge is the non implementation of policy documents on tackling insecurity in the county. He noted that it is time for the government to begin to implement all the resolutions.
“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,” Igariwey posited.
The lawmaker added “The core of the problem we have is implementation. 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.”
Analysts say the bane of the House has always been its inability to ask difficult questions on the management of the security, including utilisation of security funds and insisting on answers.
While there is scepticism if anything tangible would come out of the recent special session on security, judging from how all past resolutions by the House on security ended, pundits say it is time for the legislature to leverage on its constitutional powers to get the Executive to act. The question is: would the House do it?
