The Senate at an extended plenary on Tuesday
debated the killings by Fulani herdsmen in Benue State and other parts of
Nigeria.
The lawmakers said their resolutions, which were
later conveyed to President Muhammadu Buhari by the leadership of the National
Assembly, were “wake-up call” to the President and the Federal Government who
“must” take urgent action on the crisis before it escalates.
They also resolved that the Inspector-General of
Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, “must” within 14 days arrest the herdsmen suspected
to have killed over 70 persons in Benue State recently.
The debate followed the consideration and
adoption of the report by the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of Security
Infrastructure of Nigeria, after an investigative visit to Benue last weekend.
During the debate on the matter, which lasted
about six hours, members of the Senate also spoke on restructuring of the
country’s governance structure, state police and the “cattle colonies” being
proposed by the Federal Government.
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in his
closing remarks after the debate, asked the Federal Government to take timely
and drastic steps to end the crisis.
Saraki, while hailing the panel headed by the
Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, expressed condolences of the Senate to
the people and government of Benue State, especially on those who lost their
lives and properties to the attacks.
He said, “From the contributions by everybody
today – we have taken our time, almost six hours just to deliberate on this
issue – it is clear that this goes beyond religious or ethnic issues. It is a
breakdown, really, of the security apparatus of the country. And it is a
wake-up call that we must act now. Failure to act is an indictment on all of
us.”
Saraki also made reference to the decision that
the resolutions by the Senate must be conveyed to the President. He said the
lawmakers appreciated Buhari’s invitation and meeting with the National
Assembly’s leadership on the matter.
Several lawmakers, who spoke during the debate,
identified various causes of the problem and recommended various solutions,
some of which they argued over.
First to speak, Senator Barnabas Gemade, who is a
member of the panel and a Benue indigene, urged security agencies to take
action since Governor Samuel Ortom had claimed that the suspects were known to
him (the governor) and the security agencies.
He said, “I do recall in the committee’s
interactive session with the heads of security agencies in Benue State. It is
at this meeting that security personnel did inform the committee that those
harbouring foreign bandits were known and they had in fact compiled a list and
sent it to Abuja, and that if the ‘high leadership’ requires to have the list
they have sent to Abuja, heads of the Nigeria’s security organisations could be
approached and they would provide that list.
“I will therefore recommend that in addition to
the report by the committee, this may be one of the areas that the Senate can
explore.”
Next was the Deputy Senate President, Ike
Ekweremadu, who urged the lawmakers to approach the matter with “a real sense
of responsibility.”
“What we see now going on in the country is a
situation of killings followed by retaliations. A responsible institution must
rise to the occasion and say that enough is enough,” Ekweremadu stated.
He added that religious and ethnic leaders who
were silent on the matter were now speaking out.
The Deputy Senate President gave examples of when
and how state of emergency and coup detat were used legitimately in countries
where there were urgent national issues, including the Arab Springs.
He therefore recommended declaration of a state
of emergency in the country, noting that it would not vacate the current
political leadership of the country.
The Deputy Senate President stressed that since
there were claims of aliens crossing the borders to commit the crimes, the
emergency could lead to shutting the borders. This, he stated, could be
justified under international laws on the doctrine of necessity.
Contributing, Senator Shehu Sani, decried that
the country was faced with a crisis but Nigerians were using ethnic, religious
and sectional lenses to view it, making them to see an ethnic religious and
sectional image.
“This is not the time for diplomacy; this is the
time to provide leadership for a nation that is in national emergency and
distraught,” he said.
Also speaking, Senator Dino Melaye said, “What
happened in Benue State has showed like never before that in this country, we
live in perilous times. We live in times where justice is the scarcest
commodity in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“I call on President Muhammadu Buhari to ring the
bell of justice. I call on Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo to ring the bell of
justice. I call on the Nigerian Senate to ring the bell of justice.”
Also, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, said there were
claims that the killers were not Fulani herders but foreigners.
“Then if they are foreigners, they should be
tagged terrorists. If we don’t solve this, I bet you, this blame game will
continue. Now, 2019 is coming and politics is by the corner. Everybody wants to
play politics with everything. If IPOB was tagged a terrorist group because
they were agitating, what about foreigners who come into Nigeria to kill
people; and then we see them and see them as herdsmen. I don’t believe they are
herdsmen.”
A former Senate President, David Mark, who is
from Benue, called for short-term and long-term solutions to the problem.
He said, “Presently, there is no intelligence
transmission between the organs, villagers and government. And if there is, government
is not proactive. Nigeria is not the country with the largest number of cattle
in the world, are they having all these crises in other places?
“There are modern ways of doing things and we
must grow with time. We cannot be operating an archaic system that we have if
it doesn’t fit into the modern situation.”
Meanwhile, the leadership of the Senate on
Tuesday night was at the Presidential Villa to deliver the resolutions by the
upper chamber of the National Assembly to President Buhari.
An impeccable source in the Senate later told Latest
Reality Metro on Tuesday night that the Senate’s leadership, led by
Saraki, met with Buhari to personally deliver the resolutions.
The source said the move was to “show the urgency
that the matter required.”
The meeting, which began at about 8.30pm, was
still ongoing as of the time of filing this report.
