SENATE WANTS SERVICE CHIEFS SACKED AS HERDSMEN KILL 78
SENATE
WANTS SERVICE CHIEFS SACKED AS HERDSMEN KILL 78
Members of the Nigerian
Senate PHOTO: TWITTER/ NIGERIAN SENATE
Angered by the
seemingly intractable killings across the country, senators yesterday charged
President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately dismiss the heads of security
agencies as well as the service chiefs.
At a marathon debate
on the renewed killings in Nasarawa State by herdsmen and criminal militia
groups, the lawmakers submitted that because Nigerians were increasingly
becoming disappointed and frustrated over government’s failings and inactions
on insecurity, democracy has become endangered.
The Senate, after
adopting a motion by Suleiman Adokwe (PDP, Nasarawa State), also asked Buhari
to seek immediate help from the international community in curbing security
problems in Nigeria.
Solomon Adeola
Olamilekan (APC, Lagos State) stressed the need to inject fresh ideas into how
the security problems in the country could be remedied.
He noted that the
only way to address the security challenges was to remove the incumbent service
chiefs to give room for those with fresh ideas.
“The nation should do
away with unproductive tenure elongation in areas where fresh ideas are needed.
We know the way the military organisation operates. Those with fresh ideas dare
not come out against their superiors or else they risk premature retirement
from service. So the current service chiefs should go to allow officers with
fresh ideas address our alarming security issues,” he said.
Jeremiah Useni (PDP,
Plateau State), identified constant clashes among security agencies as part of
the security problems. He said the heads of such agencies should be removed to
pave the way for a more harmonious relationship among security agencies.
Defending his motion
earlier, Adokwe said: “Throughout the weekend and up to the moment that I
am speaking, herdsmen have unleashed terror and mayhem on the people of my
senatorial district. Many of them have died, numerous wounded and hundreds of
thousands are now internally displaced. The victims are largely the Tiv
speaking ethnic nationalities, 32 of them have reportedly been killed and we
are still counting.
“The real tragedy is
not in the well coordinated and simultaneous carnage across Awe, Obi,
Keana and Doma local government areas, but in the fact that for four days
running, this mayhem has continued unhindered, unchecked, unstopped by any arm
of the law and security enforcement agency.”
He lamented that
“right under the noses of the armed forces and the police, this killing is
sustained unabated by sheer negligence or refusal to act by the security
agencies. It is a sad commentary.”
Adokwe expressed shock
that despite the existence of an army base close to where the carnage was being
perpetrated, there was no single shot fired by the army.
“It baffles me and
beats my imagination that a whole law enforcement agency of the Nigerian state
will stand by and witness Nigerians being killed endlessly. Nobody can explain
this.
“It is no wonder that
eminent Nigerians have urged the citizens to defend themselves. I am very
emotional on this matter and I am not one given to emotion very easily. But
what I have gone through this weekend was very horrifying; it is very
distressing and sad. It is as if we were in a lawless society where life is
brutish, where there is absence of state powers. We call on the Federal
Government to stop this carnage,” he said.
Barnabas Gemade (APC,
Benue State) said Nigeria was becoming a state without control, one that was
experiencing anarchy and ethnic cleansing.
“It is a shame that a
sitting government could watch criminality go to the level that we have seen it
today and rather than rise up and take very decisive steps against it, we
embark on deniability and simply shield this evil by just explaining with
flimsy excuses that these are communal clashes in those communities.
“I don’t understand
why responsible people elected to control the governments of Nigeria will
simply turn away from the reality of facing this matter squarely. The
inspector-general of police will fly by helicopter to a town, land in the
market square and be asking people whether there is militia in the town or not,
and nobody seems to call anybody to order. This is very sad.
“The advice of some
nationalists to the people to find ways of protecting themselves may not be out
of order because a government that cannot protect people and a military whose
presence in any particular place means the killing of certain ethnic
nationalities they do not believe in is a very sad development,” he said.
Ruling on the motion,
the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, said: “If citizens are being
killed, we owe the responsibility as a parliament to give it the desired
attention. And we will never stop talking about these killings. Unless it
stops, we will never be tired of speaking about it.
“I ask myself:
assuming this is happening in America, in the United Kingdom or France, will it
take all this time to be resolved? As we know, not even in South Africa. But it
appears that we are taking too many things for granted. The time has come for
us to seek help from other countries as some of us have suggested here. We
should not be ashamed to ask for help.
“We cannot be asking
people to come to Nigeria and invest their monies here. They will not! Rather,
let us ask them to come and help us to solve our security problem. If we solve
our security problem, they will come here, with nobody asking them to come. I
think the first thing to do is to resolve the issue, and it is something we
have to do fast.”
It was learnt
yesterday that the death toll had hit 78 in the coordinated attacks on Tiv
villagers at different locations across the southern senatorial district of
Nasarawa State by the suspected killer herdsmen.
The attacks were carried
out simultaneously on the Tiv villages in Awe, Keana and Obi and Doma local
government areas.
At the time of filing
this report, over 10, 000 Tiv villagers were said to have been trapped along
the Agwatashi-Jangwa road axis in Obi Local Government shortly after the
marauding herdsmen sacked over 200 villages.
When The Guardian
visited the affected areas, thousands of fleeing Tiv villagers were stranded in
the streets of Lafia, the state capital, apart from others who were taking
refuge in different Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps at Agwatashi,
Aloshi, Awe, Adudu, Obi, Keana, Doma and Agyaragu, among other locations.
Confirming the
development to newsmen in Lafia, President of Tiv Youth Organisation, Nasarawa
State chapter, Peter Ahemba, said the entire Tiv villages in the southern part
of the state had been sacked, and the villages were being occupied by the
invaders.
He confirmed the new
casualty figures in an interview with newsmen in Lafia yesterday.
He said the
additional bodies were recovered from Uluji, Ayaakeke, Uvirkaa and Usula, among
others villages. “Most of the victims are those trapped in villages along
Agwatashi-Jangwa road in Obi Local Government.
“We are still
searching for many of our people missing since the attacks occurred. Bodies of
those killed, especially at Kertyo, last Sunday and surrounding villages have
not been recovered up till now that I speak with you.”
