Udora Orizu in Abuja
Members of the House of Representatives, at plenary Wednesday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take every measure to save Nigerians from the present precarious security situation.
The lawmakers’ call followed the adoption to the amendment by the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu, to a motion of urgent national importance sponsored by Hon. Abdullahi Salame on the need to set up a national task force to address the prevalent insecurity in Nigeria.
Salame had, while moving the motion, prayed that the House should urge Mr. President as a matter of urgency to set up a task force on national insecurity that will specifically address the rampant cases of banditry, insurgency and kidnapping.
He also prayed that the House will urge the president to direct the national task force to ensure maximum collaboration and coordination among all relevant security, intelligence and enforcement institutions in ensuring a collective fight against kidnapping, banditry and insurgency in Nigeria.
Contributing, the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Idris Wase, was of the view that instead of creating a task force, the direction to move is to rather ensure they hold those responsible accountable.
He said: “We are trying to collapse agencies and today we are asking for special task force. Even if you want to achieve that it can’t come through motion, it has to come through a bill. The institutions of security are established either by the constitution and they have their respective role. I will remind colleagues that section three of the constitution is very clear.
“Any motion or bill that is inconsistent with the provision of the constitution to the extent of the inconsistency is null and void. We cannot come and take away the powers of our security agencies as enshrined in our constitution through a motion. It cannot work.”
Corroborating Wase, Hon. Nkem Abonta said while the objectives of the motion is good, creating more security outfit is unnecessary and will cause more problem.
Also, Hon. Victor Mela said the sponsor should rather call for the revamping of the security architecture, rather than creation of another security outfit.
Amending the motion, the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu, said: “We can’t be talking about lack of synergy and creating more security agencies. We should call on the president to do his job and save Nigeria from the precarious security situation.”
Though, the Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, didn’t agree with the tone of Okechukwu’s amendment, he however put it to a voice vote and majority of the lawmakers supported it and it was adopted.
