Senate Throws Out State of Emergency in Zamfara over Killings…

Misau: Security agencies lack capacity to stop carnage

The Senate on Tuesday rejected a motion calling for the declaration of emergency rule in Zamfara State over the bloodletting in the North-west state of the country.

The Senate also rejected a prayer urging the State Governor, Mr. Abdulaziz Yari, to sit back in the state to tackle its worsening security situation.

Reviewing the recent killing of 41 persons in Zurmi Local Government Area of the state by bandits, the upper legislative chamber said the situation had not degenerated to warrant the suspension of a formal apparatus of state, choosing however to mandate its Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of Security Infrastructure to visit the communities affected by the bandits’ attacks, as part of the efforts to gather more information and proffer solutions to the deteriorating security situation in the country.

The motion was brought by Senator Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara APC) during a debate on the incessant killings in the state.

Marafa, who has been at loggerheads with Yari, accused the governor of being 'fully aware' and being a part of the problem.

"As we move on, the facts will emerge," Marafa said, adding that Yari claimed to have had intelligence reports on the impending attacks, but chose to travel out of the state at the time of the incident.

An agitated Marafa pointed out that: "The governor said he reported to security agencies. I want this investigated. Who did he report to? And who gave him the report?"

According to the senator: "By his admission, he was persuaded by one of his colleagues, to cut short the national assignment to pay condolence visit (to the Emir's palace), but he did not even visit the affected communities. How can you say this man does not have a hand in it?"

Marafa alleged that Yari travelled abroad after the condolence visit to the Emir, and was not on hand to receive the delegation from the federal government that came to commiserate with the victims of the attack.

Senator Tijjani Kaura, who is also from Zamfara and a staunch supporter of the governor, however, frowned at Marafa's posture.

Kaura, who sponsored the initial motion seeking more action on the killings, said Marafa was more interested in apportioning blames rather than seeking solutions to the problem.

"We have passed that level of apportioning blames. All we are doing today is to look for solutions," he said, explaining that the governor had taken necessary steps to enhance security, including spending over N15 billion for security and logistics.

"All the security agencies are in Zamfara State. Let these people go and fight (the bandits). The governor is my master, and the master of everyone in the state; unless you want to denounce your citizenship of Zamfara," Kaura said.

Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano APC) said it was necessary for the government to determine who the killers were, and why they were killing Nigerians.

"First of all, we need to find out who these people are? Are they Boko Haram? Are they armed robbers? We need to find out why they are killing the good people of our great country," Kwankwaso said.

He urged all tiers of government to allocate more resources and time to security.

Contributing to the motion earlier, Senator Isa Hamman Misau (Bauchi APC), expressed lack of confidence in the ability of the security agencies to stop the killings in Zamfara and other parts of the country.

He said: "Our security agencies do not have the capacity to stop these attacks. For over six months, we have been talking about the same thing."

Misau added that the police is completely incapacitated to provide security as most of its personnel have been deployed to cover private individuals.

"The Chairman, Police Service Commission, Mike Okiro, said last week that 150,000 policemen are not serving the country, but private individuals. Do the maths, if we have 350,000. Also two weeks ago, a serving AIG (Assistant Inspector General) said only 20 percent of the entire personnel are serving the public," Misau said.

He stated that the leadership of the security agencies was incompetent to deal with the security challenges.

"You cannot give a taxi driver an aircraft to fly and come out to say you have defeated Boko Haram. The following day, Boko Haram would kill 20 people. If you have defeated Boko Haram, we will know," he said.

Several lawmakers contributed to the debate and called for more collaboration between the security agencies and politicians despite their political affiliations.

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who presided, said the protection of the sanctity of the lives of Nigerians should be a top priority for the government.

Any government that abdicated that responsibility, would have failed, Ekweremadu said.