S’Kaduna Crises: Senate Rejects Own C’ttee Report for Faulty Recommendations

Wants increased security surveillance in Lagos East

The Senate yesterday rejected the interim report of its ad hoc Committee on the Southern Kaduna Crises and other parts of the country, for making faulty recommendations which do not reflect the seriousness of its mandate, or address the salient issues raised.

It directed the Senator Kabiru Gaya (Kano South)-led committee to redo its work, following observations that the recommendations of the 60-page report was not thorough, and did not address the issues which the committee was set up to address.

The eight-member committee had been constituted in January 2017, to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the crises in Southern Kaduna, and other parts of the country.

Its mandate was predicated on the reported deaths and destruction of communities through consistent attacks by herdsmen in Kaduna South, Zamfara, Benue, Enugu, Abia, Taraba, Kano, Nasarawa, Delta, Edo states and others.

The Committee Chairman, Senator Kabiru Gaya (Kano South) presented the summary of the report, which urged the Kaduna State government to review, implement and enforce the recommendations of the various white papers and reports on the crises.

Some of the said reports include the Kafanchan Peace Declaration by representatives of 29 communities in the affected areas, under the coordination and mediation of Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Report of the Reconciliation Committee on Ninte Crisis, the 2011 Election Violence and Civil Disturbances; and Report of the Committee to stamp out attacks on Southern Kaduna Communities.

The committee also recommended that the Kaduna State Government in collaboration with the security agencies and relevant bodies, should embrace everybody irrespective of ethnic, political and religious leaning or affiliation and set up a committee to encourage dialogue for peace to reign within Southern Kaduna and Kaduna State as a whole.

“The people of Southern Kaduna, irrespective of their differences should equally embrace, support and cooperate with the state government in its efforts to restore peace and normalcy in the areas. The religious leaders should advocate for peace and abstain from incitement of the people against one another. The politicians should not capitalise on religious and ethnic differences of the people for their personal political gains. The state government should strengthen government owned institutions/establishments in Southern Kaduna,” the recommendations read.

The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, however, said some of the recommendations do not reflect the seriousness of the Southern Kaduna crises and urged his colleagues to reject the report, so the committee can re-do its recommendations.

He observed that the issue of arms proliferation, which has at various times been linked to herdsmen, was not addressed by the committee.

Faulting the report, the deputy senate president said the recommendation that the Service Wide Votes be used to tackle the crises, shows a lack of understanding for the relevance of the fund.

Senator Barnabas Gemade (Benue North East), echoing Ekweremadu, said even though it was an interim report, it did not address all the issues.

He queried how the committee would recommend that special grazing routes be created for herdsmen, and not address the plight of the farmers also affected by the crises.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in his ruling, said the committee should note the observations made by Ekweremadu and Gemade, and accommodate all salient issues.

He also directed the committee to be conscious of time while working on the report.

In the general recommendations for all affected states, urged that the government of the affected states should collaborate with traditional rulers, political and religious leaders to initiate, monitor and implement holistic reconciliation strategies through regular and inclusive town hall meetings, in order to restore permanent peace on the affected communities.

In another development, the Senate yesterday advised the federal government to direct the Inspector General of Police to immediately instruct the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, to beef up the strength of the task force on ground, to effectively secure the creeks on Epe, Ikorodu and Ibeju Lekki local government areas of Lagos State.

It also called for the immediate deployment of sufficient helicopters for aerial surveillance and provision of gunboats to the Marine Police department of Lagos state police command.

The resolution was sequel to a motion sponsored by Senator Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos East) who expressed concern at the increased activities of criminal syndicates who specialise in kidnapping and militant activities in and around the communities in Epe, Ikorodu and Ibeji Lekki.