Insecurity: Reps seek arming of constituents to fight bandits, relocation of DHQ

The House of Representatives has called for the encouragement of community policing to facilitate the “arming of constituents to fight bandits”.

This resolution was a sequel to a motion of urgent public importance moved by Kabiru Mai Palace (PDP, Zamfara) and other lawmakers from the North-west.

Moving the motion on behalf of his colleagues, Mr Mai Palace said the North-west is already overwhelmed by bandits and other criminals.

“This wave of criminality has since extended into various communities in my constituency,” Mr Mai Palace said.

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He noted that in his constituency alone, “over 126 individuals were abducted, including 33 children and tragically more than 53 lives were claimed, all in the past three months, he said.

Our motions have no impact—Rivers Rep

During the debate on the motion, Solomon Bob (PDP, Rivers), raised on point of order, stating that the motion was pointless because similar motions had failed to yield results in the past.

He stated that members are only able to listen to the wailing and mourning of constituents without being able to help.

“The issue of insecurity is overflogged. There is no attention paid to it. My view is that until we see action on the parts of the government or agencies to whom…… There is no point taking new ones,” Mr Bob said.

“Basically, every motion here has to be moved based on notice. Since we have been here, for five years now, we have dealt with issues like this almost on a daily basis

“We do nothing except to listen to this wailing and mourning about the inability of our people to go to the farms and do their business

“Until we see any action has been taken by the relevant authority, this House has to be spared the ordeal of going through these boring motions every day and face more substantive matters,” he said.

Mr Bob’s position did not go down well with many lawmakers some of whom protested against the comments by asking the Rivers lawmaker to “sit down”.

Responding to the point of order, the Deputy Speaker, Ben Kalu, who presided over the session, said the legislature has a constitutional mandate to protect the lives of citizens.

He stated that lawmakers cannot afford to keep mute amid general insecurity in the country.

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He said: “The issue remains our mandate as enshrined in the Constitution

“The issues of insecurity are not boring. Discussing the way forward for the executive to take solution is not boring.”

Resolutions

Mr Mai Palace prayed that the House should “call on the federal government to intensify effort towards rescuing all those held hostage by these criminals and conduct a comprehensive investigation into these bandit attacks, apprehend those responsible and their prosecution to the full extent of the law.

“Call on the commander in chief to direct the relocation of the defence headquarters to the North-west until peace and sanity are restored.

“And call on the federal government to ensure the deployment of additional security to the region.”

Several other lawmakers also moved amendments to the prayers by the movers of the motion.

Dabo Haruna (APC, Bauchi) moved the amendment for the motion to cover all regions and called for the deployment of an anti-kidnapping special squad to protect the areas.

Suleiman Gumi (PDP, Zamfara) asked the House to mandate the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to convene a security conference to deliberate on the security situation in the country.

Abdullahi Balarabe (APC, Sokoto) moved the amendment to encourage community police and arming of constituents.

The House also adopted another amendment that called for an end to illegal mining across the country.

The motion, as amended, was adopted by the House unanimously when the deputy speaker put it into question.

Therefore, the Committees on Defence, Police, and National Security and Intelligence were mandated to ensure compliance.