Following
the massacre of over 100 people in three local government areas of
Plateau State last weekend, strong indications emerged Wednesday that President Muhammadu Buhari may overhaul the country’s security apparatus......
The
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, who gave a
hint of possible reorganization of the country’s security architecture
without giving details, said the president was putting in place enough
security measures meant to prevent a repeat of such magnitude of
violence.
Both Dogara and Senate President Bukola Saraki met with Buhari Wednesday
before the commencement of the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC)
meeting in the State House over the Plateau State tragedy.
State governors also met Wednesday in Abuja over the situation in Plateau State and decided to send a delegation to the state Friday to condole with the victims of the strife.
Dogara,
who expressed grave concerns over the rampant spate of violent
activities ravaging the country, advised various states and communities
affected by the menace to invest in peace building initiatives from the
level of traditional rulers to the government.
Dogara
said: “The president has taken enough steps. These are security issues.
Security matters are not what you can discuss. But we’ve been briefed
on all he’s doing, the reorganization, the plans he’s putting in place
to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.
“My
advice to our people, not to just the people of Plateau State, but in
Benue, Kaduna, Zamfara, so many communities in this country faced with
this situation especially in the North, I think the issue of security,
in communities, living peacefully, must be taken as a project that each
level must invest in, whether as traditional rulers, community leaders,
whether we are government, from Councillor to chairman, to the
government and all strata of the society, we must invest in peace
building because that is the only way we can live in secured communities
and ensure that we have progress as a country.”
The
speaker, who said Nigeria must not lose the battle against violence,
stated further that once the battle against violence was lost, the
country could no longer lay any claim to civilization.
He
recalled the degree of devastation to the North-east by Boko Haram
insurgents, warning that such tragic experience must not be replicated
in all parts of the country.
Describing
this period as a moment of sober reflection, Dogara said he was in the
State House with Saraki to commiserate with the president, the people
and government of Plateau State over the Plateau massacre.
Also
speaking, Saraki said they had visited the State House to take
briefings from Buhari on the steps the federal government had taken so
far and how they could be involved in efforts to find a solution to the
menace.
According
to him, the president briefed them on updates on the development
including the steps he’s taking to restore sanity to the system and emphasized the need for all to cooperate with one another with a view to
putting the menace under control.
Saraki,
who said both of them would also visit Plateau State to commiserate
with both the government and people of the state, appealed to Nigerians
to embrace living in peace and harmony.
He
said: “Following the unfortunate incident that happened in Plateau,
myself and the speaker came to see the president, first to commiserate
and to see what we can do collectively, and how we can give our own
support to address the issue on the ground and get a briefing from him
on the steps he has taken so far and if there is anything we can do on
our part to support so that we can also play our own part.
“He’s
given us the briefing and we will all work towards it and we’ll ensure
that we all work together. Nobody is happy with the situation and we all
need to work together and of course, to see that we commiserate with
the families affected.”
However,
the Senate president, who after the meeting with the president left for
Jos, called on the nation’s security agencies to, as a matter of
urgency, fish out the perpetrators of the massacre.
Saraki
while condoling with Governor Simon Lalong during the visit, said it
was high time the security agencies came together to fish out the
perpetrators of the dastardly act.
According
to the Senate president in a statement signed by his spokesman, Yusuph
Olaniyonu, the security agencies must ensure that those responsible for
the killings are quickly apprehended to help bring an end to killings in
the state.
He
said: “We must also ensure that all those who are responsible for these
killings must account for it. It is part of providing succor and
ensuring the peace. You cannot bring back the lives, but finding and
prosecuting the perpetrators will go a long way in helping to calm
people and ease the pain that they are going through.
“Therefore,
yet again, we call on our security agents to ensure that they find the
perpetrators that have done this and make them account for their
detestable actions.”
Saraki
also stated that working towards peace in the state and Nigeria as a
whole, must remain the primary responsibility of all Nigerians.
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