Insecurity: After 10-hr Closed-door Meeting, Senate Passes Confidence Vote On Service Chiefs

After 10 hours of closed-door meeting with the Service Chiefs, the Nigerian Senate has passed a vote of confidence on them, stating that Nigeria will soon have a sigh of relief on the insecurity ravaging the country.

The Senate went into a closed-door meeting with the service chiefs, national security adviser and some Ministers at about 12:50pm on Tuesday and ended the session a few minutes to 10pm when the Senate spokesman, Yemi Adaramodu, briefed journalists on the outcome of the marathon meeting.

The meeting followed an earlier one penultimate Tuesday, which was adjourned and expanded to include ministers in charge of the nation’s security and the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun.

Briefing journalists after the 10-hour meeting with the service chiefs and select ministers, Senate spokesman, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, said they listened to the service chiefs and they were assured that Nigeria will soon be safe.

He said they will also invite the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to ensure speedy trial of suspected criminals standing trial.

“Today, we listened to them (Service Chiefs and Ministers), we related with them, they allayed our fears and answered our questions satisfactorily.

“We resolved some problems with that team. When we asked questions from the Interior Minister on how to apprehend criminals through standardization of the identities of Nigerians, we got assurances from border patrols that they must be manned seriously,” Adaramodu said, adding that the minister of finance has also assured of speedy release of funds.

“The finance Minister assured that funds will be released expeditiously to Service Chiefs.

“We got that pledge. We even suggested inviting the Minister of Justice so that we can get speedy trial of criminals.

“With what we heard today, we got assurances that Nigerians will heave a sigh of relief,” Adaramodu said, while disclosing that the Senators passed a vote of confidence on the security chiefs.

“Yes, we passed a vote of confidence. We are impressed with what they have been doing so far. Look at that Bwari, the suspects have been apprehended.

“Look at what they are doing in Ekiti and Plateau. The problem is that the attacks happened sporadically. That’s why we asked them where we can come in and the Minister of Finance assured us of speedy release of funds,” Senator Adaramodu added.