Senate Gives Chiefs December To End Insecurity

Senate President Ahmad Lawan has declared that the service chiefs have been given everything to end insecurity in the country by December, 2022.

Lawan stated this when the leadership of the Senate met with the military and intelligence chiefs to review the progress made in the fight against insecurity in the country.

The meeting which was a follow up to a similar one held early in August was presided over by Lawan and attended by the deputy Senate president, Ovie Omo-Agege, other principal officers of the Senate and chairmen of security related committees of the Senate.

Also in attendance were the Chief of Defence Staff, the three service chiefs, the inspector-general of police, directors-general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), State Security Service (SSS) and commandant-general of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps while the acting comptroller- general of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) was represented.

A statement issued by the Senate president’s spokesman Ola Awoniyi said before the meeting went into a closed-door session, Lawan told the security chiefs: “You will recall that about four weeks ago, we had a meeting here and that meeting was to look into the security situation in the country then.

“Before we closed for our annual summer recess, distinguished senators and indeed, members of the National Assembly expressed so much concern with respect to the security situation prevailing and we felt we must engage our security agencies so that together, we will continue to fight these challenges in our country.

“I am happy and I’m sure I’m speaking the mind of my colleagues, that after that meeting, till today, we have seen remarkable difference in the fight against insecurity in our country by our armed forces and other security agencies and we are very proud of that.

“We pray that this continues because we have seen the initiative and it is for us to finish the job. When Mr President spoke of ensuring that we return to normalcy by December 2022, I’m sure he had in mind what you have been doing recently.

“I believe that you, our armed forces and other security agencies have everything in terms of morals and determination, even though we still have to give some other support. This meeting therefore is to review what has happened so far…

“We want to see trials of people who are caught because when that happens, citizens will know that nobody, no matter how high that person is, cannot go free if he or she decides to get involved in this kind of criminal activity.

“Of course, I will appeal to our courts – judiciary – once we have cases like this, we must give expeditious consideration, because these are the issues that, today, are militating against our stability and even against our democracy,” he said.