President Muhammadu Buhari is to rejig the country’s security system, House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara said yesterday.
“The President has taken enough steps and told us what he is doing, especially the reorganisation that he plans to put in place to ensure that this doesn’t happen again,” the speaker said after a meeting with the President at the Aso Villa. With him was Senate President Bukola Saraki.
Dogara said President Buhari had already taken enough steps to arrest the deteriorating security situation in parts of the country, adding that he was open to adopting the National Assembly’s measures aimed at addressing the worrisome security situation.
He said: “Today, I and President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, met with President Muhammadu Buhari over the Plateau violence.
“We requested for the meeting in order to hear from the President the steps and measures he is taking to end the orgy of killings and violence not only on the Plateau but in other parts of the country.
“The President briefed us on what he saw firsthand when he visited Plateau State on Tuesday and the measures he is putting in place to forestall recurrence.
“We also used the opportunity to advise the President on other measures and actions that will help bring lasting peace in our country in accordance with the resolutions passed at the joint emergency closed-door session of the National Assembly held some weeks ago.
“These are very sober moments for all us. In a situation where people, in hundreds continue to be killed, we can no longer tolerate this kind of situation as a government.
“We call on all relevant government agencies to quickly provide emergency relief services to people in the affected areas.
“The House of Representatives and indeed the National Assembly will continue to work towards providing all necessary legislative backing to the security agencies, more especially funding needed to reform and equip our armed forces to tackle the prevailing security challenges confronting us as a nation.
“I am also restating my earlier call for a total reform and overhaul of our internal security architecture which has failed to address the spate of insecurity in the land.”
Saraki told reporters that they met on how to forestall a repeat of mass killings.
“We met with the President to commiserate with him and get a briefing from him. Part of the briefing, he explained how steps are being taken to forestall reoccurrence and restore sanity because this is a great concern to him and to us also.
“To see what can be done with NEMA and security agencies, we will all work towards it. Nobody is happy with it and we will all come together to ensure that we restore sanity.
“Our general appeal at the end of the day is that we all live together in peace and harmony and we will continue to do our best to see that this kind of thing does not happen again.”
Dogara added: “These are very sober moments for all of us in a situation where people in hundreds have continued to be killed… we can no longer tolerate this kind of situation as a government.
“Whatever it is we must not lose the fight against violence because we can’t lose that fight and still keep our civilisation.
“If you go to the Northeast, you can see the level of devastation caused by Boko Haram. Everything resembling progress from schools to hospitals to government institutions, everything has been pulled down. And we don’t want a replication of this all over the country.
“The President has taken enough steps; these are security issues, they are not matters that you can discuss but he has told us what he is doing, the reorganisation that he plans to put in place to ensure that this doesn’t happen.
“My advice to our people not just Plateau State, Benue, Zamfara, Taraba virtually some communities faced with this situation especially in the North, I think the issue of securing our communities, living in peace must be taken as a project. It’s something each and everyone of us must invest in – whether as traditional rulers, as community leaders, councillors, chairmen, all strata of society must invest in peace building. That is the only way we can live in a secure community and ensure that we progress as a country.” Dogara said.
