The Senate has summoned has summoned security chiefs and others over Christmas Eve killings in Plateau State.
Those summoned include the Chief of Army staff, Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, Director General of the Department of State Services, Yusuf Bichi, as well as the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
This move was occasioned by a motion raised by Senator Adams Oshiomhole during plenary on Saturday.
He said they have to give adequate explanation on the inadequate intelligence, asserting that Nigerians are angry with them, hence the need to invite the security chiefs to brief the Senate on the exact situation in a closed session.
The motion was seconded by Senator Sumaila Kawu.
The Senate lamented the incessant attacks by criminals on communities in Plateau State, raising the need for a National security summit.
The upper chamber delved into the debate on the killings in Plateau State in a motion moved by Senator Diket Plang.
After the debate, the Senate resolved to observe a minute silence in honour of the victims. The lawmakers also resolved to send a high powered delegation led by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, to visit and condole with the victims.
The lawmakers also urge the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to direct its agencies to provide relief materials, especially building materials to the victims of the crisis with immediate effect, to enable them relocate back to their homes and decongest the internally displaced persons’ camps.
They also urged the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to complete the Mopol Barracks situated in Barkin Ladi local Government Area.
In an amended prayer, the senate urge the Nigerian Military to deploy intelligence and aerial in the affected Local Government Areas of Plateau State and its environs.
Gunmen had stormed the over 15 communities in the Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi Local Government Areas of the state on Christmas Eve, killing more than 190 people.
ADVERTISEMENT
Several houses were set ablaze by the attackers on Sunday night. The gun-wielding and blood-curling men also looted farm produce and destroyed properties as they butchered the residents. No group has claimed responsibility for the tragic attack.
Condemnations
The recent attack attracted wide condemnations from within and outside Nigeria, including President Bola Tinubu as well as the United Nations.
In his reaction on Tuesday, President Tinubu described the attack as heinous and ordered security agencies to arrest the perpetrators.
“President Tinubu directs security agencies to immediately move in, scour every stretch of the zone, and apprehend the culprits,” the President said in a statement by his spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale.
The President also directed the “immediate mobilisation of relief resources for surviving victims of the primitive and cruel attacks as well as medical treatment for the wounded.”