The Senate yesterday decried the spate of violence in the country and urged the Federal Government to deploy security agencies to Kogi to forestall alleged killing of people by suspected herdsmen.
\nSpecifically, the upper chamber said that the security machinery should be sent to Omale and Dekina Local Government Areas in the state.
\nThe resolution followed the adoption of a Point of Order by Sen. Atai Aidoko (Kogi-West) at plenary over alleged killing of 32 persons in the two local government areas on Wednesday.
\nRaising the order, Adoko said that 20 people were killed in Ogane-Enugu community in Dekina while 12 other lives were lost in Agbejukolo and Agbenema communities in Omale local government area.
\nHe said \u201cin spite of continued condemnation of killings in many parts of the country, perpetrators of this dastardly act have not been arrested.
\n\u201cI want this Senate to urge President Muhammadu Buhari to direct security agencies to bring the situation under control by arresting the perpetrators and ensure that they are prosecuted.
\n\u201cThis killing is taking another dimension as the killers also amputate people\u2019s hands.\u2019\u2019
\nIn his contribution, Leader of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, said that it was time that the chamber worked closely with the Executive to enhance the effectiveness of security agencies in combating crime the country.
\nNoting that security agencies in the country were overstretched, Lawan expressed worry that the number of policemen guarding the communities was inadequate.
\nAccording to him, in a population of about five million, you have only 300 policemen guarding the society, and in the same situation, over 300 bandits would attack the people.
\nOn his part, Sen. Dino Melaye urged government at all tiers to demonstrate needed capacity to combat insecurity.
\n\u201cWe are still treating the issue of security with kid gloves. If you see the gory pictures of people that are maimed and we cannot show capacity; do we want to continue complaining?
\n\u201cIt is the poor that is dying. Let us for once call on the president and the governors of these respective states who are the chief security officers to ensure the protection of lives and property of citizens.
\n\u201cThe Federal Government must display capacity to sincerely quell the insecurity threatening the country. \u201cUnfortunately, since the incidents happened in Kogi, the state government has not come up with any official statement or taken an action,\u2019\u2019
\nMelaye said. Sen. James Manager blamed the situation on non-arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators. According to him, society has evolved and there is law and order; when somebody who commits a crime is caught, he should be punished to serve as deterrent to others.
\n\u201cThe immediate solution to this problem is to arrest and punish offenders otherwise people will continue to kill.
\n\u201cWe are tired of observing one minute silence for these killings; if punishment for offenders is not done, those who cannot protect the society should resign,\u2019\u2019
\nManager said. Sen. Adamu Aliero called for the implementation of recommendations of the National Security Summit recently organised by the Senate. He said it would go a long way in addressing the security challenges confronting the country. According to him, the meeting with security agencies three weeks ago revealed that the police are overstretched and there was need to recruit more hands as well as increase the funding.
\nIn his remark, President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, condemned the killings and said that it was unacceptable. \u201cThe Senate would work towards finding solutions to insecurity in the country. \u201cLet us be patriotic because this situation is unacceptable,\u2019\u2019 he said.
\nMeanwhile, Persons suspected to be Fulani herdsmen have unleashed terror on three communities in Kogi State, leaving 25 people dead.
\nOganienugwu and Ikende communities in Dekina Local Government Area were affected; as well as Abejukolo in Omala LGA, all in the Eastern Senatorial district of the state.
\nAs at the time of filing this report, villagers were reportedly moving out of Obakume, Idirisu, and Oji Apata to escape possible attacks.
\nOur correspondent gathered that 25 people were killed in the sustained attack which started on Tuesday and continued till Thursday.
\nA detachment of police and soldiers have been drafted to quell the violence.
\nEye witness account told our correspondent that the mode of killing employed by the hoodlums was to slaughter the victims after tying them up; while those who attempted to escape alleged received machete cuts.
\nSimilarly, Governor Samuel Ortom has called for a halt to the ceaseless bloodshed in Benue state occasioned by attacks on rural communities of the state by herdsmen lamenting that the bloodbath had become too much.
\nThe Governor spoke yesterday during a state funeral service in honour of the 26 victims of March 5 herdsmen attacks on Omusu community, Ojigo Edumoga held at St. Bernard Primary School Ugwu-Okpoga in Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue state, amid wailings, cries and tears.
\nHe reiterated his call for the arrest of the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore whom he said were the sponsors of the killings in the state based on comments credited to them and published by various media houses.
\nThe Governor while consoling the bereaved families said \u201cthe death of the victims and many others would put an end to the massacre of Benue people.
\n\u201cI will also add that the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of Benue state has come to stay because it is the panacea to the farmers\/herders crisis in this country.
\n\u201cMoreover there is no land for open grazing to take place in our communities and at the same time have crop farming to go on concurrently.\u201d
\nGovernor Ortom who assured of his government\u2019s quick response to every security issue in the state, disclosed that data was being gathered for the compensation of those who suffered losses and damages during herdsmen incursions in the state.
\nIn separate remarks, his Deputy Governor, Mr. Benson Abounu Deputy Speaker of the State Assembly, Mr. James Okefe, representative of of the Otukpo Catholic Bishop Apochi, Rev. Fr. John Attah among others who commended the Governor for his support to the bereaved families urged the people of the state to remain resolute in their support for the grazing law.
\nOn their part, the ethnic leaders of the state, represented by Mr. Amalia Amali and the representative of Movement Against Fulani Occupation, MAFO, Pastor Dave Ogbole both said they saw the attacks coming and reported same to relevant authorities but nothing was done to avert the massacre.
\nWhile expressing disappointment with the federal government over its inactions towards the killings, Pastor Ogbole called on the international community to rise up and stop a repeat of Rwanda in Nigeria, warning that the resolve by Benue people to remain law abiding should not be mistaken for cowardice.
\nIn a sermon, Chairman Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Benue state chapter, Rev. Akpen Leva prayed God to intervene and save the state from herdsmen incursions and further bloodshed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Senate yesterday decried the spate of violence in the country and urged the Federal Government to deploy security agencies to Kogi to forestall alleged killing of people by suspected herdsmen. Specifically, the upper chamber said that the security machinery should be sent to Omale and Dekina Local Government Areas in the state. The resolution […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=171858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/171862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=171858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=171858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=171858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}