The Senate at its plenary session of Wednesday, 7 February 2018 has rejected the report of its Joint Committees on Police Affairs and National Security and Intelligence on its resolution directing the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris to apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators of the killings of 73 indigenes of Benue State by suspected herdsmen.
Presenting the report of the Joint Committees, the Chairman, Sen. Abu Ibrahim (APC: Katsina) informed the Senate that the IGP had appeared before the Committee on Friday, 2 February 2018 and submitted a written presentation where he had among others stated that the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) was working assiduously to ensure that peace was restored and had embarked on dialogue sessions with relevant stakeholders to ensure that security challenges in the State were addressed.
Sen. Ibrahim noted that during the briefing, the Committee had observed that:
- There is a defect in the intelligence gathering mechanism of the NPF and operations due to inadequate funding;
- The Local Government Councils have been rendered ineffective resulting in the inability to mitigate against the crisis;
- Statements made by politicians had promoted hatred and incited violence in the State; and
- The proliferation of arms and ammunition across the State was enormous.
Following the aforementioned observations, the Committee sought the Senate’s approval on the recommendations below:
- The NPF should be strengthened for the purpose of effective intelligence gathering;
- The NPF is underfunded and as such, a percentage of excess crude oil fund of $2 differential should be made available through the budget;
- Political Office holders should refrain from making statements capable of inciting violence;
- Deliberate steps should be taken to disarm all armed militia groups in the State and the country; and
- The IGP should speedily prosecute those arrested.
The Senate rejected the report, stating that the Committee failed to take into consideration the concerns and issues raised by the Benue State Governor, Mr. Samuel Ortom and mandated that the Committee further review its report and present it within a week.
