Politics
SOUTHERN KADUNA KILLINGS: Senate rejects own committee’s report
The Senate has rejected an interim report, submitted by an adhoc committee on farmers-herders clash inSouthern Kaduna and in other parts of the country.
The committee is headed by Senator Kabiru Gaya from Kano State. Gaya, while reading the report of the committee, called on the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai to publish previous white paper reports on Southern Kaduna crisis.
He had also alleged that 70 per cent of police officers posted to Southern Kaduna, are indigenes of the place. He criticized the practice in the report and called on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris, to correct the imbalance. He made other recommendations.
His submissions were stoutly rejected by lawmakers. Speaking on the issue, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, urged his colleagues to reject the report and insist that the committee is mandated to go back and do a thorough job.
Ekweremadu argued that the report failed to address the salient issues which the committee was mandated to address. For instance, he said the committee failed to address the issue of arms proliferation in the country, which he said are sometimes tied to herdsmen.
The Deputy President of the Senate, also advocated that the whistle blowing policy should be extended to the security community, by urging Nigerians to blow the lid on people harbouring dangerous arms.
He said such a move will douse the tension, occasioned by arms proliferation in almost every part of the country. Ekweremadu also argued that since previous reports by various commissions of enquiry have not been implemented, perpetrators of the killings feel more emboldened to continue the killings.
Ekweremadu said: “I consider this issue to be very serious. We must accord it the seriousness it deserves. The committee has confirmed that the killings happened. The recommendations need to reflect more on the seriousness of this matter.
“I understand clearly that the chairman of the committee needs more time to do more work to show the whole world that this Senate is serious about this matter. Looking at the recommendations, they do not reflect the seriousness of the matter like I said. Suggesting that we use from the Service Wide Vote to handle this matter shows that we do not understand the relevance of that fund.
“Today, we are talking about arms proliferation. We have a whistle blowing policy. We need to direct it more on those keeping those arms. We were told that the Nigerian Customs Service intercepted arms. Till this day, we have not been told who imported the arms.
“We cannot sit back and allow our women and children to be killed everyday. Our people are being killed in Enugu, Kaduna, Zamfara and in other parts of the country. This matter is serious enough for the committee to go back and do more work.”
Ekweremadu was supported by Senator Barnabas Gemade who also faulted the interim report. Gemade, faulted the recommendation that special grazing routes be created for herdsmen, while neglecting the plight of farmers.
Aligning with the position of lawmakers, President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, who presided over the day’s legislative business, ruled that the committee should do a thorough job and report back within four weeks.
Gemade remarked: “Even though this is an interim report, it is obvious that we ought to have brought this report to a level where we will establish the seriousness of the issue. I believe we have to look at all the issues. The suggestion about setting up grazing routes must be looked at.
“We must come to a point where we have to agree on what is good for everyone. Today, we need to look at those affected by this thing. In Europe, you do not need a visa to move from one country to another. But still, there is still strict movement of people.
“But here, there is no restriction at all. When we talk about these things, people think that the normads are targeted. That is not the issue. The issue is that, we must track genuine normads of this country who are doing business. We need to separate them from criminals. This committee has an enormous work to do. It should visit all the locations affected. The killings are still going on and they have not stopped.”
Ruling on the suggestions, Saraki urged the committee to accommodate all the issues raised and come up a clean report. He also urged them to be time conscious while working on the report.
“I think there are many other parts of the country we were hoping the committee will find out the situation there. These areas have not been covered. If it is the view of lawmakers that the report should be sent back and allow the committee to accommodate all the issues, we must do that.
“We need a more detailed recommendation that will address everything. The committee should address all the issues raised and ensure that they are accommodated,” Saraki noted.
Saraki, had in early January, shortly after the Senate resumed from its Christmas break, set up an 8-man committee, following a motion sponsored by Senator Danjuma La’ah, representing Kaduna South in the Senate.
Senator La’ah, had while moving the motion, noted that since 2011, various communities in Southern Kaduna Senatorial District of Kaduna State have been consistently attacked by herdsmen, resulting in deaths, injuries, loss of properties and displacement of the communities.
He said since the 23rd of December, 2016, communities of Ambam, Gaska, Dangoma, Tsonje, Pasankori, Gidan Waya and Farin Gada of Iama’a and Kaura Local Government Area have been under serious attack by the herdsmen, resulting in several deaths, injuries, as well as wanton destruction of properties worth billions of naira.
He had said: “The killings of citizens of Southern Kaduna amount to serious violations of the right to life, right to security of human persons, right to the respect of the dignity inherent in human being and right to property not only guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution as Amended, but also of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the international convention on Civil and Political Right which Nigeria is a party.
“A total number of eight hundred and eight (808) persons were killed in 53 villages across the four Local Government Areas in the affected areas, while 57 people were injured, farm produces estimated at N5.5billion were destroyed and a total of 1, 422 houses and 16 churches were burnt during the attack.
“In the last one year, we have witnessed a harvest of killings by these marauding herdsmen with several cases of massacre in Agatu in Benue State, Uzo Uwani in Enugu State, with several attacks in Taraba, Delta and Edo States to mention but a few.”
RipplesNigeria ….without borders, without fears
Click here to download the Ripples Nigeria App for latest updates
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
Investigations1 day ago
German Police bust alleged Nigerian scam dating ring
German authorities have arrested eleven individuals suspected of being members of a Nigerian mafia group involved in a large-scale dating...
Investigations4 weeks ago
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
Investigations2 months ago
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
Investigations2 months ago
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
Investigations4 months ago
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
Anita Kingsley
April 11, 2017 at 2:58 pm
Nasir El-Rufai has paid the committee to do half job that will make no sense, that was why they returned empty handed.
Balarabe musa
April 11, 2017 at 5:42 pm
That’s a lie, El Rufai can never do such a thing . It is the senators that chose to do what they feel is best.
Joy Madu
April 12, 2017 at 4:52 am
Shot up what do you know aboki El Rufai do pay the committee for the half job so don’t say what you know nothing about
Animashaun Ayodeji
April 11, 2017 at 3:00 pm
The Southern Kanduna killings are not supposed to be joked about like the committee did, if they are not capable of conducting thorough investigation, they should willingly leave the committee for capable hands
Agbor Chris
April 11, 2017 at 3:27 pm
El-Rufai is the mastermind of the killings, if not, he would have frowned at it. A governor that is allowing killings under his nose and he’s not saying anything about it. The senate should go hard on him, very hard before he becomes a tyrant
yanju omotodun
April 11, 2017 at 3:33 pm
What do they tend to achieve in their useless investigation? Senate of bunch idiots.
JOHNSON PETER
April 11, 2017 at 6:28 pm
They need to know the remote cause of it. So it is their oversight functions.