Senate summons service chiefs, DSS DG, Customs CG

The Senate, yesterday, summoned Service Chiefs, Comptroller-General of Nigerian Customs Service, Hameed Ali, Director-General of Department of State Services (DSS), Daura Lawal, Comptroller-General of Nigerian Immigration Services, Muhammad Babandede and the National Security Adviser (NSA) over proliferation of dangerous firearms in the country.
However, it left out the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ibrahim Idris.
In the original motion sponsored by Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, it was recommended that the IGP be summoned alongside service chiefs and heads of other security agencies.
The prayer was, however, amended by the Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan, whose exclusion of the IGP was adopted by the Senate.
The decision to exclude the IGP might not be unconnected with his repeated failure to honour senate’s invitation.
The IGP had failed to show up on Thursday, April 26 following his trip to Bauchi on a state visit with President Muhammadu Buhari. Again on Wednesday, May 2, the police chief spurned senators summon without giving any reason.
During the debate, President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki expressed frustrations over the state of killings in the country and called on his colleagues to proffer solutions on how to end the carnage.
In his contribution, Shehu Sani alleged that violence has become an official doctrine that has been introduced into the political structure of the country. He said political parties and players were not exempted from the crises.
His position was re-echoed by Lawan, who said motions and discussions on killings in the country were beginning to lose steam. He insisted that political stakeholders must find a way out of it.
Hunkuyi, in his lead debate, said the spate of illegal proliferation of firearms has negatively impacted on economic and agricultural activities to the extent that due to fear of attacks, many law abiding citizens were now afraid to to the market as well as attend to their farms.
“If this situation is allowed to further deteriorate, unprecedented famine and diminishing economic output, as seen in the nations plagued by war and crises will pervade Nigeria. As the most populous country on the African continent, the nation’s GDP would certainly be affected adversely,” he said.
-Sun