ABUJA, JANUARY 19, 2018 – The Senate, yesterday, at plenary postponed for two weeks the national security summit it earlier scheduled to take place between Wednesday and Thursday next week.
The Upper chamber had after it heated debate on the fast deteriorating security situations in parts of the country, resolved on Wednesday, to hold a national security summit in Abuja with various stakeholders, to fashion out lasting solutions to the deplorable security situation in the nation.
The decision of the apex legislative Chamber was prompted by the recent killings in Benue, Adamawa, Taraba, and Kaduna states, with a view to brainstorming and coming up with workable solutions to the worrisome problem.
But realising that the date was fixed in a hurry, and that it would not be feasible to organise a result oriented national security summit within the short time frame, that would pull all relevant stakeholders to be in attendance, the Chamber decided to postpone the event.
This followed a point of order brought to the floor by the Leader of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, who appealed to his colleagues to suspend relevant sections of the Chamber’s standing rules and rescind their earlier resolution on the mater, and then allow for extension of time.
His words: “the ad hoc Committee on the Review of Security Infrastructure in Nigeria met and considered that the time between now and next week is too short for this Senate to organise a very good and solid national summit. This Committee needs more time, so that we organise a summit that is worth its name and get the proper outcome.
“Our Committee therefore, is asking that we rescind our earlier resolution of holding the summit on Wednesday and Thursday next week and extend it to two weeks, and the exact date within this period will be announced later when we would have arrived at the final arrangement for this time. I therefore, move that the Senate gives us this opportunity to organise a summit that is worth its name.
After presenting his argument on why the date should be shifted, and moving a motion to that effect, the Senate Deputy minority Leader, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, seconded the motion, and it was approved through a voice vote called by the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
