•Senator Ireti Kingibe and FCT Minister Nyesom Wike
Senator Ireti Kingibe says the Senate will summon the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike and security agencies over the spike in crimes in the nation’s capital.
While Abuja has been in the news owing to the rising rate of insecurity in the area, the lawmaker who represents the FCT said upon resumption later in the month, the Senate will invite them to explain his plans to secure the area.
“When the Senate resumes, I plan that the (Senate) FCT committees specifically me, needs to sit with the two ministers and the security agencies for them to give us their plans concerning security,” Senator Kingibe, elected under the Labour Party (LP) said on Channels Television last night.
“It is not that I am hoping. I know he will be summoned. But whether he responds or not is a different matter entirely. But as the chief security officer of the FCT, he should have a plan.
“He should be able to tell us, the committee, and specifically me, that this is the plan for protecting the people of the FCT. Between him, the police commissioner, and the head of the DSS, they must have a plan.”
‘Get To the Root Cause’
The lawmaker who assumed her post last year commended security agencies for their efforts in stamping out crime in the FCT. But she said before things got heated, she had raised an alarm over insecurity in Abuja.
“And I must commend the security agencies for doing something when we started to scream. But the truth is a little bit earlier, I tried to draw their attention and I was told that it was exaggerated and I said it couldn’t be because what I’m telling them, I did not get from social media. I got it from my constituents. But I’m glad that everybody, we now all seem to be on the same page,” she said.
“They’re trying to take it all seriously, but a lot more needs to be done. Catching the kidnappers is just a symptom. We need to get to the root cause of what is causing all of this insecurity.”
But police authorities have made some progress in fighting insecurity, arresting some suspects, and rescuing abducted victims.