Ahmad Lawan, President of the 9th Senate, has said the security situation in the country is getting more deteriorating than it was before.
Mr Lawan stated this on Monday in an interview with reporters in Abuja. His position contradicts that of the presidency which claimed the security situation in the country was far more better today than it was when incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari took over from former president Goodluck Jonathan.
“We know what the situation was as at 2015 and we know what it is today. Despite the reversals in security, it is still not as bad as it used to be in this country,” presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said when he appeared on Channels Television on Sunday.
”There was a bombing or two today, there was a time there were five, six, ten bombings in a day in this country.
”It is very bad to lose even a single soul in the country. But when we begin to make it seem it is all bad and bad, and no redeeming side to it, then it’s not proper.
“There are many redeeming sides to the security situation in the country compared to how president Buhari met it in 2015 and it is those who are affected most who can tell you, particularly, those who live in the north-east,” he added.
Stating his position, Mr Lawan called for the restructuring of the security architecture and warned against playing politics with the growing spate of insecurity across the country.
“All hands must be on deck. The Federal, states and local governments. More importantly, citizens must be involved. This is because wherever you see security improving, that means the citizens are playing their roles very well,” the top lawmaker said.
“The onus lies largely on government. So, we are going to work with the executive arm of government in this regard.
“We would engage the security agencies to find out why the security is deteriorating in many parts of the country.
“We have had series of engagement before but the escalation now has made it mandatory that we need a definite position as a government because we just cannot play politics with security issues.
“Lives are at stake here. Therefore the Senate will take a position on how security in the country should be. We believe that the security architecture should be restructured. The present system does not give us the type of outcome that we need.
“Whether it is the federal, state or local government; Even the traditional rulers or others, the most important thing is to secure the lives and property of Nigerians and we would do that.
“The most important thing is to look into the issue of security that is bedeviling this country.
“Apparently and obviously, all hands must be on deck to ensure that we bring back a better security situation that we had before. Presently the story is not good. In many areas we have so much happening that is destabilising our communities and killing of people.
“We believe that we owe Nigerians, the responsibility to intervene and work together with the executive arm of government, actually to work together with other tiers of government – the states and even the local governments .
“We should ensure that we change the way we approach the security issues in this country. Apparently the system has not been working efficiently and effectively and we have to do something.
“This time around there should not be buck passing, we have to be forthright. We have to say it as it is and we have to do it as it is required,” he added.
