Benue killings: Senate gives IGP 14 days to fish out perpetrators

Weighing the gravity and international shame caused by the killings of over 72 innocent persons cum criticisms and condemnations of such act by Nigerians, stakeholders and some international persons, the senate on Tuesday ordered the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris to fish out perpetrators before 14 days, mathematically, 72 hours.

Speaking on the dastardly act on today’s plenary, the senate president, Mr. Bukola Saraki said, “We want to see immediate action. One point raised here today is the issue of justice. Without justice we cannot see unity and that justice stands as one of our recommendations.

“In the next 14 days, the Inspector General of Police must find the perpetrators, arrest them, and the Attorney General of Benue State must prosecute them. That is minimum requirement and it must happen.

“Our resolution is that some of our discussions here need to be conveyed to Mr. President. We appreciate his actions for calling us and giving us a brief on what has happened. Hence, we owe it to him to tell him what we have discussed and the seriousness with which we have taken the issue. It is a wake-up call for him and it is a wake-up call for us. It is a wakeup call for this government. We must address the issue of security. We cannot continue to allow this violence to keep going on from one state to another.

““The President must act in this area, and those responsible for this must be held accountable. There must also be long term solutions. Part of this long term solution is that the members of the committee on security must objectively look into this.

“The military cannot be the solution all the time. This is because sometimes the military is overstretched and that has its own impact and problem.

““In this regard, we are hoping that the committee urgently comes up with the recommendation to us on what we need to do we need to do to strengthen the police, apart from more man-power. Is it community policing? Is it state policing? We need to know.

““Something must be done in this area, but more importantly we have condemned these killings but actions must begin to happen for us to re-assure Nigerians.

“We are not just here to just talk and we can assure Nigerians that they’ll see we’ll see that the executive and all those involved” he finally said.