By Thompson ABISOLA
The leadership of the National Assembly on Wednesday in Abuja, met with President Muhammadu Buhari over Plateau killings.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, in a statement, signed by Dogara said the visit was to discuss the steps to end killings and violence in Plateau and other parts of the country.
Dogara said: “Today, the President of the Senate and Dr Bukola Saraki, met with President Muhammadu Buhari over the Plateau State violence.
“We requested for the meeting in order to hear from the president the steps and measures he is taking to end the orgy of killings and violence, not only on the Plateau but also in other parts of the country.
“The President briefed us on what he saw firsthand when he visited Plateaustate on Tuesday and the measures he is putting in place to forestall recurrence.
“The President has taken enough steps and told us what he is doing, especially the reorganisation that he plans to put in place to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.
“We also used the opportunity to advise the President on other measures and actions that will help bring lasting peace in our country.
“This is in accordance with the resolutions passed at the joint emergency closed-door session of the National Assembly held some weeks ago.
“These are very sober moments for all of us. In a situation where people in hundreds continued to be killed, we can no longer tolerate this kind of situation as a government. We call on all relevant government agencies to quickly provide emergency relief services to people in the affected areas, ’’he said.
Dogara said the National Assembly would continue to work toward providing necessary legislative backing to the security agencies to tackle the prevailing security challenges in the country.
“The House of Representatives and indeed, the National Assembly, will continue to work toward providing all necessary legislative backing to the security agencies more especially funding needed,“ he said.
This Dogara said was necessary “to reform and equip our armed forces to tackle the prevailing security challenges confronting us as a nation.“
“I am also restating my earlier call for a total reform and overhaul of our internal security architecture which has failed to address the spate of insecurity in the land.
“I want to seize this opportunity to once again offer our condolences to families of victims of violence in Zamfara, Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa, Kaduna Nasarawa, Borno, Yobe States and other places.
“I urge our citizens to embrace peace without which there can be no meaningful development. “
