Senate President holds special multi-level security parley over FCT

By Kunle Akinsola

Worried by the security challenges facing the Federal Capital Territory, the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, on Monday held an expanded meeting of key stakeholders to proffer urgent measures to tackle them.

“The purpose of this particular meeting is to widen the scope of our interaction and the entire idea is to find solution to the security situation in the FCT,” he said at the opening of the parley.

Last week, a similar meeting was held at the office of the Senate President to address the current security concerns in the FCT.

Unlike the previous meetings, Monday’s meeting was attended by the Minister of Communications, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim and the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, and other top officials directly involved in the security of Abuja.

Lawan said the presence of the Communications minister is to show that the way forward will require application of information technology while the presence of the NIA DG is to give attention to the national and  international dimensions of the challenges.

According to the Senate President, Abuja, being the seat of power, should have a better security than what obtains now.

“This is the seat of government and I believe that it will be a reflection of what the security situation in Nigeria is. The story is not very good.

“This meeting will therefore look into every possible solution going forward on how to address the security situation,” Lawan said in a statement by his  Special Adviser on Media, Mr Ola Awoniyi, emailed to Persecondnews.

Senators in attendance include the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, Deputy Chief Whip, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Interior, Kashim Shettima, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Halliru Jika and Ifeanyi Ubah.