The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and former Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Abdul Ningi, on Tuesday engaged in a war of words over what governors expend their security votes on....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE➤
Ningi represents Bauchi Central senatorial district on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He had in a debate that followed the motion of urgent national importance on incessant banditry attacks, killings and displacement of innocent Nigerians in some villages in Billiri Local Government Area of Gombe State, pondered why governors were not using their security votes to address the insecurity in their states.
The motion was moved by Senator Anthony Siyako Yaro, who represents Gombe South Senatorial District under the platform of the PDP.
Hence, Ningi asked Akpabio, being a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, to explain why governors were not deploying their security votes to address the security situation in their states instead of relying on the federal government to do so.
“I know as a matter of fact that every state government has security votes. This issue is what security vote represents and why is it that every time there is security problem, nobody mentions the role of the governors?” Ningi queried.
He specified that the constitution was clear about the fact that governors were the chief security officers of their states, adding that the security of lives and properties should not be left to the president alone.
Ningi noted that no governor received less than N500 million as security vote monthly and should, therefore, be able to solve some of the security problems in their states.
Akpabio replied Ningi saying: “When you become a governor, you will find out what they do with the security vote. The amount of the security that you stop or you void are more than the ones that come to the public. And then those ones are never reported.
“So sometimes, security agencies will go to the top, get at the criminals before they carry out their nefarious acts. But those ones are never reported because it’s only bad news that is good news.
“The press can never report anything that is very good. But it is true that the state governments have a role to play and that they cannot hand over security to the federal government alone.
“Coincidentally, security is everybody’s business. If we need to be secure, every Nigerian must be part of maintenance of security, peace and harmony in every part of the federation.”
Akpabio berated the media for feasting only on bad news, especially as reporting the exploits of security agents against criminals was concerned. ...CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE➤
Be the first to comment