Fasoranti’s daughter: Senate calls for National Security Summit

The Senate on Tuesday called for immediate convocation of a
National Security Summit to address insecurity in the country.

This followed a point of order raised by Sen. Ayo Akinyelure
(APC-Ondo), over the killing of Mrs Funke Olakunrin.

The News Agency of Nigeria, reports that Olakunrin, daughter of
Pa Reuben Fasoranti, a leader of the Afenifere Group, was shot dead
by gunmen along Akure-Ore Road in Ondo State on Friday.

Akinyelure expressed concern over the killing and similar ones,
which he described as “increasing and incessant murder of innocent
Nigerians by gunmen along major highways in the country.”

He also cautioned that if immediate actions were not taken, the
development might lead to ethno-religious crises, especially in the
Southern part of the country.

While urging the Senate to observe a minute silence in memory of
the deceased and others who died in similar circumstances, he said
attention of the Federal Government should be drawn to the
situation.

Also, Sen. Tolu Odebiyi (APC-Ogun), called on the Senate as an
institution to sit down with the presidency and the security
formations in a meeting to take immediate action.

“We have to demand action by security forces and the
presidency.

“There’s nothing we do here that is safe if we don’t get our
security right. We can’t be coming here everyday, mourning and
observing one-minute silence when Nigerians are being killed.

“As a Senate, we should send a delegation to meet with the
presidency and the security forces to address what is
happening.”

However, the Deputy Minority Leader of the Senate, Sen. Ajayi
Boroface (APC-Ondo), urged his colleagues to be cautious about
linking a particular tribe as perpetrators of the attacks.

“We should approach this matter maturely and encourage the
federal government to improve on the state of security.

“We should not link a particular tribe with the killings, as
being observed in the social media. Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Fulani
people have all been killed,” he said.

The President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, on his submission
equally lamented the situation, which he said was being felt across
the country.

He, therefore, said stakeholders should immediately converge in
a robust national security summit to discuss and address the
situation.

“The security situation is all over the country. It is very
unfortunate just like all our colleagues have said in their
contributions.

“We should have one national security summit on this. The summit
should be all-encompassing and all-inclusive, involving other arms
of government and various security formations,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Senate in its resolution “unequivocally”
condemned the killings, calling on the Inspector General of Police
to extend his dragnet to fish out the perpetrators.

(NAN)

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SP Lawan Appoints Awoniyi, Abusidiq as Media
Aides

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan has approved the appointments of
Karage Mohammed Mamman and Ola Awoniyi as his Deputy Chief of Staff
and Special Adviser on Media respectively.

This was contained in a statement issued today by the Special
Assistant to the Senate President on Media and Publicity, Mohammed
Isa.

Other appointments approved by the Senate President, according
to the statement were that of Abubakar Sidiq Usman as Special
Assistant on New Media, Kabir Adamu as Special Adviser on Security
and Intellegence, and Muhammad Mukhtar Yawale as Special Adviser on
Health.

All the appointments are with immediate effect.

The 58 year old Awoniyi, according to the statement, is a
graduate of University of Ibadan where he obtained a B.Sc in
Psychology and holds Masters in Law Enforcement and Criminal
Justice (MLC) and Masters in International Affairs and Diplomacy
(MIAD) both from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. He also
obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism from International
Institute of Journalism, Abuja in 1997.

He worked with Nigerian Tribune for over a decade before he
joined the services of Agence France-Press (AFP), where he is the
Head of Abuja office.

The new Deputy Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Karage,
according to the statement is a graduate of University of Sokoto
where he obtained Bachelor of Arts (Education).

He retired as Director in Federal Ministry of Education in
2018.

On his part, Usman, popularly know as Abu Sidiq, according to
the statement graduated from Federal University of Technology,
Minna where he obtained both his first and second degrees.

A reknown blogger, Abu Sidiq was the head of Social Media Unit
of the Field Operations Directorate of All Progressive Congress
(APC) during the 2019 general elections.

Mohammed Isa
Special Assistant to the Senate President on Media and
Publicity.