House deputy whip charges FG to declare emergency on insecurity

*Says Boko Haram elements have taken over Edo
Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Rep. Pally Iriase, has called on the Buhari administration to declare a state of emergency on insecurity following spate of killings, kidnapping, rapes and other vices ravaging the nation.

Speaking with journalists at the weekend in Abuja, Rep. Iriase, who represents Owan East/West Federal Constituency of Edo state, also called on the federal government and security agencies to check the activities of marauding bandits, who kill, rape and kidnap innocent people.

The lawmaker, who refused to call the bandits Fulani herdsmen, lamented that most of the communities in Edo state, especially Owan East and West, Etsako and Akoko Edo are under siege by the bandits, said that the marauders carry sophisticated weapons like AK47 and machine guns.

He stated that the bandits carry out their nefarious activities unchallenged even though military and police posts are located in the areas where these agents of death operate.

Rep. Iriase said that there may be a connections between elements of the Boko Haram terrorists who have been dislodged from the North East and the bandits operating in Edo state especially in Owan, Etsako and Akoko Edo local governments going by the sophisticated weapons they carry.

He said that the police with regular weapons and vigilante groups set up by affected communities with their dane guns are no match for the bandits because of their more sophisticated weapons.

The lawmaker appealed to the military and other security agencies to join hands in order to checkmate the activities of the bandits.
He said: “I will support the call for state of emergency on security if there is state of emergency nationwide.

“These bandits may well be members of the terrorist gang dislodged in the North East, because of the kind of sophisticated weapons they are carrying and the way they are kidnapping and collecting ransom from victims.

“If these activities are not checked, what we are experiencing in the North East may be transferred to the South South.
“These people are not local people and if they are, they will be carrying local weapons. But these people are carrying AK47 and machine guns and they are sharp shooters. This issue can only be addressed by concerted effort.

“Unless the military and other security agencies arrest these people, the repercussion will not be good. Laws are useless on papers if they are not enforced.”

In his judgement, the deputy chief whip said that the ransom the bandits are collecting are being used to fund other the establishment of other camps that will serve as hide outs from where they can execute more deadlier attacks.