Updated: Security chiefs shun Reps, Gbajabiamila issues fresh marching orders

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, was visibly angry on Firday over absence of some security chiefs at a scheduled meeting to discus some important national security matters.

Reacting to the development, the Speaker sent representatives of some of the security bosses out, with an order for them (the chiefs) to personally appear before the leadership of the House on Monday, September 23, 2019.

Only Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Magaji Bichi, and Comptroller General of Immigration, Mohammed Babadede, were personally present at the meeting.

Gbajabiamila while commending President Muhammadu Buhari for all efforts at having a grip of the nation’s security, however, expressed regrets that those he delegated some powers to, appeared not to be on the same page with him.

He said, “Unfortunately, our president cannot work alone so he has delegated such powers to the service chiefs. The House as an institution, and I express our disappointment that the rest of the service chiefs are not here. We called this meeting because it is important. There is crisis in Borno state right now, so we wanted to hear from the service chiefs what is happening, the strategies they are deploying and how we can help.

“I am actually at lost right now, as far as I’m concerned, the Air Force is not represented here. It shows the disdain for this institution. The budget is on its way, we need to talk about what you need, what you require to function effectively. We are supposed to work together. I am almost embarrassed; no call was made to my office. I’m not sure of how to handle this.

“I have not seen any part of the world where the parliament would call the service chiefs to handle a nagging matter, and accountants are being sent instead. I would have to postpone this meeting until Monday morning. Apart from disdain for the parliament, it shows unseriousness on the part of the service chiefs”, the Speaker said.

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