John Ameh and Sunday Aborisade
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur
Buratai, and the Director General of the Department of State Services,
Lawan Daura, will appear before both chambers of the National Assembly
over the recent violent clash in Kaduna State between soldiers and
members of the Shi’ite sect, otherwise known as the Islamic Movement of
Nigeria, Sunday PUNCH has learnt.
Findings by Sunday PUNCH showed
that Buratai, Daura and “heads of other security agencies,” would be
summoned by a House joint Committee on Army/National
Security/Intelligence and Public Safety.
Also to appear before the House are the
top leaders of the Islamic Movement, “as well as other stakeholders as
the House may deem fit to discuss the issue.”
The Committee on Army is the lead committee. Its Chairman, Rima Shawulu, could not be reached by Sunday PUNCH for
comments, but a senior official of the National Assembly confided in
one of our correspondents that the House expected the report of the
investigation to be ready in January.
The official stated, “The Chief of Army
Staff will have to come and testify before the committee as an important
stakeholder. The committee has the mandate of the House to invite him.
The DG, as well as the DSS too, is relevant to this investigation. It
will involve heads of other security agencies since the committee will
be looking at the security implications or otherwise of the clash. The
leaders of the Islamic Movement will also have to come and state their
side of the matter before the committee can reach any reasonable
conclusions.”
When Sunday PUNCH contacted the
Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazak
Namdas, he confirmed that Buratai was “expected naturally, to come
before the committee.”
Meanwhile, a special ad hoc committee
which comprises seven standing committees of the Senate has started a
probe of the clash. The Joint Committees are, Defence; Judiciary and
Human Rights; National Security and Intelligence; Army; Police Affairs;
Internal Affairs and Foreign Affairs.
The upper chamber, on Wednesday, set up
the ad-hoc committee to investigate the immediate and remote causes of
the recent bloody clash between the Nigerian Army and the Shi’ite Muslim
sect and report back within two weeks.
Our correspondent learnt that some
senators had agreed to jointly sponsor a motion on the issue at plenary
last Wednesday before the leadership of the upper chamber met and
discouraged Senate President, Bukola Saraki, from accepting the motion.
The argument of the senate leadership,
according to a principal officer who craved anonymity, was that
accepting such a motion to be moved on the floor could lead to further
tension in Kaduna State and other places in the country.
The ad hoc committee is expected be coordinated by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, Ahmad Lawan.
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