- Safiu Kehinde
The Senate has on Tuesday established a 12-man ad-hoc committee to deliberate on the response of the red chamber to the United States Congress’ allegation of genocidal attacks on Christians in Nigeria.
NPO Reported that the lawmakers had last week resolved to hold a closed-door session today to address the allegation.
The Senate had reportedly made the move over potential implications of such allegations on Nigeria’s international reputation and interfaith relations.
Following the meeting, the Senate appointed 12 Senators into the committee.
They include Victor Umeh, Yemi Adaramodu, Aniekan Bassey, Niyi Adegbonmire, Abdul Ningi, and Titus Zam.
Others include Tony Nwoye, Tahir Munguno, and Asuquo Ekpenyong.
According to reports, the committee were tasked with developing a comprehensive position paper for presentation to both the Executive and the Senate.
They are expected to come up with a document that would shape Nigeria’s legislative stance on the matter and guide its engagement in ongoing international discussions.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, called for the backing of the position paper with verifiable facts and statistics.
NPO Reported that Borno lawmaker, Sen. Ali Ndume, had last week raised the motion for a debate on the development.
While presenting the motion before the lawmakers during the plenary session, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, suggested a closed-door session for the deliberation on the US Congress’s allegation.
Akpabio maintained that making the debate public will prove futile due to diverse perspectives and dynamism of the case of insecurity across the country.
“Somebody suggested that we ought to have gone into executive discussion and discuss this, but I don’t think we can win.
“No group can win any discussion on this because it depends on the state you are looking at. If terrorism occurs in a Christain dominated state, most people that will die there will be Christians.
“If it occurs in a Muslim dominated state, most of those who will die there will be Muslims.
“But if it occurs particularly in the North Central, you will notice that it will be targeted at churches maybe because that is what they are able to get. At the end, they will say oh it’s Muslims that kill Christians.
“If it happens in Kano or Born, they will say Christians kills Muslims. The way the whole situation is that we’ve seen it going to the Executive session and get a date for our security summit so we can have closed discussion on these matters.” Akpabio said.