By Uche Mbah
The House of representatives has asked all the Service Chiefs to resign instead of asking their employer, President Buhari, to sack them just as Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has told President Buhari to resign due to worsening security in the country.
The security situation has worsened in the country such that it has become too dangerous to travel on any Nigerian road. Luxurious buses are routinely shot at and passengers kidnapped. Even train stations are under siege. Boko Haram has been having a field day beheading Christians while Buhari says he is surprised these things are happening. This has brought the security situation to the front burner in National discuss. Both the Senate and The House of Representatives have taken to the plenary to debate the issue in what has been described by analysts as playing to public sentiments.
The National Assembly has been variously described as rubber stamps of the presidency, an appellation they have vehemently denied.
Since they were appointed, no Service Chief has been removed despite glaring lapses in their duties and calls to that effect from Nigerians.
Though the deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo Agege admitted that security under Buhari is over stretched and no longer effective, it took the minority Leader Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe to categorically call for the resignation of President Buhari over the state of security in the Nation. Other senators took refuge in asking Buhari to sack inspector General of Police and service chiefs due to incompetence. They all fell short of asking Buhari to resign.
But the House of Representatives, as part of their collective resolution on the issue of security, has called on the service chiefs to resign.
One of the Members of the House, Abubakar Fulata, had described the Service Chiefs as having outlived their usefulness, saying that the country will be the loser if they continue to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result in dealing with the security challenges in Nigeria.
After a voice vote presided over by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila on whether the service chiefs should resign and leave their offices, majority voted for their resignation. Analysts however, see that as a political exercise that will carry no weight.
