The Senate on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to restore Sen. Dino Melaye’s (APC-Kogi) security details without further delay.
Melaye, while raising a Point-of-Order at plenary said his security details were withdrawn by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Idris Ibrahim, shortly before his arrest on April 23.
He said that the action exposed him to danger.
The law maker said: “While we ask that Nigerians should be defended, we ourselves here also ask to be defended.
“I announce that the police withdrew security details attached to me even before I was arrested and till date, I have no security. I applied to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps two months ago to no avail even as a citizen and not a senator.
“President Muhammadu Buhari as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces by his office is supposed to protect me. I now call that this senate must make sure that the way Nigerians all over are protected, some of us also have to be protected.
“I survived two assassination attempts and there is imminent threat to my life now.
“I read and watched the spokesperson of the Nigerian Police, Mr Jimoh Moshood, when he announced to Nigerians that 30,000 policemen will be in Ekiti to observe, monitor and provide security for the governorship election.
“To start with, election is a civic responsibility and we have consistently maintained as democrats that we need not militarise, scare or create fear during elections,” Melaye said.
He said that he was appalled that the Nigerian Police could deploy 30,000 of its personnel for an election in a 16-local government state.
“One begins to wonder that to conduct a presidential election, you will need 30,000 policemen multiplied by 36 States plus the Federal Capital, Abuja. It means we will need no fewer than 11 million policemen to monitor a national election in Nigeria,” Melaye said.
He wondered why the federal government had not deployed 30,000 policemen to some crisis-ridden states.
“Election is important but not as important as the lives of Nigerians. We cannot as senators allow democracy to become ‘militariocracy’. If we die in the line of defending the constitution and human rights, we have died well.
“We cannot sit down in a democracy and allow contents and materials of militariocracy to show face in our democracy,” Melaye said.
In his remarks, the Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over plenary, said that the essential thing was for the policemen to discharge their duty deligently.
Ekweremadu said, “My appeal is that if you are deploying one million policemen to Ekiti they must be seen on the ground so that the protection of life and property must be ensured.
“We must be sure that those policemen are available to do the job,” he said. (NAN)
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