NASS To Visit Plateau Over Killings – Dogara

The National Assembly said it was planning to pay a condolence visit to Plateau State.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said this in an interview with State House correspondents after a meeting he and the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, had with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.

Dogara did not give the details of the meeting, however.

Persons suspected to be Fulani herdsmen had sacked 11 villages in Plateau State over the weekend, with death toll put officially at 86 by security agents.

 

He said, “We met with the President to, first of all, commiserate with him and get a briefing from him.

“As part of the briefing, he explained how steps were being taken to forestall reoccurrence and restore sanity, because this is a great concern to him and to us also.

“We will see what can be done with NEMA and security agencies. We will all work towards it. Nobody is happy with it and we will all come together to ensure that we restore sanity.

“We commiserate with all families. It is our own intention to also go and pay our own condolence visit to the people of Plateau.”

Dogara advised Nigerians to learn how to live in peace, saying it is the only way communities can be secure.

“My advice to our people — not just Plateau State, Benue, Zamfara, Taraba — virtually all communities faced with this situation, especially in the North, I think the issue of securing our communities, living in peace must be taken as a project.

“It is something each and every one of us must invest in, whether as traditional rulers, as community leaders, councillors, chairmen, all strata of society must invest in peace building.

“That is the only way we can live in a secure community and ensure that we progress as a country,” he said.

Saraki also said that the President briefed them on the steps being taken to restore peace to troubled spots.

“Our general appeal at the end of the day is that we all live together in peace and harmony and we will continue to do our best to see that this kind of thing does not happen again,” Saraki said.