The House of Representatives yesterday, ordered its security-related committees to summon the heads of the nation’s security agencies over the indiscriminate use of face masks and hoods by their operatives.
Specifically, security leaders to be invited for the meeting, which date has not been fixed, include the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Service Chiefs, Director General of Department of State Security (DSS) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
The House’ decision followed a motion moved by Nathaniel Agunbiade yesterday, urging it to pass a resolution, directing the security chiefs to ensure that their operatives stopped the use of such face masks and hoods, and stick to their respective assigned uniforms.
Agunbiade said masks and hoods are not part of the security personnel’s uniforms, and should be discouraged, especially in these days of insurgency and kidnappings, because criminals might cash in on that against innocent Nigerians.
His submissions were roundly supported by other members, including Bimbo Daramola, Friday Itulah, and spokesman of the House, Zakari Mohammed, who separately attributed the use of such gears to hoodlums, and a practice of the jungle. “If somebody is coming to arrest me, I have to know who the person is,” Daramola had stated.
The debate, however, took a new twist when Hassan Saleh pointed out that the security forces ought not be castigated, but to be listened to before passing the resolution, since according to him, they were hitherto, not in the habit of wearing masks and hoods.
“Before now, they have not been wearing masks; so, the question should be, what went wrong? We should not condemn them, we should rather, encourage them to do their job,” the lawmaker stated.
His position was backed by the Deputy Leader of the House, Leo Ogor, and the Chairman of the Committee on Youth Development, Kamil Akinlabi, who pointed out that it would be unfair to pass the motion without listening to the security forces on what led to the new practice.
