By Umar Usman Duguri
Disturbed by the weighty allegation of banditry sponsorship by a serving senator from the North-east, a North-east based Political Think-Tank Group, The Defenders led by Muhammed Al-Ghazali, has called on security agencies to commence a deep rooted investigation on the allegations of the banditry sponsorship flying the media space targeted at a particular senator from the North-east sub-region who is alleged to be one of the sponsors of banditry activities bedeviling the country.
Speaking after their monthly brainstorming meeting in Bauchi, the Group said: “The allegations against a particular senator from the North-east whose identity was not made known but allegedly serving in the 10th Senate as chairman of a very sensitive senate committee which he lobbied for to add value to his criminal activities as well as provide him cover from exposure and subsequent arrest, should be exposed.
“The allegations are disturbing our sleep as indigenes of the North-east who are presently battling insurgency and pockets of rampant banditry attacks in places like Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba states. The North-east has a total number of 18 senators with each of the six states having three. Those flying allegations may be spiced with facts if properly investigated because that was how the deadly insurgency started in 2006 without serious investigation and allowed to snowball into full scale catastrophe.
“The concerned heartless senator should be fished out urgently and put to trial to save the reputation of the sub-region and the state he represents. We cannot continue to accommodate and tolerate such misfits in our midst to hold sensitive positions in government. Security agencies should commence discreet investigation to unearth even the source (s) of the senator’s income, connection and those behind his political journey to the senate who must be his comrades in syndicate
“It may be of added advantage to security agencies to dig deep down to his real identity including place of birth, actual state of origin, educational qualifications obtained with dates and career either in politics, civil service or business
“There are several internally displaced persons (IDPs) who migrated from some troubled places to the North-east for shelter and now based in those states that accepted and provided them shelter within the sub-region but claiming to be indigenes
“Some are in politics as a right but are not indigenes as claimed. That senator may be one of such migrants who flaunts a fake identity and operates from his shelter base, probably with the support of his tribal folk and other miscreants
“Some of the serving senators from the sub-region are household names in national politics that cannot be associated with such mess but as a group, we shall commence investigation to fish out the senator concerned and submit a detail report to security agencies for further action”, he said.
In the same vein, the Group is calling on the 18 senators from the North-east to investigate themselves thoroughly so as to fish out the devil within them for appropriate action before their reputation and that of the sub-region is further dented”.
