Deputy Senate President Senator Ike Ekeweremadu has tasked the Police over its inability to resolve 56 politically motivated murders that occurred around the country in the past 20 years.
Speaking at the 2013 annual lecture of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, he noted that only a few cases such as that of Kudirat Abiola were being pursued with the intention to resolve them.
He blamed this shortcoming on the centralised command structure of the force which he said was part of the problem of insecurity in the country.
“The centralised police structure we operate is one of the major factors that have been blamed for the insecurity in the land. In fact, it is argued that the rest of the challenges derive largely from this factor.” The Deputy Senate President said.
Ekweremadu, said that between 1986-2006, 32 out of the 56 political killings occurred in South-West and 22 out of the 32 of the political killings in the south west took place in Lagos state.
Ekweremadu who doubles as the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament disclosed further that 12 political assassinations occurred in the South-East between 1986 to 2006, while South-South recorded five political killings. The North excluding Federal Capital Territory (FCT) witnessed only two killings.
FCT, according to the Deputy Senate President, recorded two political assassinations which claimed the lives of Marshal Harry and Mr. S. A Awoniyi.
He said, “There is a general consensus that security of lives and property in Nigeria has abysmally declined since 1966 and has come to its lowest ebb in recent years. Even high profile crimes have not only been successfully perpetrated without prevention, but they have also largely gone unresolved and unpunished.
“Some high profile assassinations in our recent history provide a glimpse of how badly security of lives and property has deteriorated under the watch of the Nigeria Police.
“They include the following; assassination of Harry Marshal, Ogbonnaya Uche, Ayo Daramola, Mr. Godwin Agboroko, Dipo Dina, Bayo Ohu, Chief Bola Ige and many others.”
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