Victor Oluwasegun, Abuja
House of Representatives yesterday gave the nod for Operation Positive Identification of the Nigerian Army to take off.
This was the decision of majority of the lawmakers during the consideration of a report by the Abdulrasak Namdas-headed House Committee on Army.
Namdas, who presented the report, moved for its consideration with Operation Positive Identification and approve the recommendations.
The House approved all the six clauses in the report and adopted the report.
The military operation, which had been widely criticised, was put on hold by a High Court in Lagos.
But House Minority Leader Ndudi Elemelu, coming under Order 6(1), kicked against the consideration of the report.
The lawmaker said his constituency was against it.
He said: “My people are against it and I’m not in support of the House considering it. When they are being interrogated, they don’t know how far it will go. I am totally against taking this report.”
Deputy Speaker Idris Wase, who presided over the plenary, said Elumelu was not in a position to stop the process, though he could show the aspects he was dissatisfied with.
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Adopting the report, the House said: “That the Army can continue with the Operation Positive Identification but in collaboration with other relevant security agencies, such as Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), which should lead in the identification process.
“That a joint Intelligence and Monitoring Team should be set up by the agencies involved in order to checkmate possible abuse of the exercise, such as extortion and assault on the on the people;
“That the Army should regularly brief the Committee on Army for proper assessment of the exercise;
“That the Nigerian Army should disengage from the areas they have successfully completed operations and allow the police to consolidate on the gains;
“That serious and urgent attention should be given to the Police, in the area of training and retraining so as to equip them to curtail future insurrection or violence that may occur.”
Also, Muraina Ajibola (PDP Oyo) stressed that it would be better to conduct the operation well on behalf of Nigerians.
The lawmaker said member ought to have copies of reports before considerations to enable them peruse the content.
“We should be given 10 minutes to study the reports in order to make meaningful consideration of the reports,” he said.
Wase said what Ajibola suggested had been the norm, adding that any lapse would be corrected as soon as possible.
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