The House of Representatives yesterday invited Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris and the leadership of other security agencies to appear before its Committees on Police Affairs and Human Rights to give insight into the recent extra-judicial killings in Bayelsa State.
The lawmakers also mandated the committees to investigate the circumstances of the killings, take steps to prevent such killings in the future and condoele with the victims.
They observed a minute silence for the victims.
The House resolutions followed a motion brought under Matters of Urgent Public Importance by a member, Douye Diri (PDP, Bayelsa).
It was unanimously adopted by majority of the members.
Diri noted that though the police had tried to keep the society safe from criminals, but they committed extra-judicial killings in Ekeki community of Yenagoa Local Government Area.
He said: “In the last two weeks, the police in the Bayelsa State Command as well as the Joint Task Force (JTF) had shot and killed four innocent Nigerians, namely: Innocent Kokorifa, 17; Izu Joseph, a footballer with Shooting Stars Football Club of Ibadan, Oyo State; Inyan, 30 and Godgift Oduku, a five-year old girl.
“The police force was created by a law whose principal function is for the protection and wellbeing of the citizens and visitors within the territorial jurisdiction of Nigeria.
“While it is the duty of the police to maintain civil law in our society, it is expected that such function is to be carried out with utmost care and respect for human life.”
Diri expressed worry that extra-judicial klillings, if not checked, might lead to a breakdown of the law and order where people would be forced to defend themselves from attacks.
The lawmaker said some angry people might also be forced to defend themselves from attacks from the police that were paid from tax payers’ money to protect them.
Ossai Ossai (PDP, Delta) said urgent steps should be taken to address the menace because the nation had witnessed series of such killings.
The lawmaker urged Nigerians to rise against what he called recklessness and extra-judicial killings to save innocent lives from avoidable deaths.
He said: “The agencies of government are not more than the people in the United States of America (U.S.A). A soul can cause the nation to go to war. It is time we wake up to the challenge.”
Sodaguwo Festus (PDP, Bayelsa) said the government should end the killings in Bayelsa State.
When Speaker Yakubu Dogara put the motion to a voice vote, it was unanimously passed and subsequently referred to the Committees on Police and Human Rights for further legislative action.