By Olugbenga Salami
Senate on Monday charged heads of relevant security agencies and the judiciary to ensure expeditious prosecution of apprehended terrorists and oil thieves in the country.
This, according to the upper legislative chamber, would give Nigerians the required assurance that nobody is above the laws of the land.
Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, who gave the charge during a follow up interactive session with the Service Chiefs, Inspector General of Police and heads of other security agencies, said allowing apprehended terrorists or oil thieves to escape justice, will not augur well for the country.
“While we fight the insecurity in the country, sometimes we capture bandits alive as well as those stealing crude oil on a daily basis.
“We want to see trials of people who are caught because when this happens, citizens will know that nobody, no matter how highly that person is, can go scot free if he or she decides to get involved in this kind of criminal activity.
“We also appeal to our courts, the judiciary that once we have cases like this, we must give expeditious consideration. Because these are the issues that today are militating against our stability and even against our democracy.
“We lose so much of our fuel. As at the last count, the report said we export just little above 900,000 barrels and that is just about 50 per cent of the quantity expected to be exported .It is supposed to be 1.8 million barrels per day and that is affecting our revenues and resources for development.
“The judiciary should therefore give special consideration, once an oil thief is taken to court, we must prosecute them because it is not enough just take away whatever they have stolen and say go and sin no more”, Lawan stressed.
