The National Assembly on Tuesday condemned the recent killing of over 200 people in three local government areas of Plateau State by armed Fulani herdsmen as a barbaric act of genocidal.

While the House of Representatives said Nigerians were losing confidence in the country’s security system, the Senate suggested that the most viable and lasting solution to the menace was the creation of state police.

The Senate therefore directed its Committee on Constitution Amendment headed by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu to fast track the amendment of the bills on state and community police and submit its report within two weeks.

Sequel to a Point of Order raised by Senator Jonah Jang (PDP, Plateau) on the recent killings in the state, the Senate also appealed to the Executive arm of government to overhaul the security architecture of the country and evolve a better security action against terror attacks threatening communities in the North Central zone and other parts of Nigeria.

On his own part, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara stated that Nigeria’s security system was waning and called for urgent attention to reverse the trend.

He maintained that history would be unkind to the present administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari if it failed to stop the mass killing of innocent Nigerians by suspected herdsmen as according to him, whatever achievement the current administration records would not be remembered if the orgy of violence and mass killings continued unabated.

His words: “The stark reality now is that our citizens are fast losing confidence in our security system. This must not be the case. Before we ebb to the realm of anarchy, we must rise up as true representatives of the Nigerian people to salvage the situation and defend our hard-won democracy.

“History will have a harsh verdict for us as a government if we fail to live up to this responsibility and it won’t matter if we succeed in other areas.”

The House therefore called on President Buhari to go beyond mere verbal condemnation of the attacks to taking decisive and practical steps to give effect to Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).