The Nigerian Senate has called for the immediate convocation of a National Security Summit to address rising insecurity across the country.

The call which was made during Tuesday’s plenary followed a point of order raised by Senator Ayo Akinyelure (APC, Ondo) over the killing of Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, daughter of Pa Reuben Fasoranti, a leader of the Afenifere group  along Akure-Ore Road on Friday.

While expressing deep concern over similar incidents, Senator Akinyelure warned that if immediate action was not taken, the development might snowball into an ethno-religious crises, especially in the southern part of the country.

Contributing, Senator Tolu Odebiyi (APC, Ogun) called on the Senate as an institution of government to dialogue with the presidency and security agencies to take immediate action to address insecurity.

“We have to demand action by security forces and the presidency. There’s nothing we do here that is safe if we don’t get our security right.

“We can’t be coming here everyday, mourning and observing one-minute silence when Nigerians are being killed. As a Senate, we should send a delegation to meet with the presidency and the security forces to address what is happening,” Odebiyi said. 

The Deputy Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Ajayi Boroffice (APC, Ondo) advised his colleagues to be cautious about linking a particular tribe or ethnic group as perpetrators of the attacks.

In his submission, the Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan lamented the situation, which he said was being felt across the country, calling on all stakeholders to immediately converge in a robust national security summit to discuss and address the situation.

Lawan said: “The security situation is all over the country. It is very unfortunate just like all our colleagues have said in their contributions. We should have one national security summit on this.

“The summit should be all-encompassing and all-inclusive, involving other arms of government and various security formations.” 

In its resolution, the Senate condemned the killings, calling on the Inspector General of Police to extend his dragnet to fish out the perpetrators and bring all those found culpable to book.