Service chiefs, IGP appear before house of reps for security debate

The nation’s security chiefs are currently in the green chamber of the house of representatives.

The lawmakers had invited the chiefs — Christopher Musa (chief of defence staff), Taoreed Lagbaja (chief of army staff), Emmanuel Ogalla (chief of naval staff), Hassan Abubakar (chief of air staff), and Kayode Egbetokun (inspector-general of police) — to brief them on the security situation in the country.

Lagbaja is the first among the chiefs to speak. 

Last week, the legislators turned back representatives of the service chiefs during plenary. 

Before the service chiefs began debriefing the house, Ahmed Jaha, a lawmaker from Borno, moved a motion that the debate be done under executive session because it may be dangerous to discuss security issues in public.

His motion elicited discordant responses from lawmakers.

Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house, said he had spoken with the service chiefs who assured that they would avoid touching on sensitive security issues during the debate.

The speaker said the debate will be in two parts — the open session and a closed, executive session.