Reps summon CDS, Service Chiefs, IG, others, over use of face masks, hoods

By The Citizen

The House of Repre­sentatives yester­day, ordered its security-related committees to summon the heads of the nation's secu­rity agencies over the indis­criminate use of face masks and hoods by their opera­tives.

Specifically, security lead­ers to be invited for the meet­ing, which date has not been fixed, include the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Service Chiefs, Director General of Department of State Security (DSS) and the Inspector Gen­eral of Police (IGP).

The House' decision fol­lowed a motion moved by Nathaniel Agunbiade yester­day, urging it to pass a reso­lution, directing the security chiefs to ensure that their op­eratives stopped the use of such face masks and hoods, and stick to their respective assigned uniforms.

Agunbiade said masks and hoods are not part of the se­curity personnel's uniforms, and should be discouraged, especially in these days of insurgency and kidnappings, because criminals might cash in on that against innocent Nigerians.

His submissions were roundly supported by other members, including Bimbo Daramola, Friday Itulah, and spokesman of the House, Za­kari Mohammed, who sepa­rately attributed the use of such gears to hoodlums, and a practice of the jungle. 'If somebody is coming to ar­rest me, I have to know who the person is,' Daramola had stated.

The debate, however, took a new twist when Has­san Saleh pointed out that the security forces ought not be castigated, but to be listened to before passing the resolu­tion, since according to him, they were hitherto, not in the habit of wearing masks and hoods.

'Before now, they have not been wearing masks; so, the question should be, what went wrong? We should not condemn them, we should rather, encourage them to do their job,' the lawmaker stated.

His position was backed by the Deputy Leader of the House, Leo Ogor, and the Chairman of the Committee on Youth Development, Ka­mil Akinlabi, who pointed out that it would be unfair to pass the motion without listening to the security forces on what led to the new practice.