The House of Representatives has
called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order the military to stop the planned
‘Operation Positive Identification’ by the military.
The decision followed a motion of
Urgent Public Importance moved by the minority leader, Ndudi Elumelu, at the
plenary on Tuesday.
The Nigerian military had planned
a nationwide operation to demand identity cards from citizens across the
country.
‘Operation Positive
Identification’ would see soldiers accosting citizens on the streets or
highways and asking them to produce means of identification on the spot.
Soldiers have been taking similar
measures to ”separate citizens from terrorists” in the Boko Haram-ravaged
North-east Nigeria.
The military claimed last month
that citizens in the North-east had been cooperating with troops to make the
exercise successful by carrying with them valid identity documents.
But the military announced on
September 25 that the exercise will be extended nationwide to “checkmate
bandits, kidnappers, armed robbers, ethnic militia, cattle rustlers as well as
other sundry crimes across the various regions of Nigeria.”
‘Not acceptable’
Mr Elumelu while moving the
motion described the proposed operation as “infringement on the rights of
Nigerians.”
“It will be an indirect state of
emergency if allowed to take place and the plan contravenes sections Section
217 sub 2(c,d) of the 1999 constitution,” he said.
“The sections reads: The
Federation shall, subject to an Act of the National Assembly made in that
behalf, equip and maintain the armed forces as may be considered adequate and
effective for the purpose of maintaining its territorial integrity and securing
its borders from violation on land, sea, or air;
“suppressing insurrection and
acting in aid of civil authorities to restore order when called upon to do so
by the President, but subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by an Act
of the National Assembly; and
“performance such other functions
as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.”
Also contributing, the Deputy
Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu, (PDP, Enugu) said the proposed plan was not
within the mandate of the army.
“It is not part of their mandate,
we have the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and we have the
security apparatus. Unfortunately, we have been under siege by Boko Haram.
“They are simply belabouring
themselves with jobs that do not concern them. We have to interrogate this
through the committee on the army.”
Also supporting the motion, Ahmed
Jaha, proposed that the army commence offensive attacks “against Boko Haram and
bandits in North-east and North-west’.
“From Abuja to Maiduguri is 14
hours under normal circumstances; if you ask for identification at every
checkpoint, how many days will it take before passengers get to their
destination?”
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