Senator Joshua Dariye sponsors bill on insecurity from prison

Joshua Dariye, senator representing Plateau central, on Thursday co-sponsored a motion from jail.

The motion was on the killing of Faye Mooney, an official of Mercy Corps Nigeria, a humanitarian agency, and Matthew Oguche, her partner, at the Kajuru Castle in Kaduna state.

Shehu Sani, senator representing Kaduna central, sponsored the motion to formally draw the attention of the lawmakers to the incident.

Mooney and Oguche died during an exchange of gun fire between police officers guarding the castle and suspected bandits on Friday.

However, on the senate’s order paper, Dariye name was listed among the 108 senators who co-sponsored the motion.

The name of the imprisoned lawmaker reflected as number 89, alongside 108 others, on the official order paper for Thursday 25th April.

The senator is serving a 10-year prison sentence for “diversion of N1.62 billion ecological” funds while he served as governor of Plateau.

Moving the motion, Sani said the killing of foreigners may put Nigeria’s diplomatic relations with other countries on the line.

“More worried that due to the fact perpetrators of these heinous activities tend to be gaining more courage to perpetuate their dastardly acts without fear of confrontation due to their acclaimed superior firepower,” he said.

Contributing to the debate, Kabir Marafa, senator representing Zamfara central, said government needs to be bold to tackle the menace of kidnapping and banditry.

Marafa said the accomplices of the perpetrators of the acts need to be “fished out.”

“In moving forward, we need to be bold. We need to come up with ways in fighting it,” he said.