The Commander General of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria, Navy Captain Umar Bakori (retd), has appealed to the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the Vigilante Group of Nigeria Bill.
The appeal was contained in a statement, by the VGN’s National Public Relations Officer, Igho Akeregha.
It partly read, “The Senate at the Plenary on Tuesday considered the VGN (Establishment) Bill 2022 (HB 437) and approved clauses 1-30 as recommended, interpretation as recommended, Schedule as recommended, Short and Long Titles as recommended including the Explanatory Memorandum as recommended.
“The Bill which is sponsored by Senate Leader, Ibrahim Gobir was read the Third time and passed. It seeks to establish the Vigilante Group of Nigeria with the powers to provide community policing, maintenance of law and order and community service for Nigerians was first passed into law in November 2021 by the House of Representatives.
“The House in the committee of the Whole had considered and adopted 29 out of the 30 clauses in the Bill’s report presented by Kabiru Idris.
The ad-hoc committee deliberated on this and agreed that all aspects of financial obligations from the federal government should be removed and that the group should stand on its own, and generate contributions from federal, state and local governments.
“With the passage of the long-awaited Bill by the NASS, President Buhari’s promise to Nigerians that he would bequeath a safe a secure country before he leaves power is now realisable.
“Once the President who is the Commander-in-Chief assents to the Bill and it becomes law, we are ready to deploy our men all over the country in accordance with our mandate to ensure insecurity becomes a thing of the past.”
The Commander General, Navy Captain Umar Bakori (retd) commended the National Assembly for the speedy passage of the Bill.
Bakori assured the Federal Government and the National Assembly that his officers and men numbering about 1,500,000 and embedded in all communities, local governments and states in Nigeria have been well trained by the Police, DSS and NSDC to complement national security efforts at all levels.
Punch/Olusola Akintonde
