Following the killing of a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Mr. Lawal Kontagora, in Kaduna last week, the federal lawmaker representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Shehu Sani, has called on the federal government to either make NYSC voluntary or adopt life insurance policy for corps members.
The senator made the call on Monday when he paid a condolence visit to the family of Lawal Kontagora, a 26-year-old corps member shot dead in Kaduna on October 17.
Kontagora, a graduate of a Malaysian University, was inside his stationary car in company of his girlfriend at Gambia Road junction, Malali Low Cost Housing Estate, Kaduna when he was fatally shot.
The state police command spokesperson, Aliyu Usman, said two suspects had been arrested over the incident, while another is at large.
Sani, an All Progressives Congress senator, said government must take responsibility for Kontagora’s murder, since it “has failed in its duty” to protect the corps member.
He described the incident as a tragedy not just for the family, but for the people of Kaduna State and Nigeria.
“The very fact that we failed to protect the young man from thugs and murderers clearly shows how vulnerable the whole society is.
“When a state has reached a point that it cannot provide and it cannot protect, then question could be raised of the essence of government and governance”, he said.
“Our young people are not safe in primary schools, they are not safe in secondary schools, they are not safe in the universities, they are not safe even after university.”
Mr. Sani said the country was at a point where “kidnapping is on the increase, and mass murder and killing of young people of this kind is a daily event”.
He promised to raise the issue in parliament.
“We have to choose what to do. For corps members, it is either government makes the service voluntary or there should be life insurance for people engaged in it”.
“This is not the first time that a corps member has been killed. But it has always been the case that when it happens, we mourn, we condemn the act and it repeats itself. But this happened in my constituency and the deceased and his parent are from my constituency. I have a duty to pursue this case to the last point”.
The senator prayed for “the repose of the victim’s soul, for the family to have the fortitude to bear the loss and for those in positions of power to see the killings and kidnappings in our society as a minus to us”.
On reported increase in incidence of rape of minors in his district, Mr. Sani said a bill was being considered in the National Assembly to address the problem of rape across the country.
The father of the slain corps member, Auwal Kontagora, thanked the senator for the condolence visit.
He described the killing of his son as a “very painful gruesome murder” and urged government to ensure that the culprits were brought to book.
The police spokesperson, Mr. Usman, an assistant superintendent of police, said nemesis caught up with the suspects in the murder when they had disagreement over sharing of money and GSM handsets they took from the victim.
He named the key suspect as a 22-year-old bus driver, Jamilu Lado, in whose house the gun suspected to have been used in the murder was allegedly found.
He gave the name of Mr. Lado’s alleged accomplice simply as Sarki, whom he described as a 22-year-old bricklayer. Mr. Usman said the two suspects have been taken into custody, while the third suspect, described as an apprentice tailor, is currently at large.
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