Feelers reaching LEADERSHIP Weekend from the Police Headquarters Abuja, yesterday, indicated that the Inspector General of Police, Abba Sulaiman has ordered the arrest of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.
The order was given following a showdown between the police and members of the House of Representatives on Thursday, after the police blocked the entrance to the National Assembly and prevented the Speaker from gaining entrance, forcing some of the lawmakers who were with him to scale the locked gate and go into the chambers of the House of Representatives, where they stalled alleged plans to begin impeachment proceedings against the Speaker.
Sources at the police headquarters told LEADERSHIP Weekend that a similar arrest order had been issued by the Department of State Security (DSS).
According to the sources, the Inspector General gave the order for Tambuwal’s arrest after a meeting with Vice President Namadi Sambo and the National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki at the Presidential Villa, yesterday.
“I can confirm to you that the order for his arrest has been given today (Friday). The signal from the IG’s office specifically directed the FCT and Sokoto State commissioners of Police to serve Tambuwal with notice of invitation to the force headquarters and if he resists, he should be arrested immediately. The involvement of the Sokoto commissioner of police is because the Speaker was sighted in Sokoto yesterday where he picked the APC’s governorship form for the forthcoming election. It was assumed that he was out of Abuja and as such, other police divisions were involved in the matter. “
Sources privy to details of the meeting in the Villa said both the Sambo and Dasuki berated the inspector general for the failure of his men to prevent the Speaker from gaining access into the National Assembly premises.
“The NSA was particularly angry and told the IG in clear terms that he doesn’t know his job. He asked how the Speaker and the members broke a cordon put in place by the FCT police commissioner. The NSA then made it clear that the police authorities must rectify the anomalies or they would face the consequences. The promised that Tambuwal would be arrested for questioning,” the source added.
Efforts to get a confirmation of the arrest orders were however unsuccessful as the police and DSS authorities did not respond to phone calls and text messages to their mobile phone numbers and did not go through, respectively. A phone call and text message to the IGP’s was also not responded to.
Reacting to the news of his planned arrest yesterday, Tambuwal noted that he is a law abiding citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who has no immunity against arrest and prosecution except privileges as may be provided by the Legislative Powers and Privileges Act.
He said he is available, ready and willing to answer any lawful invitation from any of the security agencies on any matter for which they may require his attention.
In a statement by his special adviser on media and public affairs, Malam Imam Imam, the Speaker expressed dismay at the unprofessional conduct of the Nigerian police in the attempt to stop him from accessing the House of Representatives chambers and described as disgraceful, “the false statement later issued by the Police in which they claimed that in the lawful exercise of their duties “ Alh Aminu Tambuwal CFR, arrived the venue with a motley crowd,who broke the cordon, assaulted the Police and evaded due process”. This blatant falsehood coming from a law enforcement agency, that is expected to be neutral and lawful, is unfortunate, to say the least.”
Meanwhile, but for the resoluteness of the Sergeant-at-arms at the National Assembly who insisted that he would only handover the mace of office to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Aminu Tambuwal, the embattled Speaker would have lost his job on Thursday, LEADERSHIP Weekend investigations have revealed.
This was part of strategies by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), working on cohorts with the executive to impeach the Speaker who recently decamped to major opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC).
A mace is a ceremonial staff of office, a stick or rod, usually with an ornamental head, carried by officials on ceremonial occasions as a symbol of authority.
According to a source privy to the development, the acting Sergeant-at-arms at the National Assembly, Mr. Ibrahim Ndako was asked to surrender the mace but he had refused, insisting that Tambuwal is still the Speaker of the House and he would not release to mace to any other person but him.
Following Ndako’s insistence on holding onto the mace, he was reportedly detained by the police for about 24 hours, from Wednesday till late Thursday morning after crisis broke out at the National Assembly following the refusal of the police who had barricaded the entrance to the National Assembly and prevented Tambuwal and other lawmakers from gaining access into the premises.
“As part of their strategy, the police tried to seize the mace from the sergeant-at-arms but he refused to give it to them. If they got it, it would have made things a lot easier for them. When they failed to compel him to handover the mace to them, they detained him overnight from Wednesday, and only released him on Thursday after crisis erupted at the National Assembly.
“What happened at the National Assembly became necessary following the desperation of the PDP and the federal government to remove the Speaker from office by all means. If the lawmakers who scaled the gate didn’t do what they did, what happened in Ekiti State where seven PDP lawmakers claimed to have impeached the Speaker is the same thing that would have played out and the government would have wasted no time in recognising the new Speaker that would have emerged. It is not a matter of whether what the honourable members did was right or wrong, it was necessary,” the source explained.
LEADERSHIP Weekend recalls that in a move widely reported to have been sponsored by the state, the Speaker and other lawmakers were Thursday prevented from entering the National Assembly to preside over what a special session on the extension of emergency rule in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, a development that forced many of the lawmakers to scale the 12-feet gate to gain entrance into the complex.
The plan would however not succeed as pandemonium ensued at the National Assembly complex, after the police fired tear gas to deter the lawmakers from continuing into the legislative chamber.
The police in a statement signed by the force public relations officer, CP Emmanuel Ojukwu defended its action, saying the police were acting on intelligence report of a likely invasion of the House of Representatives by hoodlums.
Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon Emeka Ihedioha who had come to the Assembly complex earlier, was allowed unfettered access into the complex with convoy and retinue of aides.
Following the invasion of the National Assembly by policemen and firing of tear gas in the chamber of the House of Representatives, the Senate President, David Mark, who doubles as the chairman of the National Assembly ordered the shutdown of the National Assembly and suspension of plenary activities till Tuesday November 25.
The presidency yesterday asked the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, to explain what led to the security siege at the National Assembly.
The Inspector General who arrived at the office of the Vice President, Mohammed Namadi Sambo at the State House, Abuja to answer the query later emerged looking sullen.
When he was confronted by newsmen who wanted to know what actually led to the police’s action at the National Assembly, the police boss only said, “who did what and who didn’t do what will be disclosed to you later. You know we work with investigations, investigations are going on and the press officer will address you.”
Viewed 1 times
NASS Crisis: Arrest Tambuwal if he resists arrest - Police Boss
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for dropping your response, there are other interesting news on the page too