By Sadiq Umar – The Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, has condemned in strong terms Tuesday’s siege on the National Assembly complex in Abuja by armed security operatives, calling for “full and unremitting investigation.”
Mr. Tambuwal who applauded the immediate removal from office of the Director-General of the Department of State Security (DSS), Lawal Daura, whose personnel were deployed for such flagrant affront to democracy and the elected representatives further described the incident as an attempted coup against the Legislature.
The governor was reacting to the ugly incident this morning, where operatives of the DSS barricaded the entrance to the National Assembly complex and prevented some lawmakers, newsmen and staff of the National Assembly from entering the premises.
He described as unacceptable what he termed “contempt for the sanctity of the Legislature as bastion of democracy.
As a former lawmaker and immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Tambuwal said he was confounded that anyone could contemplate and carry out such an act, commending the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo for his intervention.
He also called on the international community to rise in condemnation of the action, which he described as a very dangerous threat to the survival of democracy in Africa’s most populous nation.
“It is wrong and unconscionable for security operatives of any 21st Century nation to act in ways suggesting democracy and the will of the people could be held to ransom.
He called on Nigerians to always remember that it is their sacred to ensure that only their duly elected representatives determine their fortunes, saying that no one should bring down the hard earned democratic freedom Nigerians fought hard to achieve.
“Every Nigerian must rise and stand up to defend democracy now or suffer the consequences of a Police state,” the governor said
He also commended the Legislators who refused to be intimidated, describing them as heroes of democracy.
Governor Tambuwal, who dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PPD) last week, is a frontline national leader with loyalists across all political, ethnic and religious divides.
