The All Progressives Congress, APC has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to order the immediate reinstatement of the security details withdrawnfrom AminuTambuwal, speaker of the House of Representatives.
The party speaking through Lai Mohammed, its National Publicity Secretary, accused the president of abusing the tenets of democracy by instructing Suleiman Abba, Inspector General of Police, IGP to withdraw the security details of the Speaker.
The move by the federal government to strip the Speaker of his security orderlies in the early hours of Thursday is seen as a reaction by the presidency to Tambuwal’s defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to the opposition APC.
“As the number four citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the security detail and apparatus attached to the person of the Speaker is not based on his lineage, person and or political leaning. It is on account of the position and the protection required for that position and in Nigeria’s best interest.
“This unfortunate use and deployment of Nigeria’s security forces in a partisan and political way portends danger and further weakens important institutions of governance and jeopardizes national security. Under President Jonathan, we now have a Police Force that is monitoring and making conclusions with respect to party membership, qualification, of an otherwise elected official. This is unheard of in any decent democracy,” the APC said.
The statement added that, “It is unfortunate that President Jonathan who had been a successive long term and unique beneficiary of our democracy and Constitution is now demonstrating the greatest disregard for the laws that govern and guide us as a people.
“The All Progressives Congress rejects this challenge to democracy and modern society. We reject President Jonathan’s illegality and call for respect and compliance with the law. We reject this meddling in the affairs of the legislature especially given the resolution of President Jonathan and his close advisers yesterday at their meeting to ask the Deputy Speaker EmekaIhedioha to unlawfully reconvene the House before the adjourned date.
“May we remind President Goodluck Jonathan that under the House Rules, only a resolution by all principal officers of the House and not even the Speaker of the House can reconvene the House before the adjourned date not to talk of the Deputy Speaker,” the statement signed by Mohammed further read.
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