The Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, on
Wednesday declared that the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, no longer occupies his
seat after defecting from the ruling Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, to All Progressives Congress, APC.
The police boss made the blunt comments as he appeared
before the House committee investigating the invasion of
the National Assembly by police last Thursday.
The committee invited the IG to explain the barricade of
National Assembly which led to chaos as some lawmakers
scaled the fence to gain entrance.
At the meeting, Mr. Abba pointedly refused to address Mr.
Tambuwal as speaker, triggering angry responses from
members of the committee.
The IG referred to the speaker as “Alhaji Tambuwal”.
When confronted by lawmakers, Mr. Abba said he would
not comment further on the case since it is before a court.
The hearing was adjourned abruptly as Mr. Abba stood his
ground.
The police chief accused Mr. Tambuwal of leading a band
of “thugs” to invade the National Assembly and assault
police officers on duty.
He said security was strengthened around the National
Assembly on Thursday to prevent likely invasion of the
premises by political thugs.
Mr. Abba said there was credible information that the
National Assembly was going to be penetrated.
“The police high command directed the Commissioner of
Police, FCT, to strengthen the security arrangement in the
assembly, the police headquarters and the INEC
headquarters,” he said.
“In the process of safeguarding the security of the National
Assembly on the 20th of November, we collaborated with
the National Assembly Sergeant-at-Arm according to laid
down procedures.
“Members were being asked to identify themselves before
they could be allowed into the premises.
“The invasion of the National Assembly by large number of
suspected thugs caused a reinforcement at the second gate.
“We saw how security at that gate was compromised and
we are investigating the issue of teargas thrown at people,’’
Mr. Abba said.
The police chief said officers were “physically beaten,
disobeyed and many other things”.
He told the lawmakers his decision to order a siege on the
assembly was in support of democracy.
“From the day I was appointed acting Inspector General of
Police, in my maiden speech I made a pledge that policing
all over the world has gone beyond the issue of arresting
suspected criminals, investigating and prosecuting
offenders. Policing worldwide and Nigeria inclusive, which
I pledge to be part of, now include the support of the
development of democracy,” he said.
Mr. Abba continued: “I want to state that that pledge was
not just for the words, I meant it. Since then all my effort
has been in that direction in addition to other
responsibility on my shoulder.
“2015 elections are around the corner and political
activities and politicking has heightened. As a result of that,
I discussed with my colleagues and told them that we
should make all efforts to make our election credible and
peaceful. In the last meeting we had in two weeks ago, I
told them to be focused on efforts that will enable the
police control the activities of political thugs and to mop up
arms.
“I told them to do everything within the limit of the
provision of the law to ensure that people do not take laws
into their hands, so that we can have credible and safe
conduct of the 2015 elections.”
He said the invasion of the assembly was partly in
response to an earlier threat by the APC to cause mayhem
in Abuja.
“On the 19th of November, members of a political party
including their leaders and a serving Governor conducted a
rally at the Eagle square. They proceeded in a procession to
the headquarters of the Nigeria Police and made
uncomplimentary statements among which was the fact
that what they were doing that afternoon was just a tip of
the iceberg of what they will be doing in subsequent days,”
he said.
“They promised to come back on the 20th to continue the
procession with the blockage of the police headquarters,
and even promising to extend to other areas including the
National Assembly and the headquarters of INEC.
“Bearing in mind what happened in the parliament in
Burkina Faso on 30th October 2014, security was
strengthened and it included that the operational
procedures of the security of the National Assembly, must
be complied with. That is why the arrangement of self-
identification were made for members to identify
themselves, and that went around and some of the
principal officers of the National Assembly complied and
that went on.
“Until when that was disrupted on the arrival of Alhaji
Aminu Tambuwal. With the disruption of the arrangement
by quite a number of suspected thugs, the second gate was
not only closed but reinforcement.
He said the teargas fired by police merely “exploded”.
“And to answer to the teargas, yes. Unfortunately, the tear
gas exploded outside the gate and that is being
investigated, the circumstances is being investigated. We
saw how security arrangement at that gate was
compromised and we saw how people we suspect to be
thugs crossed the fence and that resulted in the
unfortunate incident were tear gas exploded,” the police
chief said.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/171933-police-ig-meets-reps-insists-tambuwal-no-longer-speaker.html

Waoo! Tear gas 'MERELY EXPLODED??' Hm naija lo wa, ki lo sele! I don't believe any of this crap. Maybe unborn babies would, given that they are tabula rasas!! When did Police IG start determining who is speaker or otherwise? When did the Police become politicised? Too bad for naija. All the excuses are so LAME. If the IG's children believe this it means they are DAFT, QED!