Sokoto State governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has condemned in strong terms Tuesday’s invasion of, and siege to the National Assembly complex in Abuja by armed security operatives.
He also applauded the immediate removal from office of the Director General of the Department of State Securities (DSS), Lawal Musa Daura, whose personnel were deployed for what he described as “the flagrant affront to democracy and the elected representatives of the Nigerian people.”
Tambuwal was reacting to the incident on Tuesday morning, where DSS operatives barricaded the entrance to the National Assembly complex and prevented some lawmakers, newsmen and staff of the National Assembly from entering the premises.
He said the action was an “unacceptable contempt for the sanctity of the legislature, the very bastion of democracy.”
As a former lawmaker and immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tambuwal said he was confounded that anyone could even contemplate, not to talk of carrying out such an act.
He commended the Acting President, Professor Yomi Osibanjo, for his intervention, while calling 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.”
According to the governor, “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 labelled incident “an attempted coup against the Legislature,” which he said required full and unremitting investigation.
He called on Nigerians to always remember that it was their sacred right 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.