There were reports yesterday that the
Inspector General of Police was making plans to
'arrest' the speaker of the House of
Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, over
Thursday's drama at the National Assembly.
The speaker, in a statement released by his
media adviser, Imam Dalhatu, says he's ready
for any invitation by the police. Find his
statement below...
The attention of the Hon Speaker, House
of Representatives, Rt Hon Aminu Waziri
Tambuwal CFR, has been drawn to
publications in the media to the effect
that the Inspector General of Police has
ordered that he, Speaker, be invited to
the Force Headquarters and that he be
arrested if he resisted.
The Honorable Speaker wishes to state 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.
Accordingly , the Hon Speaker states for the
records that 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.
The Speaker expresses dismay at the
unprofessional conduct of the Nigerian Police in
the attempt to stop him from accessing the
House of Representatives chambers on the
20th November 2014 to preside over the
Special Session of the House on the State of
Emergency Extension requested by Mr
President, for which he had recalled members
from their working recess.
Most disgraceful is 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.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Hon Speaker
came to National Assembly accompanied by
Hon Members as is customary during any
sitting of the House. They all came with their
official vehicles but were disallowed from
driving into the premises. Certainly Hon
Members, who arrived the precinct of the
National Assembly in response to a call to
perform an urgent, critical national assignment,
cannot be described by any self respecting
institution as “a motley crowd"
It is important to remind the Nigeria Police
Force that as a public institution that provides
common services for all the arms of
government, they must not allow themselves to
be used by one of the arms to undermine the
others.
Malam Imam Imam @imamdimam
Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs to
the Hon Speaker
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