Yemisi Izuora
The Federal Government has directed security agencies to probe the circumstances leading to the invasion of the National Assembly and subsequent snatching of the Senate mace by thugs on Wednesday.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the government was shocked at the breach of security and the invasion.
He said the security around the National Assembly complex would be reinforced to prevent a recurrence.
The Senator in the midst of the storm, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege earlier arrested by the police was released Wednesday evening. This was even as the PDP, the APC and the House of Representatives roundly condemned the act.
The House of Representatives described the “seizure” of Senate mace by some hoodlums as mockery of the country’s democracy.
The Deputy Speaker of the House, Yusuff Lasun, said this when the lower chamber briefly suspended plenary to pay solidarity visit to the Senate over the forceful removal of the mace by the hoodlums.
According to him, the 8th Assembly will make sure that democracy works in the country.
He said “I read a lot of books about representative democracy, what baffles me most is that those who are trying to undermine the institution of National Assembly are pretenders to the institution of democracy.
“That means once the assembly seizes to function or you want to muscle it, then it shows that we are no longer practicing democracy.
“So, we need to tell these people who are pretenders that they are not practicing democracy because it is the assembly that defines democracy.
“This is because of the way some of us grew up and started practicing democracy; a lot of Nigerians do not agree that the institution of the legislature must be protected.”
He expressed the support of the House to Senate’s resolution that the Nigerian police should recover the mace within 24 hours.
He said members decided that they must visit the Senate in solidarity with Senators and to tell Nigerians that the 8th assembly was determined to make democracy work in Nigeria.
The Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, commended the lawmakers for the visit, saying “I
am proud of you and I look forward to having some of you joining us here after the 2019 general elections.”