Ex-lawmaker urges IGP to resign over siege on national assembly

The former lawmaker from Borno State said the siege by police on the Nigerian parliament was an onslaught on the sanctity of democracy as represented by the National Assembly. Yerima said the mass deployment of police officers and operatives of the Department of State Security Service (SSS) “simply to stop Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal from presiding is shameful and ridiculous.” He said: “The unprecedented invasion of the parliament by armed security operatives, the first time since 1999 and the wicked tear gassing of the speaker and the lawmakers is callous and act of cowardice.” He lamented how the security forces have reduced themselves to the level of armed thugs doing the wishful biddings of the ruling party. “By this siege, does President Jonathan think that his approval rating across the world has soared or further nose- dived? Does he think that the international community would take him serious by the invasion of the parliament? “What the Jonathan –led PDP regime did is tantamount to President Barack Obama sending troops to invade the Republican-dominated Congress,” he said. He said attacking democratic institutions like the National Assembly is “embarked upon only by desperate despots who lost the support of their electorate.” He said Jonathan is bent in destroying democracy even though he is one of its greatest beneficiaries. “The new trend the president has adopted is very dangerous for our democratic enterprise and something must be done to stop him from rocking the boat,” he said. The former lawmaker said the security’s onslaught on the opposition in Ekiti, Osun, Rivers and now the National Assembly has brought to the fore the belief among Nigerians that the security forces are mere wings of the ruling party.