The All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to show better understanding of democracy by immediately restoring the police security details the Inspector General of Police unlawfully withdrew from the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Rt Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party described the announcement of the withdrawal of the Speaker’s security details as a usurpation of the role of the Judiciary by the Inspector General of Police, especially bearing in mind that the question of the interpretation of Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution on which the Inspector General of Police anchored his illegal act is currently before the courts for resolution.
Mohammed said for avoidance of doubt, the position and the manner a person becomes the Speaker of the House of Representatives is to be found in the Constitution, and no constitutional provision or legislation says membership of the ruling or dominant party in the House is a pre-requisite.
Furthermore as the number four citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mohammed held that the security detail and apparatus attached to the person of the Speaker is not based on his lineage, person and or political leaning. It is on account of the position and the protection required for that position and in Nigeria’s best interest.
“This unfortunate use and deployment of Nigeria’s security forces in a partisan and political way portends danger and further weakens important institutions of governance and jeopardised national security,” Mohammed said.
“Under President Jonathan, we now have a Police Force that is monitoring and making conclusions with respect to party membership, qualification, of an otherwise elected official. This is unheard of in any decent democracy.”
He further noted that Jonathan who had been a successive long term and unique beneficiary of Nigeria’s democracy and Constitution is now demonstrating the greatest disregard for the laws that governs and guides the nation.
“President Jonathan who is the only individual who benefited from the same Constitution to become a Governor from a Deputy Governor without an election and from a Vice President to President in similar legal circumstances now desecrates the same Constitution,” Mohammed pointed out.
“The All Progressives Congress rejects this challenge to democracy and modern society. We reject President Jonathan’s illegality and call for respect and compliance with the law.
“We reject this meddling in the affairs of the Legislature especially given the resolution of President Jonathan and his close advisers yesterday at their meeting to ask the Deputy Speaker Mr. Emeka Ihedioha to unlawfully reconvene the House before the adjourned date.”
He reminded the president that under the House rules only a resolution by all principal officers of the House and not even the Speaker of the House can reconvene the House before the adjourned date not to talk of the Deputy Speaker.
“Regrettably, the priority of President Goodluck Jonathan on the night that Mubi a town with a population of about two million people in Adamawa state fell to the Boko Haram insurgents was how to illegally remove the Hon Rt Hon Aminu Tambuwal as the Speaker of the House of Representatives,” Mohammed said.
Stop Playing Role Of Judiciary, Tambuwal Tells Police IG
Aminu Tambuwal, speaker of the House of Representatives has carpeted the acting Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, for withdrawing the security details attached to him
A statement by Emmanuel Ojukwu, Force Public Relations Officer, on Thursday, said the police authority took the decision to withdraw Tambuwal’s security aides because by defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC), he had breached Section 68 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution and was therefore no longer entitled to police security.
Tambuwal who said he was shocked by statement from Suleiman Abba, and wondered if the IG had become a judge or if the police had become a court.
In a statement by his media aide, Imam Imam, Tambuwal said by implication the Inspector-General`s statement was saying he (Tambuwal) was being sanctioned for an alleged constitutional breach and therefore, Tambuwal had been removed from his position in the House as Speaker.
Tambuwal referred Abba to a judgement by Justice Faji of the Ilorin Division of Federal High Court in suit FHC/ABJ/CS/605/2013, in which the court held that indeed there were factions in the PDP while also recalling that in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/ 605/2013, the Sokoto Division of the Federal High Court through Justice Aikawa, delivered a judgement in which the court said there was not only division but faction in the PDP, which later merged with the APC.
The speaker reminded the IG that as the number four citizen in the hierarchy of protocol in the country he is entitled to security protection by the security agencies.
“Therefore we see the action of the Acting Inspector+General of Police as not only contempt of the courts but a ploy to bring harm to the person of Rt. Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.
“We are on authority that nothing in the 1999 Constitution or the Police Act confers on the police force adjudicatory powers including the interpretation of the constitution.
“In any case, even Section 215 of the 1999 Constitution does not contemplate the issuing of or compliance with unlawful orders by the President and or the Inspector-General of Police respectively,” the statement said adding that Abba’s action was a “brazen act of crass impunity, gross constitutional breach and contempt of court.
“The Inspector-General should desist from assuming or usurping the constitutional functions of the Judiciary.”
