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PDP leaders call for panel to penalise Lawal Daura, others

By Leo Sobechi (Asst. Political Editor) and Saxone Akhaine (Kaduna)
09 August 2018   |   2:59 am
The Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Jibrin Walid, has urged Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to set up a judicial panel to penalise those behind the siege on the National Assembly. He said it was a treasonable action against democracy. Also, former PDP Caretaker Committee Chairman, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi,…

The sacked DSS DG Lawal Daura

The Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Jibrin Walid, has urged Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to set up a judicial panel to penalise those behind the siege on the National Assembly.

He said it was a treasonable action against democracy.

Also, former PDP Caretaker Committee Chairman, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, in a statement signed by his spokesman, Malam Mukthar Sirajo, yesterday, said those behind the invasion should be punished to serve as deterrent.

Walid, who spoke while addressing journalists, said the action of the Department of State Services (DSS) operatives could send the country to doom.

He said: “The recent attempt to tamper with the legitimate function of the National Assembly by selfish individuals who attempted to block the complex should be condemned and appropriate action taken against the intruders.

“In this respect, the Acting President Osinbajo should be praised for taking a decision to do away with the DSS Director-General, Lawal Daura, as he promised that the situation would be further investigated.”

“The purported resignation of our Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, is also an act of democracy.”

“Therefore, considering the recent action taken by Osinbajo, the PDP is happy to donate Akpabio to APC through him with great pleasure, as we have many PDP senators to do that job which has been upgraded to Majority Leader.

“On behalf of the BoT, we wish Akpabio bye-bye and safe journey,” he added.

Makarfi said: “The siege on the National Assembly by armed men of the DSS signposted a new low that anti-democracy agents seem ready to bring our country and its democratic processes to.

As Nigerians grieve over this heinous and unforgivable show of desperation and impunity, I find it necessary to once again commiserate and identify with, not only the leadership and members of the National Assembly, but also the entire peace-loving and democratic Nigerians.”

He further re-affirmed his belief “in the inalienable rights of all Nigerians to legitimately belong to whatever platform they wish to identify with without let or hindrance from any quarters.”

According to him, “these rights, enshrined in not only our constitution, but also in many other international conventions, must be respected by all, especially a government, which itself is a product and beneficiary of same.

All forms of intimidation and persecution against people doing nothing other than exercising their God-given and constitutional rights must stop forthwith.”

In the same vein, a frontline presidential aspirant on the platform of PDP, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN), has urged the Federal Government to prosecute all those involved in the siege of the National Assembly.

He said it was not enough to sack any culprit from his job.

Turaki, who spoke at the PDP secretariat in Osogbo as part of his consultation visits to South-West states, said it is only by investigating and prosecuting those responsible that appropriate lessons would be learnt as well as deter future occurrence.

The immediate past minister of special duties rued the desecration of the symbol of democracy, stressing that as a lawyer, it is painful that the National Assembly could be invaded with impunity 19 years after sustained efforts to entrench representative governance.

The PDP presidential aspirant while observing that putting the National Assembly under siege was tantamount to putting Nigeria’s democracy in chains, lamented that the invasion by armed masked men “also meant that the rule of law had no meaning to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).”

He promised that if voted into office as president, “the security agencies would be headed by seasoned professionals, who will complement one another in tackling the nation’s security challenges more effectively and efficiently.”

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