– Ortom asks Osinbajo to extend discipline to other security agencies
– Dogara arrives NASS, Reps jubilate, sing “Kingdom cometh by struggles”
– Idris dissociates police from siege
Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday reposted one of his famous quotes from 2015 which described the All Progressives Congress, APC, as a party which had no regard for human rights or democracy.
The message was posted on his official Facebook page while men of the Department of State Services laid siege to the National Assembly.
The post read in part: “The choice before Nigerians in the coming election is simple: A choice between going forward and going backward; between the new ways and the old ways; between freedom and repression; between a record of visible achievements and beneficial reforms and desperate power seekers with empty promises.”
The post elicited 683 comments and was shared nearly 2,000 times on Facebook within four hours.
According to Punch, a large number of Jonathan’s 2.2 million followers hailed the former President for being a democrat during his six years in office.
However, a few others berated the former President, reminding him of how under his watch in 2014, members of the House of Representatives were barred from gaining entry into the green chamber during a failed attempt to remove the then Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal.
– Ortom asks Osinbajo to extend discipline to other security agencies
In his reaction to the sack, Benue State Governor, Mr Samuel Ortom has called on the presidency to look into other security agencies the way it sacked the Director General of Department for State Services, DSS, Lawal Daura.
According to Nigerian Tribune, he gave the advice on Tuesday through his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase while reacting to the sack of the Director General of DSS.
Ortom said the sack of the DSS Director General was long expected, following the manner he ran the Service.
The governor said it was necessary to also look into operations of other security agencies to save the country from the current wave of impunity.
– Dogara arrives NASS, Reps jubilate, sing “Kingdom cometh by struggles”
A report by Punch said the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, also arrived the National Assembly about 5.08pm.
He was received by jubilant lawmakers, who broke into a song as they sighted him.
They sang “Kingdom cometh by struggles”, “Kingdom cometh by struggles.”
The Chairman House Committee on Capital Market and Institutions, Mr. Tajudeen Yusuf, and the Chairman, Committee on Public Accounts, Mr. Kingsley Chinda, led the members in singing as they rushed to greet Dogara.
The speaker acknowledged by waving at them and shaking hands with many of them.
He walked past the lobby to his office, as his colleagues continued to sing after him.
– Idris dissociates Police from invasion
Meanwhile, NAN reports that the Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, has exonerated the Nigeria Police Force from Tuesday’s blockage of the National Assembly by security operatives.
He absolved the police of any blame after a closed-door meeting with the acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said that the standoff at the NASS complex reached him as a surprise, adding that the police would soon issue a statement in relation to the impasse.
“Obviously, like I said, I have not got a detailed brief on that. In fact, we are going to issue a (press) release (on that),’’ he said.
The acting President had on Tuesday sacked the Director General of the Department of State Services, Lawal Daura, with immediate effect over Tuesday’s invasion of the premises of the National Assembly by security operatives.
Osinbajo condemned the unauthorised standoff at the National Assembly complex, describing it as “a gross violation of a constitutional order, rule of law and all accepted notions of the law and order.”
He said, the “unlawful act, which was done without the knowledge of the Presidency, is condemnable and completely unacceptable.’’
The acting President, therefore, assured Nigerians that all persons within the law enforcement apparatus, who participated in “this travesty’’ would be identified and subjected to appropriate disciplinary action.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the sacked DSS boss, had, along with the IGP and the Chief of Staff to the President, Malam Abba Kyari, earlier met behind closed doors with the acting President.
