The Akwa Ibom state House of Assembly has threatened to drag the Department of State Security (DSS) to court over their invasion of the state governor’s lodge on Thursday, September 3.
The state assembly described the raid as an “act of felony, persecution and political vendetta,” Daily Trust reports.
According to the state assembly speaker, Elder Aniekan Uko, the raid contravened Section 308 (1, 2, 3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
In a press conference held in Abuja, on Sunday, September 6, the lawmakers, who expressed shock over the incident, called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly to investigate the action of the DSS.
“We are shocked that the SSS which is currently purging officers it claimed to have shown unconcealed partisanship should descend so low to the extent of staging a coup d’état on our governor, simply because he belongs to an opposition party.
“Despite the fact that the president, his deputy as well as state governors enjoy constitutional immunity, the Akwa Ibom state Governor Udom Emmanuel has been singled out and stripped of this right which provided for him under the law,” the lawmakers said.
A top official of the service had said they found stockpiles of US dollars rather than the expected arms and ammunition during its raid on the Akwa Ibom government house.
The lawmakers however, denied this report, saying the service should “openly declare to the authorities in the state what they found and what they took away from our Government House.”
They challenged Alhaji Lawal Musa Daura, the director general of the DSS, to tell members of the public his reason for ordering the raid on the Akwa Ibom state government house.
“The people of Akwa Ibom State will hold Mr. Daura and the SSS responsible if any unforeseen incident befall the Governor, his Deputy or key officials of Akwa Ibom State Government,” the legislators said.
They gave the secret service seven days to apologise or face legal action.
The DSS is yet to comment on the incident.
Ayodele Fayose, the Ekiti state governor, had described the invasion as “regrettable, unfortunate, condemnable,” while calling for the immediate sacking of the director general of the DSS, Lawal Daura, who he blamed for the invasion.
Uche Secondus, the acting chairman of the PDP had described the invasion as a civilian coup d’état.
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