National Assembly complex sealed off by security men as elections are postponed

NIGERIA's National Assembly complex is currently under lock and key as security men sealed off the facility ahead of the impending election of its principal officers today with the battle for senate president and House of Representatives speaker heating up.

 

With the race to decide who heads both houses still uncertain and the subject of a lot of infighting, men of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps have been drafted in to seal the complex. They have blocked all roads leading to the facility, preventing staff from gaining access.

 

This sudden decision of security operatives to barricade all entrances was intended to prevent elections from taking place as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is torn about who the senate president and speaker should be. The main entrance to the complex from the central area axis and the two entry points from Aso Villa were blocked by a combined team of men of the NPF and Department of State Security.

 

Apparently, President Muhammadu Buhari who returned from the G7 meeting in Germany last night will meet with the National Assembly members of the APC this morning to salvage the already situation. He has been asked to wade into the crisis because the APC cannot agree on who to elect as senate president and speaker.

 

At a party gathering of senators and members of the House of Representatives over the weekend, Senator Ahmed Lawan of Yobe North was nominated for the position of senate president with Senator George Akume of Benue North West as his deputy. In the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, representing Surulele I Constituency in Lagos State was nominated for the position of speaker with Hon Mohammed Monguno, representing Monguno/Nganzai/Marte Constituency in Borno State as his deputy.

 

However, their rivals Senator Bukola Saraki from Kwara State who is standing for senate president and Hon Yakubu Dogara, running for speakership, have refused to accept the results of the mock election. To make matters worse, both rival candidates have been backed by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

 

As part of the deal, the PDP has adopted one of its own, Senator Ike Ekweramadu as Senator Saraki’s deputy, forcing the APC to postpone the elections. According to one source, the APC never bargained for a diluted government and would do everything to stop the anti-party activities of some of its members.

 

He added: “Nigerians did not vote for a diluted government rather they voted for change and a positive change for that matter. One thing I can assure you of is that the APC will cross this bridge without a stain and the PDP will woefully fail.”

 

Only yesterday, the courts cleared Hon Gbajabiamila to stand after a suit had been filed seeking to get him barred because he had dual citizenship. A group, Social Justice and Civil Rights Awareness Initiative, had filed an ex-parte application asking the court to restrain the House of Representatives from accepting Hon Gbajabiamila’s nomination as an aspirant for the speakership position because he has US citizenship and has been suspended from practising as a lawyer for 36 months in Georgia State of the US for unethical practices.