NIGERIANS CONDEMN WITHDRAWAL OF SECURITY DETAILS FROM SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

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Nigerians have condemned the withdrawal of security aides attached to the speaker of the House of Representatives,Aminu Waziri Tambuwal,following his defection from Peoples Democratic Party to All Progressive Congress,describing it as undemocratic.


According to section 68(g) of the 1999 constitution as amended "the member of the senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party,he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected". The section further states that provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.


Speaker of the House of Representatives,Aminu Waziri Tambuwal had on Tuesday October 28th,announced his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressive Congress to his colleagues during a plenary session,while adjourning their meeting toDecember 3rd.


Since the announcement of his defection, mixed reactions have continued to trail his decision.
However,two days after his defection,the Acting Inspector General of Police,Suleiman Abba withdrew all the police security details attached to the speaker,citing section 68(g) as the authority for his actions.


Reacting to this,Victor Onen,a legal practitioner based in Umuahia described the act as undemocratic and called for an amicable settlement of the crisis to avoid heating up the polity. Joel Ananaba,also a legal practitioner who cited the same section of the constitution noted that the removal of the aides could endanger the live of the speaker,who is the fourth person of the federal Republic of Nigeria,adding that this could cause political uproar in the society.
Other legal practitioners who condemned the act include Grant Eboh and Agbai Ogbudibia who noted that the  protection of the speaker remains paramount.

The speaker of the House of Representatives,Aminu Waziri Tambuwal,who received the news of the withdrawal of his security details with shock,described the act as not only contempt of the court but a ploy to bring harm to his person.
In a related development,the Nigeria Labour Congress has described the act as unconstitutional and shameful.


In a statement made available to the press,and signed by its General Secretary,entitled "nothing must happen to Tambuwal" the NLC noted that it was part of plans by politicians to heat up the polity,adding that no section of the Nigerian constitution states that the speaker must come from the majority party.
The speaker,who had gone to court to challenge the action,says he expects to have his security aides re-instated.


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