The Senate has launched a probe into the recent invasion of Ekiti House of Assembly by men of the Department of State Services.
The Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence has been directed by the Senate to conduct a thorough investigation into the immediate and remote causes why the the Department of State Security (DSS) invaded Ekiti State House of Assembly in such a commando style which runs counter in a democratic dispensation.
This directive came after a motion was sponsored by Senator Biodun Olujimi (Ekiti South) on the recent invasion of Ekiti State House of Assembly by men of the DSS while committee meetings were ongoing.
Olujimi who is a one-time deputy governor of the state revealed that more than 10 DSS operatives armed to the teeth took Ekiti lawmakers hostage and were shooting sporadically into the air, causing panic and possible stampede.
She said, “At the end of the commotion created by this barbaric act, four members of the House of Assembly could not be found with news filtering in during the weekend that Hon. Afolabi Akanni, the member representing Efon Constituency was abducted and taken to Abuja”.
The legislator also recalled how Akwa Ibom State Government House was earlier invaded by same DSS without any formal explanation as to the reason for the invasion. She called such action unlawful and shameful in a democratic dispensation.
According to Olujimi, “The action of the service is outside the scope of its mandate and the National Assembly as the highest law making body in the country must step in to defend and uphold the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended by which they were elected and sworn to uphold. I am afraid that we shall degenerate into a state of Gestapo. We must condemn it in the strongest terms so that we do not allow democracy to be uprooted at the grass root”.
She described the action as a political vendetta meant to intimidate opponents and cause mayhem.