Police siege on N’Assembly ‘a coup attempt’, say senators

Senators have condemned last Thursday’s police invasion of the National Assembly, revealing that David Mark, the senate president, was also tear-gassed and delayed for an hour at the gate of the complex.

At Wednesday’s plenary session, ‎Abdul Ningi, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator representing Bauchi central, disclosed that a police sergeant fired a tear-gas canister a few metres away from the senate president on the day of the siege.

He said that while Mark was delayed for an hour at the gate of the national assembly complex, some senators were prevented from entering the complex altogether.

On November 20, a combined team of Department of State Services operatives and police officers laid siege on the parliament building. The police attempted to stop Aminu Tambuwal, speaker of the house of representatives, from accessing the assembly complex, firing several shots of teargas at him.

While supporting the motion moved by Ndoma Egba, the senate majority leader,‎ for the condemnation of the police’s action and for the setting up of an adhoc committee to investigate the matter, Mingi likened the incident to “a coup attempt”.

“‎What happened last week at the national assembly was a coup attempt by the police against the parliament and against democracy,” he said.

“On that particular day, the chairman of the national assembly was locked outside the gate for an hour. And some did not know that a sergeant shot a teargas canister at the chairman of the national assembly. The police action is regrettable and they must be held to account.”

Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy senate president, described the siege of the parliament building as “a dark day in the history of the national assembly”, saying: “I so recommend we all appear in black every November 20 to mark what happened here.”

He also urged the senate to investigate the matter and make proper recommendations.

George Akume, an All Progressives Congress (APC) senator representing Benue South, described the incident as a criminal attempt to undermine the parliament.

“It was a deliberate attempt to destroy the parliament and by implication to destroy democracy,” he said.

“It is a collective assault on all of us.”

An Ad hoc committee charged with the responsibility of investigating the incident was constituted as follows: Ahmed Makarfi (head of the committee), Atiku Bagudu (member), Victor Lar (member), Ehiegie Uzamare (member), Adegbenga Kaka (member), Paulinus Igwe (member) and Jibrila Bindo (member).

Earlier on Tuesday, Suleiman Abba, the inspector-general of police, shunned the invitation of the senate for him to explain the circumstances that led to the tear-gassing of the assembly.