Gbajabiamila: Why we scaled N’Assembly’s fence

             

• Embarrassment could have been averted, says Kaze

Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila condemned the police invasion and described the incident as a siege on the House and democracy in Nigeria.

Gbajabiamila, who was among the legislators that forced their way into the parliament by scaling the iron gates, said nobody in his right senses would have thought that the presidency or the executive would invade the House the way they did. He said that the invasion was an act of impunity and disrespect for the legislature but warned that there could be consequences for such actions if they persisted.

On why some lawmakers including him had to jump the locked gates of the National Assembly to walk down the rest of the way on foot, Gbajabiamila said he did so because their colleagues were waiting for them in the chambers and they could not afford to be shut out from the emergency session.

“It is a siege on the House and a siege on democracy. Nobody in his right senses would have thought that the Presidency or the Executive would invade the House the way they did today. Unfortunately, I did something that I thought I will never do in my life which is to climb the gate of this institution.

But I had to because my members were waiting for me in the House and I had to come in here and take charge. “I did what I needed to do. I think we have made it very clear to the Presidency; we’ve made it very clear to enemies of democracy that this Speaker is here to stay and nothing is going to happen to him. Continue after the cut...

That is the point we have made and the message we have sent across,” he said. Former Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Climate Change, Hon. Bitrus Kaze (PDP/ Plateau) also condemned the action of the security agencies, describing it as an embarrassment to the parliament and democracy in Nigeria.

Kaze said that though the whole episode was directly linked to the defection of Tambuwal to the APC and his insistence on remaining as the Speaker, there was no justification for the action taken by the police as it amounted to a violation of the independence of the parliament. He argued that having defected to the APC when there was no crisis in the PDP, Tambuwal ought to have honourably stepped down from the seat of speaker and the whole incident could have been averted.