ABUJA – Mr Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has urged the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr Suleiman Abba, to restore the withdrawn security details attached to Reps Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, immediately.
Ozekhome, a constitutional lawyer, made the call in a press statement issued from his office and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday.
NAN recalls that Tambuwal’s security aides were on Thursday withdrawn by the police following his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) earlier in the week.
The statement quoted Ozekhome as saying that in spite of his defection to APC, Tambuwal deserved full complement of security since he still remained the House of Representatives Speaker and the number four citizen of Nigeria.
“Though the Speaker, Tambuwal has decamped from PDP to APC, he has not yet been pronounced upon as having lost his seat in the House.
“He has not been impeached. He remains the number four person in Nigeria, at least till Dec. 3, when the House resumes Plenary.
“He therefore deserves full complement of security, not as an ordinary Nigerian, but as the Speaker of the lower House, the 4th person in order of protocol,’’ he said.
Ozekhome urged the police not to desecrate the institutions of democratic culture through actions that call to question the institutions of the Nigeria Police and the National Assembly.
“Section 68 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution as altered, merely prohibits carpet crossing or defection from the original sponsoring political party to another.
“Where that happens; a member of the Senate or House of Representatives is to vacate his seat,’’ Ozekhome stated in his statement.
He however stated that if the Speaker could show that his defection was due to a division in PDP, he would be excused by Section 68 (1) (g) of the Constitution. (NAN)
