Tambuwal Vows To Honour Police Invitation

Following reports that the Inspector General Police, Suleiman Abba, has ordered his arrest, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, has disclosed that he will be willing to present himself to the security agency.

In a statement issued on Friday by his media aide, Imam Imam, the Speaker noted that as “a law abiding citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who has no immunity against arrest and prosecution except privileges as may be provided by the Legislative Powers and Privileges Act…,” “he is available, ready and willing to answer any lawful invitation from any of the Security agencies on any matter for which they may require his attention.”

The statement pointed out that the “Speaker expresses dismay at the unprofessional conduct of the Nigerian Police in the attempt to stop him from accessing the House of Representatives chambers on the 20th November 2014 to preside over the Special Session of the House on the State of Emergency Extension requested by Mr President, for which he had recalled members from their working recess.

Tambuwal described as “falsehood” the claim by the police that he “arrived the venue with a motley crowd, who broke the cordon, assaulted the Police and evaded due process.”

He pointed out that as “a law enforcement agency, that is expected to be neutral and lawful, is unfortunate, to say the least.”

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Hon Speaker came to National Assembly accompanied by Hon Members as is customary during any sitting of the House. They all came with their official vehicles but were disallowed from driving into the premises.

“Certainly Hon Members, who arrived the precinct of the National Assembly in response to a call to perform an urgent, critical national assignment, cannot be described by any self-respecting institution as ‘a motley crowd.’

“It is important to remind the Nigeria Police Force that as a public institution that provides common services for all the arms of government, they must not allow themselves to be used by one of the arms to undermine the others,” the statement said.