The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has berated President Goodluck Jonathan over the withdrawal of security details attached to the Speaker of House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal.
This development came on the heels of the recent defection of Tambuwal to the opposition, All Progressives Congress.
The Speaker announced his defection from the People’s Democratic Party to the APC on Tuesday, after which he adjourned the House till December 3, 2014. His security details were, however withdrawn by the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Suleiman Abbah on Thursday.
In his reaction to this development, the Executive Chairman of CACOL, Debo Adeniran, described the Executive’s move as being petty and undemocratic.
He said, “The sudden withdrawal of the security aides attached to the office of Mr Speaker shows pettiness; it is undemocratic and should be condemned in strong terms. This amounts to the dirty game of politics where all is fair. The ruling party has exhibited what could be termed as loser takes all because this kind of practice is alien to modern democratic values. The beauty of democracy is that individuals have the legitimate right to decamp to other parties, if they are not comfortable with the political ideology of their party. This singular action of Mr. President has shown that we still have a long way to go in our quest for sustainable democracy.
President Jonathan and his party members should realise that Tambuwal remains the Speaker of the House of Reps until he resigns or is impeached by the house. The reckless abuse of power by the police is also highly reprehensible. When did the Nigeria Police Force become the interpreter of the law? Who gave the IGP order to strip Tambuwal of his security aides? Tambuwal, apart from being the number 4 citizen of this country, is entitled to security details as a member of the National Assembly. The IG should be held responsible, if anything happens to the Speaker in the course of withdrawing his security aides.”
Speaking further, the human right crusader advised the People’s Democratic Party to invoke the spirit of the law instead of engaging in impunity.
“The ruling party should invoke the letters of the constitution, should it feel short-changed in this matter, instead of engaging in impunity. The party should seek redress in a court of law instead of engaging in this brazen illegality,” Adeniran said.
The anti-corruption crusader however,called for the immediate restoration of the security details of Speaker Aminu Tambuwal.
Abimbola Adegoke
Media Officer, CACOL
31 October, 2014
