The Ekiti State House of Assembly on Saturday said that four of its
members are missing following alleged invasion of the Assembly complex
on Friday evening by operatives of the Department of State Security
(DSS).
The Speaker of the Assembly, Kola Oluwawole, who addressed
newsmen in Ado Ekiti on Saturday, said the members of the Assembly were
in their various duty posts in the house when the operatives of the DSS
invaded the complex.
Oluwawole said: "Not minding that various
committees of the House were meeting, more than 10 DSS men who were
armed to the teeth invaded the Assembly Complex, shooting sporadically
into the air, thereby causing panic among members and staff of the House
of Assembly, who had to scamper for safety.
"At the end of the commotion created by this barbaric act, we discovered that four of our members could not be found.
"It
was only this morning that we were able to establish that Hon Afolabi
Akanni, representing Efon Constituency was abducted and taken to Abuja.
Whereabouts of three other members is still unknown as we speak, and
reasons for the invasion and abduction of our members are not known."
Ado-Ekiti-
Ekiti State House of Assembly yesterday raised the alarm over the
invasion of the Assembly complex by operatives of the Department of
State Services (DSS) and abduction of some of its members.
According
to Oluwawole, the DSS operatives had stormed the Assembly complex on
Friday evening, shot into the air, sending staff and members into
pandemonium.
The speaker, who was joined by 13 other members of the
House for the press briefing claimed that the DSS operatives were from
Abuja, when asked if he had sought to clarify the incident with the
Ekiti command of the service, stating that that was what they learnt
when they sought to know what was going on.
The House accused
President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) of
being behind the alleged invasion, saying "we got it on good authority
that the script now being acted by the DSS is part of the APC and
President Buhari’s clandestine plot to cripple the Ekiti State
government by arresting and detaining top functionaries of the
government."
The Assembly claimed that "the plot is to harass,
intimidate and embarrass top officials of the Ayodele Fayose government
because of his critical stance on the Buhari’s government," and added
that "we are aware that 18 of our members have been pencilled in for
harassment and the game plan is to harass them to submission, with a
view to coercing them into signing an already prepared notice of
impeachment of the governor and his deputy."
The house however
expressed its readiness to reject any form of intimidation, saying "we
wish to inform those orchestrating the harassment and intimidation of
officials of the Ekiti State government, especially honourable members
of the state House of Assembly that this is 2016 and not 2006. The same
tactics used 10 years ago to truncate democracy in Ekiti State will not
work this time."
They said they wished "to tell the APC agents of
political instability that this time round, this House of Assembly will
not be available for any ungodly use."
They added that they "also
wish to remind Nigerians of how, in September 2016, the Federal
Government invaded the Akwa Ibom State Government House with armed men
of the Department of State Security (DSS).
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