Tambuwal: Peterside Berates IG, Calls for Caution

Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Dr. Dakuku Peterside

•   APC will check PDP’s impunity, says Osagie

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has described the recent action of the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, with regard to the withdrawal of security detail of House Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, as crass partisanship and subversion of Nigeria’s constitution.

In a television interview on Monday in Abuja, Peterside described the police chief’s action as an act of impunity and an invitation to anarchy. The House member, who represents Andoni/Opobo-Nkoro Federal Constituency in Rivers State, however called on every Nigerian to reflect deeply on this sad turn of event and be dispassionate in apportioning blame.

Meanwhile, the Minority Whip, Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Samson Osagie, has declared that the APC would use all legal means within its reach to check the "excesses and impunity" of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its plan to force the Speaker of the House, Aminu Tambuwal, out of office.

Osagie, who disclosed that he was a second plaintiff in the suit filed by the APC caucus in the House to stall the plan by the PDP, accused the ruling party of sabotaging the nation's democracy in "material aspects."

According to Peterside, “Impunity is fast becoming the nature of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)—led federal government. Withdrawal of Tambuwal’s security has no basis in law. It is crass abuse of office by the IG. But we must not desecrate our high offices because of politics.
“It is Tambuwal today, how about tomorrow? Therefore we must all condemn this threat, not just to our democracy, but also to our stability and survival as a nation. And it is tragic that the police are an accomplice,” the lawmaker said.

Osagie, the Minority Whip, who spoke shortly after returning his nomination form for the 2015 Edo South senatorial election at the party's secretariat in Benin City, said the country cannot continue in the direction of control of the ruling party.

"We must use all legal processes to stop the impunity of the ruling party in this country that has indulged in acts of sabotage of our constitutional democracy in all material respects.
"We cannot continue in the direction that they are trying to take our ship of state. The Speaker has opted for the APC and heavens cannot fall, and he remains the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

"He is not the Speaker of PDP and his not the Speaker of APC and he is protected by law until a court of competent jurisdiction says otherwise. So for me and our party (APC), we need to check their (PDP) excesses, we need to check their impunity,” he emphasised.

Source: ThisDay