As reactions continue to trail the unlawful siege of the National Assembly by officers of the department of state security (DSS), with many people against and for the actions of the security agency, Retired Colonel Chinedu Owhonda has condemned the act, saying that such constitutes a security threat to the democratic process in Nigeria.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with our reporter Tina Amanda, Colonel Owhonda said the actions of security officers truncating emergency meetings are unwarranted and an abuse of the rule of law.
He stressed that the law should take its course and sanction everyone involved in what he described as a heinous crime.
‘’For the law enforcement agency to be used as a tool to lay siege on the National Assembly is very embarrassing, its scandalous and unheard of in any part of the world.
“Benue state is a clear case of executive rascality were eight members of the house of assembly wants to impeach a serving governor. When twenty-two members said no to it, the police protected them, followed them into the chambers to carry out the impeachment.
“When things like this come up and if it is not stopped, it may truncate this our nascent democracy and that is what we are preaching against.
“If it’s a clandestine operation, whoever that sent them to do such a thing in front of the world should be punished.
“All those enemies of democracy should be fished out and dealt with because there are persons in this country that likes taking laws into their hands. Sacking the DSS Director-General is in order. The law should take its course”
On her part, Niger Delta Activist Ankio Briggs described the assault on National Assembly by masked officers as a criminal act.
“Under any circumstances, when somebody confronts you and he or she is hiding his or her identity from you, that confrontation is frightening and for them to assault our representatives the people sent to represent us is criminal. It is totally and absolutely unacceptable, we are in a democracy. What they did can be likened to a Gestapo type of attitude towards our representatives. There is no explanation for this type of assault. What they did has the potential of doing serious damage to our democracy and destroying whatever is holding Nigeria together as a country.‘’
