..As Senate resumes probe
By Umar Muhammad Puma
Barring any last minute preparation to resume plenary today members of the House of Representatives are said to be prepared to engage the security agencies for a showdown should they decided to barricade the entrance of the National Assembly.
A source confirmed to Peoples Daily that the members are battle ready for any eventuality in the event that the police repeat the siege on the National Assembly to prevent lawmakers’ access to the chambers.
Source said the lawmakers might troop to the national assembly in group providing human shield around the speaker of the House Aminu Waziri Tambuwal to prevent him from an unforeseen circumstances.
Feelers from credible inside sources within the Presidency and the National Assembly suggest that the President is apprehensive of impending impeachment notice due to be served on him should members be allowed to reconvene.
A source close to the Leadership of the House told Peoples Daily that there are moves to draft security operatives overnight to the Assembly complex with a view to preventing lawmakers from accessing the premises.
The source who spoke on the condition of anonymity also stated that Journalists are also being targeted in the lock out.
Recall that on November 20, operatives of the Nigerian Police and the SSS laid siege on the National Assembly where the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and other members were locked out and tear gassed, forcing some lawmakers to scale the fence as a means of gaining entry into the chamber.
Meanwhile, the Senate yesterday resumed probe of circumstances leading to the November 20 police invasion of the National Assembly.
Recall that pandemonium set into the National Assembly recently when the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, and some federal lawmakers were locked out of the complex. And when they broke into the assembly police fired tear gas canisters at the Speaker and his colleagues.
The Senate has on Monday after an extensive debate on the issue on the floor, set up a committee, led by the Chairman of its Finance Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, to investigate the circumstances that resulted in the invasion and report back in two weeks.
Other members of the committee are Senators Abubakar Bagudu; Victor Lar; Gbenga Kaka; Paulinus Igwe, Jubrilla Bindowo and Ehigie Uzamere.
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