By Stanley Onyekwere
A pro-democracy group, National Democratic Front (NDF) has cautioned Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, to stop making unguarded utterances on issues of national security especially to heads of critical agencies in the sector.
This caution trails Gbajabiamila’s purported statement last Friday where he berated the Service Chiefs for failing to honour invitation to the lower chamber.
NDF in a statement signed by its Secretary General, Abdukakadir Bolaji, the group said it is appalled by the “careless utterances of the Speaker”, on issues of serious concern.
According to the group, Gbajabiamila should retrace his steps and not bow to any pressure to derail the country’s democracy.
It advised the Speaker not to return to the era where instead of parliamentary functions, the legislature issued summons to heads of critical agencies as bait for extortion.
The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to statements credited to the Honourable Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila wherein he berated the refusal of the Service Chiefs to attend a meeting with him over killings in the country.
“The National Democratic Front is appalled by the careless utterances of the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, which by and large presents a despicable picture to members of the unsuspecting general public on how some political office holders though holding sensitive positions of authority, but not in tune with the realities on the ground in the country.
“It is indeed ironic that the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives has chosen the dishonourable path of displaying arrogance and blind ambition to play to the gallery on issues of national interest to the detriment of over 180 million Nigerians.
