The police move, which described as “a usurpation of the role of the Judiciary by the Inspector-General of Police especially bearing in mind that the question of the interpretation of Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution on which the Inspector-General of Police anchored his illegal act is currently before the courts for resolution,” was roundly condemned by lawyers and civil society activists. Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, and the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, had among other individuals and groups accused Abba of going beyond the constitutionally stipulated powers of the police by unilaterally declaring that Tambuwal was no longer the speaker of the House. The two bodies demanded immediate restoration of Tambuwal’s security aides and all the rights and privileges accruing to the Office of the Speaker, insisting that it was not about Tambuwal but the office.

•Tambuwal: Abba’s target

In its statement, titled ‘Nothing should happen to Tambuwal’, the NLC particularly accused Abba of partisanship as he failed to withdraw the security details of those who had defected to PDP from other parties even during his short tenure of office, citing the examples of Governor Segun Mimiko of Ondo State and Ali Modu-Sheriff, former governor of Borno State, respectively. While describing the police action as “shameful, distasteful, unconstitutional and demonstrates our parochial sense of power and very little knowledge of history”, the NLC argued that contrary to the argument of PDP, there was no constitutional stipulations that the Speaker of the House of Representatives should come from the majority party: Section 50(1)(b) only says, “There shall be a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves. In the Second Republic, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke was elected from the ranks of NPP, not just an opposition party, but the third strong, after UPN and NPN. We have other precedents across the world,” NLC said in the statement signed by Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, its General Secretary. “We would like to be on record that we will not fold our hands while little minds threaten our hard-earned democracy. Nothing should happen to Tambuwal,” NLC added.

Augustine Alegeh, SAN, president of NBA, said in Benin that the police lacked jurisdictional competence to determine whether or not there had been a breach of the constitution in the defection of the speaker to the APC and hence should not had withdraw the security aide of the Speaker. “We have stated clearly that the police lacks jurisdictional competence to determine whether or not there has been a breach of the constitution. That duty is a function of the court. There is no provision in our constitution that says if you are in PDP or APC and you defect to another party you automatically lose your position of leadership of the House,” said the NBA.

In the same vein, Femi Falana (SAN) accused Abba of usurping the judicial powers of the federation which are exclusively vested in the courts by section 6 of the Constitution when he claimed that the speaker had lost his office and seat as a federal legislator having contravened section 68 (1) (g) of the constitution.

The lawyer also noted that by his illegal pronouncement, Abba disregarded section 50 (2) (c)of the constitution which stipulates that the Speaker of the House of Representatives can only be removed by a resolution passed by votes on not less than two thirds majority of the members of the House. The lawyer noted that the action of the IG has “exposed the police to unwarranted ridicule as Nigerians are not unaware of the fact that when the Ondo State legislators elected on the platform of the Labour Party, LP, decamped to the PDP last month your office did not declare their seats vacant.” He particularly cited the examples of Jumoke Akindele, the speaker of Ondo State House of Assembly, who led her colleagues to dump the LP for the PDP and Ahmadu Fintiri, the speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly and his colleagues who decamped from the PDP to the APC and have since returned to PDP.

•Falana: Abba is usurping the judicial powers of the federation

The speaker has since filed different suits to challenge the move to remove him from office by PDP principal officers of the House led by Ihedioha. Abba had stuck to his guns in spite of the criticisms and ahead of the reconvening of the House for the debate on the extension of state of emergency, there were speculations that he may deploy policemen to stop the speaker from entering the National Assembly in furtherance of the unilateral declaration of Tambuwal’s seat vacant. Members of the House were anxious over speculations that the Presidency may, with connivance of Abba who has repeatedly shown to be a very willing tool, employ extra-constitutional means to stop Tambuwal from presiding when the House reconvened. Therefore the chaos at the premises of the National Assembly as policemen with the support of men of State Security Service tried to stop Tambuwal from gaining access into the chamber was a confirmation of the speculations. The efforts however failed as Tambuwal was eventually smuggled into the chamber by lawmakers, though with a lot of drama.

A large contingent of men of the SSS and police had early that morning taken over the expansive complex. With a tight security cordon around the complex, the law enforcement officers proceeded to seal off all entry points to the National Assembly, leaving only one open, which ensured that all those who wanted to gain entry were thoroughly searched. Trouble began when Tambuwal arrived and sought to drive into the complex but was stopped by the police. The speaker, who was accompanied by other lawmakers who are his loyalists, mostly members of APC, then alighted from his vehicle and trekked from the gates to the main complex, a distance of over 500 metres, amid a hail of teargas by the police. It was gathered that following a long argument, some lawmakers came out of the Assembly, broke the third gate and brought the speaker inside the chamber.

Tambuwal had earlier at the main gate to the complex introduced himself to the policemen led by acting Commissioner of Police, Wilson Inalegwu, while asking to be allowed to go in. The policemen however pretended as if they did not hear him. The speaker was not the only one the police tried to stop from entering the National Assembly. The convoy of the Senate President also had difficulty getting into the complex while many senators were also affected. Scores of legislators, led by the House minority leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, and his deputy, Abdul-Rahman Kawu Sumaila, had to climb the gate as they were cheered by on-lookers, who watched helplessly as the police at the other side of the gate where the legislators were dropping tried to stop them from proceeding inside. On the contrary, Ihedioha and the Chief Whip, Bawa Bwari, both principal officers, drove into the complex without any molestation from the security operatives.

•Ihedioha: Drove in without hindrance

On resumption of plenary, Senator Mark, relying on his powers as the Chairman of the National Assembly, ordered the adjournment of both chambers of the National Assembly over the development till the following Tuesday. While condemning the use of force on National Assembly members and civil servants at the Assembly complex, the Senate President said Abba would be invited to explain the reason for ordering his men to invade the Assembly. Abba had tried to justify the invasion with claims that the police received intelligence report that hoodlums were going to take over the sprawling complex. And in further seeking to deflect the criticisms which had greeted the action, the Presidency and the police had also turned round to blame the speaker and his colleagues for assaulting security operatives who were discharging their “lawful duties” at the complex.

According to the police, Tambuwal and a motley crowd of his supporters “broke the cordon, assaulted the police and evaded due process…” Abba also told journalists that some policemen who were part of the team deployed to the National Assembly for the task of stopping the hoodlums were wounded by some members of the House as they tried to force their way into the chamber.