As explained by Gbajabiamila, the lawmakers had to scale the fence to because it was clear the presidency, in spite of a court injunction wanted to do something sinister and illegal. “They perfected the plot to stop the speaker and the opposition leader from gaining entry. My members were already in chambers waiting for me to come in so as to provide leadership and direction. Most of them had gone over the fate too. I had to do the needful to save our democracy. We thank God we foiled their evil machinations. We will continue to be vigilant,” he said.

•Gbajabiamila: Lawmakers scaled the fence to prevent some sinister moves by PDP

Victor Afam Ogene, deputy chairman of the House of Representatives committee on Public Affairs, who also scaled the gate, said the action was necessary in the interest of their safety as plain clothes security men who had pepper spray in their possession had already infiltrated the lawmakers who had gathered and were spraying the substance in the air.

He added that this was necessary especially when it is remembered that former senate president, late Chuba Okadigbo, was killed in Kano after pepper spray was used on him. He added that some lawmakers also learnt of a plot to impeach the Speaker using a few members who were in the chambers at the time.

On the claims by the police that those who scaled the gate were hoodlums, Ogene queried: “Who are the hoodlums as suggested by the police; the occupants of a house or the man that invades a man’s legitimate place of work? I think the public will decide that. It is like seeing a man trying to steal your vehicle and you use every means possible to stop him. We acted on the spur of the moment. We had to protect our inalienable right to access the chambers. Right there, we had to contend with the threat of being bludgeoned and pepper sprayed to death. Nobody wants to be a dead hero.”

Many, including senators, have since likened Abba’s attempt to take over the National Assembly to a coup attempt. Abba had on Tuesday shunned the invitation of the senate to explain the circumstances that led to the invasion and lock-out of lawmakers from the assembly by his men. While discussing the police invasion at last Wednesday’s plenary session, Abdul Ningi, a PDP senator representing Bauchi Central, disclosed that a police sergeant fired a tear-gas canister a few metres away from the senate president on the day of the siege.

•Victor Ogene: We had to protect our right to access the chambers

According to him, while Mark was delayed for an hour at the gate of the complex, some senators were prevented from entering the complex altogether. “What happened last week at the national assembly was a coup attempt by the police against the parliament and against democracy,” he said. “On that particular day, the chairman of the national assembly was locked outside the gate for an hour. And some did not know that a sergeant shot a teargas canister at the chairman of the national assembly. The police action is regrettable and they must be held to account.”

In the same vein, Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy senate president, described the siege of the parliament building as “a dark day in the history of the National Assembly”. He recommended that senators should wear black dresses every November 20 to mark the day. “It was a deliberate attempt to destroy the parliament and by implication to destroy democracy. It is a collective assault on all of us.” Senator George Akume said while describing the incident as a criminal attempt to undermine the National Assembly. At the end of the discussion, the senators agreed to set up an ad hoc committee headed by Senator Ahmed Markafi to investigate the incident.

APC, which sees the hand of the President in the National Assembly saga, has also demanded an independent inquiry to determine who ordered the invasion of the National Assembly by the police and for what purpose. In fact, the party wants Abba removed from office! In a statement issued last Tuesday by its national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said using weapons to attack an arm of government and preventing it from carrying out its functions was tantamount to a coup, adding that the teargas that was fired into the National Assembly by an invading force of policemen was a chemical weapon. The party said the denial by the presidency of its involvement in the attack was not enough because it believed no IG would have the temerity to stop the nation’s number four citizen from entering the National Assembly if he was not working on the instruction of the President.

“This is why we have continuously held the President responsible for last week’s show of shame,’’ the party said, noting that the IG was just a tool in the hands of a president that has perhaps done more than any other president before him to truncate the nation’s democracy. APC said the police action was tantamount to a coup and that the inquiry would help to prevent a recurrence while necessary punishment can be meted out to those behind it.

Before the attack on the National Assembly and unilateral declaration of the seat of Tambuwal vacant, Abba had been in the eye of the storm during the 9 August, 2014 Osun State gubernatorial election. The election, the first to be supervised by the police under his leadership, was almost derailed with indiscriminate arrest of members of the opposition APC by the police and other security agencies. In the process of the indiscriminate arrests, some electoral officers who were assumed to be members of the APC were also taken into police custody and were released following the intervention of Professor Attahiru Jega, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. The detained APC leaders who were released after the election have not been charged to court for breaching the provisions of the Electoral Act or any other law.

And obviously unaware or choosing to play the ostrich about the limitations of his office as regards determining the eligibility of aspirants for elections, Abba had about two months ago said the law enforcement agency would ensure that no politician with criminal record would be allowed to contest any position in the 2015 election. “In all these activities, the police will ensure that adequate security is provided to the officials who are conducting the election, INEC officials. When it get to the issue of screening, we will collaborate with our colleagues, particularly the Directorate of State Security to ensure that candidates with criminal records are not allowed to contest,” the IGP said while speaking at a meeting with DIGs, AIGs, and CPs in Abuja.