Nigeria secret police boss fired after parliament standoff

Nigeria’s state security police boss was fired hours after armed security agents temporarily blocked the entrance to the National Assembly, amid heightening political tensions ahead of general elections in February.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who’s acting head of state while President Muhammadu Buhari is on holiday in the U.K., ordered the dismissal of State Security Service Director General Lawal Musa Daura “with immediate effect,” according to a statement, which gave no explanation. His ouster capped a day of drama in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, that started with secret police officers wearing masks and their standard black uniforms turning away legislators, reporters and staff as they tried to enter the National Assembly complex.

Later, lawmakers were allowed in one by one, while reporters and staff were still kept outside.

When asked about the unusual deployment, a member of the National Assembly’s regular security team said it was the result of orders from superiors.

“After some pushing and shoving, we were allowed in,” Sen. Ben Murray-Bruce, from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, told reporters at the gates.

The secret police officers left the site shortly after their chief was fired.

While the Senate and the House of Representatives are on recess and meant to resume on Sept. 25, the leadership of both chambers was due to gather Tuesday “to consider some national issues,” and to meet officials from the national electoral commission, according to an aide to Saraki, Bamikole Omisore. Both meetings were canceled.

“A meeting cannot be held in this kind of atmosphere,” Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Yusuf Lasun told reporters. “It’s unfortunate that this is happening because when the parliament is under siege, democracy is under siege.”

The scenes at the National Assembly occurred amid increasing speculation that the ruling party wants to impeach Senate President Bukola Sarakit.

“Whether they succeed in removing Saraki or not, it is going to be a major issue because the National Assembly legally adjourned sitting, you cannot reconvene without the authority that adjourned it,” Freedom Onuoha, a political science lecturer at the University of Nigeria in the southeastern town of Nsukka, said by phone. “‘The law still recognizes Saraki as the Senate president.”

A standoff between Buhari and Saraki and other lawmakers has been largely responsible for the stalemate between the executive and legislature that’s hobbled the government for the past few years.

A presidential adviser, Ita Enang, said the government was at risk of shutting down unless lawmakers returned earlier from their current break to pass a supplementary budget, ThisDay newspaper reported Tuesday.

Buhari on July 17 asked lawmakers to reallocate $633 million in a supplementary budget, less than a month after he signed 2018’s spending plan into law.

APC acting spokesman Yekini Nabena denied APC chairman Adams Oshiomhole had anything to do with the events.

BLOOMBERG Nigeria’s secret police boss was fired while President Muhammadu Buhari (above) was on vacation.