A/Ibom assembly to sue DSS over raid

Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has threatened to sue the Department of State Security (DSS) to court for raiding the state Governor’s lodge in Uyo, saying the raid was an act of felony, persecution and political vendetta.

In a press conference attended by the 26 lawmakers in Abuja yesterday, they also urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly to investigate the Thursday incident, adding that the secret service has seven days to apologise or face legal action.

Also, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) condemned the action noting that the APC-led government crossed the line to invade and occupy the Government House, Uyo, in violation of the constitutional immunity of the Government House.

A statement by PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh yesterday said that the invasion and other flagrant abuse of power by the APC-led government are clear recipes for constitutional crisis, civil unrest and avoidable anarchy in the land, and called on Nigerians and the international community to take copious note of this.

The raid contravened Section 308 (1,2, 3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), according to the state assembly speaker Elder Aniekan Uko, who read the statement signed by the lawmakers. There was no official response from the DSS on the incident yet.

“We also invite President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly to launch proper investigation into the ridiculous action of the SSS. We are shocked that the SSS which is currently purging officers it claimed to have shown unconcealed partisanship should descend so low to the extent of staging a coup d’état on our governor, simply because he belongs to an opposition party,” they said.

“We are firm in the belief that if the raid on the Hilltop Mansion was not an act of felony, persecution and political vendetta, the DSS would have declared their mission before unleashing terror on innocent workers of Akwa Ibom State Government and or openly declare to the authorities in the state what they found and what they took away from our Government House,” lawmakers said.

They also denied media reports indicating that the agency has uncovered stockpile of arms and ammunition as well as money in foreign currency.

The Executive Director, the ‘Inclusive Friends’, Miss Grace Jerry (right) with the Project Officer, Mrs Patricia Pam, during a workshop on what violence means to women with disabilities in Jos yesterday.