Police siege on Saraki, Ekweremadu, Dogara condemnable

nigerianewspoint

The reported police siege on the residence of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his deputy Ike Ekweremadu and the speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara yesterday once more brings to fore, the obvious danger facing our democracy.
This development came on the heels of the planned defection of some APC senators and members of the House of Representatives to PDP. Security agents were said to have taken over the official residence of the said principal officers of the National Assembly presumably to stop them from attending yesterday’s plenary and by so-doing, possibly prevent the defection from taking place. The Senate President and his deputy including Speaker Dogara however, managed to make it to NASS where about 15 senators and over 30 reps members finally dumped APC for PDP.
This action of security agencies as widely reported on Tuesday has continued to elicit reactions from all over country. Nigeria Newspoint had in its editorial sometime this year reminded political leaders that democracy comes with a particular temper which is essential for its survival.
This same Saraki and some other members of the 7th National Assembly defected from PDP to APC in 2014 and nobody harassed them. The present governor of Sokoto State who was then Speaker of the 7th House of Representatives led some PDP reps to APC and virtually formed the majority in the Federal House. The present APC leaders hailed that move but now feel Saraki and his colleagues should be vilified because the same people who dumped PDP in 2014 are now doing the same to APC.
The idea that force can be used on issues that are purely democratic is most defective and not in sync with globally accepted ideals. Since people are free to defect from one political party to the other, it would have been better to deal with the issue politically rather than resorting to confrontation.
Again, the legislature as a very important pillar of democracy deserve to be respected. The other time it was thugs invading the hallowed chamber of senate to cart away the mace who knows what the next move against the National Assembly would be. We have always advised that politicians should play by the rules. Security agencies should on their own understand the need to respect and protect serious democratic institutions like the National Assembly in order to deepen our democracy. They should know that the world is watching.

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