The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has reacted to the raid on the state’s Government House by Department of State Services (DSS), demanding an apology for their actions or face legal proceedings.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Anikan Okon, called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly to investigate the development which it termed a violation of the constitution and an act of impunity.
He said: “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.
“Despite the fact that the president, his deputy as well as state governors enjoy constitutional immunity, the Akwa Ibom state Governor Udom Emmanuel has been singled out and stripped of this right, which is provided for him under the law.
“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.”
Okon also said that the invasion negated Section 308 (1, 2, 3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
