The Senate President, David Mark, on Friday provided insights into his visit to the Green Chamber of the House of Representatives in the heat of the commotion in the National Assembly on Thursday.
Already, according to a statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Senate President, Kola Ologbondiyan, Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State have appealed to Mark to “tamper justice with mercy.”
They urged the Senate President to “forgive Hon. Abdul Malik Usman Cheche (PDP Niger) who assaulted him on the floor of the House on Thursday.”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has slammed the presidency for its agitated response to the warning that if the 2015 elections are rigged, the party will not recognize the outcome and will go ahead to form a parallel government, saying that represents the stand of the party.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said that what Gov. Rotimi Amaechi said at the APC’s Salvation Rally, which has now rankled the presidency into a state of delirium, was simply to reiterate the stand taken by the party before the last Osun State Governorship election.
”Those who are fretting about this statement are those who are planning to rig the elections and they should be warned that Nigerians will no longer accept the outcome of any fraudulent polls. Those who incite the people are those who steal their mandate.
The Presidency on Friday summoned the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, over the fracas witnessed at the National Assembly on Thursday.
Policemen and women had blocked the entrance of the National Assembly complex to prevent lawmakers from accessing their offices and chambers.
Most of the lawmakers, who scaled the fence, were tear-gassed by policemen acting on order from above.
To address the crisis, Abba was summoned to the office of the Vice President Namadi Sambo at the State House, Abuja
Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode , has urged the federal government to query Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State for his recent media remarks where he allegedly said the opposition would form a parallel government if President Goodluck Jonathan won the 2015 presidential election, saying that such statement amounts to treason.
Fani-Kayode who made the call Friday in a press conference in Umuahia , Abia State, after his two-day visit to the state also expressed disappointment over the commotion at the National Assembly complex on Thursday, accusing the lawmakers of breaking the law and disgracing the country.
“For the first time in the history of our country I saw elected legislators attempting to break down wall, attempting to break down gates. I saw them scaling the gate. I saw some of them in torn clothes, struggling through the police lines, I saw them breaking the law, and I saw them display the highest level of indiscipline and lack of respect for constituted authority.
The Senate Minority Whip, Ganiyu Solomon, has condemned the crisis that engulfed the National Assembly on Thursday when the House of Representatives reconvened to consider President Goodluck Jonathan’s request for extension of emergency rule in Yobe, Adamawa and Borno States.
The police had blocked the Speaker of the House, Aminu Tambuwal, and other members of the House from going into the complex to perform their duties.
The crisis that broke out was believed to be connected with the defection of the Speaker from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Leave a reply