The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has denied insinuations that arm cache and United States dollar notes were discovered in the state Government House by operatives of the Department of State Services during a raid of the Hilltop Mansion in Uyo last Thursday.
The lawmakers also described those who carried out the raid as “terrorists” disguising as operatives of the nation’s secret police, saying that the assault on the official residence of Governor Udom Emmanuel violated his constitutional rights as the chief security officer of the state.
At a press conference in Abuja yesterday, the 26-member Assembly led by its speaker, Hon. Aniekan Uko, said the press briefing became necessary in order to correct misinformation in the public domain regarding the ugly development.
“On Thursday, September 3, 2015, the very essence of our democracy and our freedom were shamelessly assaulted by terrorists masking as operatives of the Department of State Security Service, otherwise known as SSS.
“It is only in the media that we get conflicting reports that stockpiles of arms and United States dollars were uncovered.
“As lawmakers and representatives of the people, we wish to place it on record that no arms or stacks of money were found in Akwa Ibom State Government House,” they said.
The legislators, who were all in attendance, also hinted that the state government will sue the DSS unless it apologises to the government and people of the state within seven days even as it vowed to hold responsible, the director-general of DSS, Lawal Daura, if anything unpleasant happen to the state governor and its key functionaries.
They therefore stated that the House of Assembly and indeed the people of Akwa Ibom State will take every necessary action within the law, to protect and preserve the rights of the state under the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Unfortunately, while the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Vice President as well as the Governors and Deputy Governors across the country are protected under constitutional immunity, the governor of Akwa Ibom State has been singled out and stripped of this right which were 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.
“We, hereby challenge the Director General of the SSS, Alhaji Lawal Musa Daura, to tell the people of Akwa Ibom State, Nigerians and indeed lovers of democracy all over the world, why he ordered the ill-fated operation on the Akwa Ibom State Government House.
“The people of Akwa Ibom State will hold Mr. Daura and the SSS responsible if any unforeseen incident befall the Governor, his Deputy or key officials of Akwa Ibom State Government.”
“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.”
