Nothing Should Happen To Tambuwal – NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has slammed the Federal Government and the Police for withdrawing the security details attached to Speaker House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal.

In a statement by General Secretary of the NLC, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, titled “Nothing should happen to Tambuwal” the group wondered why the security aides of Governor Segun Mimiko of Ondo State and Ali Modu-Sheriff, former governor of Borno State respectively, were not removed when they defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“We at the Nigeria Labour Congress are appalled by the withdrawal of security details of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal ostensibly because he had defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC. The act is shameful, distasteful, unconstitutional and demonstrates our parochial sense of power and very little knowledge of history.

No part of the Nigerian constitution says the Speaker of the House of Representatives should come from the majority party. Section 50(1)(b) only says, ‘There shall be a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves’.

“In the Second Republic, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke was elected from the ranks of NPP, not just an opposition party, but the third strong, after UPN and NPN. We have other precedents across the world.

We find it appropriate to cite the examples of Mimiko and Ali Modu-Sheriff, governor of Ondo State and former governor of Borno State, respectively. Their security details were not withdrawn when they defected to the PDP.

“In the light of the foregoing, we demand immediate restoration of Tambuwal’s security detail and all the rights and privileges that accrue to the Office of the Speaker.

“It is not about Tambuwal, it is about the office which he holds. And in any case, only few, arguably, will contest that he has not discharged and acquitted himself as speaker. We would like to be on record that we will not fold our hands while little minds threaten our hard-earned democracy. Nothing should happen to Tambuwal,” the statement read.

by Greenstarnetwork admin..