The mace that was carted away by suspected political thugs on Wednesday during Senate plenary has been recovered.The mace was brought back about 11:45 a.m. by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) in charge of operations, Habila Joshak. He was accompanied by the FCT Commissioner of Police, Sadiq Abubakar Bello, who handed the mace over to the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mohammed Sani Omolori.
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu who presided over the plenary said: “Concerned colleagues and Nigerians, who wanted to find out if the mace had been found, have inundated me with calls and messages since last night.“I formally confirm to you, my distinguished colleagues, that the mace has been recovered by the police as we demanded here in this hallowed chamber.”
The upper chamber also invited the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris and the Director-General, Department of State Service, Lawal Daura to separately brief the lawmakers next week on the outcome of their investigations.“We hold that it will be a detour to the state of nature where life was lawless and brutish if what happened yesterday (Wednesday) is allowed to go unpunished or to be swept under the carpet. It will never happen. We will get to the roots of the matter.”
“We call on the police and the DSS to ensure that all those who plotted, aided, abated, and executed this dastardly affront, on our democracy and belittled Nigeria before the international community are brought to book to serve as a deterrent to others. We will be inviting them next week to brief us on the state of the investigations,” Ekweremadu said.
Ekweremadu said the act of brigandage and desecration was a reminder of the need for a decentralised police system. “This incident has also brought to the fore the case many of us have always made for a decentralised police system. Ordinarily, a big institution like the National Assembly should have its own police, apart from the sergeant-at-arm.
“But the security of this parliament is fully outside the control of the National Assembly. Instructively, the same gangsterism that was witnessed here yesterday (Wednesday) has been recorded in various state houses of assembly.“We will all stand together to defend this institution of the parliament and our democracy. We will never be afraid to legislate and we will never legislate out of fear,” he said.
