NASS invasion: Senators demand judicial probe

Indication emerged yesterday that on resumption from its on- going recess, demand for judicial probe of the invasion carried out on the premises of the National Assembly by operatives of the Department of State Services ( DSS) penultimate Tuesday , would be made in the senate .
The demand, according to a jointly signed statement by Senators Hamman Isa Misau (PDP Bauchi Central) and Rafiu Ibrahim (PDP Kwara South)yesterday in Abuja, would be made through a motion to be sponsored to that effect by many of the senators.
The senators in the statement said prayers in the motion among others, would urge the federal government to immediately set up a Judicial Commission of Enquiry to probe the invasion with a view to bringing perpetrators to book.
According to them, the open enquiry would enable Nigerians know what led to the siege and those behind the plot to illegally take over the National Assembly.
They said: “Is it not curious that the Federal Government has not deemed it necessary to constitute a judicial panel to conduct an impartial and public enquiry into the recent siege on the National Assembly which amounted to a coup against democracy in the country? “The Federal Government cannot afford to sweep this treasonable act under the carpet nor commit it to a secret in-house committee that may fail to do justice to the matter by treating the heist like business as usual.
Sacking the former Director General of the DSS, Mr. Lawal Daura, does not end this.
That is just a knee-jack, spontaneous reaction.
We now need to understand how to cut off the cancer.
“The National Assembly must insist on getting to the root of the case.
We must understand the causes of the invasion, unravel the brains behind the anti-democratic action in order to bring the perpetrators to book and prevent future reoccurrence.
The inquiry must not be subjected to executive manipulation and cover up.
We must ensure transparency and that is why an open judicial inquiry is what is needed now.
A judicial commission of enquiry, holding its investigation in an open environment will help.
“This we believe would serve as a deterrent to any person or group of persons that may want to contemplate such condemnable action in future”.
While warning that security forces should not be used to derail the nation’s democracy, Misau and Rafiu called on Nigerians and members of the international community to remain alert in order to frustrate further attempts to truncate the nation’s democracy through illegal deployment of security forces to intimidate, harass and arrest political opponents.