Tambuwal: Withdrawal of Security Aides Unconstitutional – Magnus Abe

Senator Magnus Abe on Sunday said there was no provision in the constitution that stipulated removal of security aides from an elected official upon defection from one party to another.

Abe, a member of the APC, representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District, made the statement following the recent withdrawal of security aides of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal.

The Senator, while addressing some party faithfuls and his constituents on Sunday in Biara community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers, called for the reinstatement of the security details.

“The constitution of Nigeria is very clear; it is such that a candidate becomes a Speaker of the House of Representatives once the candidate is a member of the House.

“The constitution says that members of the House will elect one person among members as their Speaker and Tambuwal was elected Speaker.

“The only way anyone can remove him as Speaker is by 240 House of Reps members agreeing that he (the Speaker) should be removed,’’ he said.

Abe said that the removal of the security aides was to unsettle Tambuwal adding that it was impossible to garner 240 majority votes to remove the Speaker.

“Hence the need, by some groups, to cause confusion in the House and replicate the confusion in the Rivers House of Assembly.’’

He said that the development, if not rejected by Nigerians, would take the nation’s democracy backward and further breed electoral crisis as the country prepared for its general elections.

“Nigerians should rise up and defend the constitution; they must make it clear to those violating the constitution that it is the constitution that will protect Nigerians.

“Tomorrow, when some of us are no longer senators, governors or the president, we will depend on the constitution to survive.

“It is therefore the sacred duty of all of us who are elected under this constitution to respect and obey the constitution,’’ Abe implored