The Fact-finding Joint Committee of the National Assembly, on Tuesday evening visited Ekiti State to investigate the alleged invasion of the Ekiti State House of Assembly by men of the Department of State Services and arrested a lawmaker, Hon. Afolabi Akanni.
The Committee, co-chaired by the Chairman, Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence , Senator Shabba Lafiagi and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Jaji, promised to do justice in the contentious issue that had generated divergent opinions across the country.
Other members of the committee include: Hon Mrs Azodo Eucharia, Hon John Dyegh, Senator Paulker Emmanuel, Senator Laah Danjuma, Hon Diri Douye and Hon Isa Hassan.
As part of the fact-finding mission, the Committee visited the Speaker , House of Assembly, Hon Kola Oluwawole, Director of DSS in Ekiti, Mr. Andrew Iorkay and the Commissioner of Police, Mr Etop James.
It later paid a courtesy call on the governor of the State, Mr Ayodele Fayose.
Addressing journalists, Senator Lafiagi said the National Assembly was deeply concerned about the event and the image it had created for the country.
“To let you know the level of our concerns, the two chambers simultaneously passed resolutions that we have to probe the alleged invasion of the Assembly by DSS to unravel what actually transpired.
We immediately set up a joint committee to visit Ekiti and that is why we are here.
“We have no terms of reference because we may like to interact with stakeholders more than once. After we leave now, there may be more issues and this will mean that we have to come down again to serve justice, so that is why we are not giving a dead line,” he said.
Senator Lafiagi disclosed that the committee had interacted with all the critical stakeholders and extracted useful information from them to guide them on how to turn in their report to the National Assembly.
Fayose, who commended the National Assembly for its swift action to quench the raging flame enveloping the state, urged the committee to do justice in national interest.
“I appreciate you for taking time to interact with the stakeholders.
Your patriotism is quite commendable. But we want you to be thorough in the interest of Nigeria.
“I have promised never to interfere with your job that is why I didn’t ask the committee question. But I have unflinching confidence in your personalities and all we want is justice and nothing more.”
During the committee’s visit to the Assembly, Oluwawole blamed the crisis on evil plots of disgruntled former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members who had defected to the All Progressives Congress and were working with the Federal Government to destabilize the government of Ekiti State.
Presenting the assembly’s position paper, chronicling the genesis of the bedlam rocking the House, Oluwawole recounted that : “the invasion of the House of Assembly is also a violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Part 3, Section 331 (4).
He enjoined the committee to “intervene in this matter, with a view to preventing a re-occurrence of this ignoble act.
Oluwawole accused members of the PDP , who recently defected to the APC as being behind the arrests of state officials to rattle Fayose’s government.
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