The Federal Government, early Thursday withdrew the security details attached to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, in obvious response to the Speaker’s defection from the ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC.
The Speaker, after months of speculation, announced to his colleagues on Tuesday that he had defected to the APC. This has drawn the ire of the ruling party, PDP, which has called on him to vacate his seat as Speaker.
Consequently, sources say all security details attached to the Speaker have been withdrawn. These include Police officers, State Security Agents and members of the Civil Defence corps.
A source close to the speaker said, “the tumultuous welcome accorded the Speaker at the convention and the overwhelming outpouring of goodwill from the general public is said to have rattled the presidency resulting in their frenzied reaction.
“Early this morning, few minutes after midnight to be precise, top level security report informed the Speaker that orders have been given for the withdrawal of his security details,” the source said.
However, the Acting Inspector General of the Police, Suileman Abba through A short statement issued by the Acting Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, said Tambuwal’s security aides were withdrawn since he had defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
The statement reads: “In view of the recent defection by the Right Honourable Aminu Waziri Tanbuwal, CFR, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, from the People Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress (APC), and having regard to the clear provision of section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has redeployed its personnel attached to his office.”
There are feelers that the meeting the president had with certain officers of the House of Representatives, governors and others may have led to the withdrawal of Tambuwal’s security.
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