Daura: Why I ordered invasion of National Assembly
The sacked Director General of the Department of State Security Services, Mallam Lawal Musa Daura, has confessed that he deployed hooded operatives of the secret service to the National Assembly on Tuesday based on intelligence report that unauthorised persons were planning to smuggle dangerous weapons and incriminating items into the complex.
His confession was disclosed in the interim investigation report submitted by the Inspector General of Police, Idris Ibrahim to the acting president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
In the report, IGP Idris reportedly argued that Daura carried out the siege on the National Assembly without the approval of the Acting President.
This confession by Daura obviously tally what many Nigerians who have spoken about his NASS leadership link have said, therefore sensing misinformation by the top lawmakers.
They however also have agreed that the chief spy officer’s failure to consult with the Presidency before acting on such sensitive action and still making the operatives claim “order from above” could not detach a conspiracy between the legislative leadership and DSS administration under Daura from the NASS Siege that almost cause the Federal Government embarrassment nationally and internationally but the swift counter action of the Presidency sacking him.
Part of the effects of the takeover of the National Assembly is that some Nigerians still do not believe that it was truly not a pre-planned attempt by the APC and its government to remove Saraki.
But a respondent in a more logical sense said since there has not been any proof that the APC government under President Muhammadu Buhari has been associated with any act of impunity since inception three years ago, “those who claim the NASS Siege was Executive plot of Saraki’s removal cannot seriously speaking be saying the truth”, adding that “Nigerians who are sincere with themselves know that the siege has more to do with the way of Saraki and how PDP politicians have descended to politics of fakeness framing all manner of evil against themselves to discredit the ruling party than what they want us to believe about it.”
The Police report said, “The former Director-General, Department of State Security Service, Mr Lawal Musa Daura acted unilaterally without informing the presidency. He did not share or intimate other security agencies on the unlawful operations,” Idris said in the report.
The IGP said the purported intelligence report by Daura cannot be substantiated as the personnel deployed were not EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) experts or specialist in this regard.
Masked and unmasked DSS operatives laid siege to the National Assembly on Tuesday halting lawmakers and staff from gaining entry into the complex.
A female member of the House of Representatives, Boma Goodhead from Rivers State (PDP) confronted the DSS men laying siege at the National Assembly, daring them to shoot her.
The Acting President, who sacked Daura over the invasion, described the unauthorized takeover of the National Assembly complex as a gross violation of constitutional order, rule of law and all acceptable notions of law and order.
The leaders of both the Senate and House of Representatives also condemned the siege as a “coup against democracy”.
Meanwhile the All Progressives Congress (APC) hailed the invasion in what it called ‘timely intervention’ of the Department of State Services (DSS) in scuttling plot by Senate President Bukola Saraki to cause chaos at the National Assembly on Tuesday.
