The soldiers insisted that Mr. Tambuwal’s car must
be frisked for bombs.
Some soldiers on Monday ‘embarrassed’ the speaker of the House
of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, in Kaduna after they insisted they must
search his car before allowing him entry into the venue of an event he was
billed to be the key speaker.
The incident occurred at the 17th Hotel Kaduna venue of an international
conference on security and development challenges of pastoralists in west and
central Africa.
The event was organised by the office of the National
Security Adviser, NSA, with the theme “The Role of Pastoralists in Preventing
Insurgency and Conflicts for enhanced National Security”.
Mr. Tambuwal, who was one of the key note speakers of the
conference, arrived the Hotel at about 9:16 a.m.; but soldiers at the gate
insisted that his convoy will not be allowed entry. They said only the staff
car should approach the gate.
A witness informed us that “even when the speaker’s car
came, the soldiers insisted it must stop and be frisked for bombs, and one of
them asked him to wind down”.
Our source added that all explanations by the speaker’s security
details fell on deaf ears and the soldiers insisted that they must comb the
car.
“When the embarrassment was getting too much, the speaker
just alighted from the car and walked into the hotel,” our source said.
He also said he was surprised when “some governors came
later and no one attempted to stop or search their vehicles”.
The spokesperson of Mr. Tambuwal, Imam Imam, in a chat with
PREMIUM TIMES confirmed the incident and advised the military to have respect
for the office of the Speaker.
“As the number four citizen, the Honourable Speaker deserves
the respect of all Nigerians. What happened was unfortunate,” he said. “We
should have respect for the office and his official car is part of the symbol
of that office.”
Mr. Imam also said incidents like what happened to the
Speaker may undermine the legislature as an institution
No comments:
Post a Comment