The House of Representatives has strongly condemned the call for an interim government and charged the security agencies to be on alert to forestall the possible breakdown of law and order in the country.
The House also warned aggrieved parties to desist from heating the polity and believe in the rule of law while awaiting the outcome of litigation before the court of law over the just concluded general election.
These resolutions were sequel to the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by Unyime Idem, member representing
Ukanafun/Oruk Anam Federal Constituency of Akwa-Ibom at plenary on Tuesday.
Moving the motion, Idem said an interim government is undemocratic, unconstitutional, and unknown to Nigerian laws as a court of competent jurisdiction had in time past so declared.
He noted that on Wednesday, March 29, 2023, the Department of State Security Service (DSS) issued a warning on some individuals who are allegedly plotting to install an interim government in Nigeria.
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The lawmaker expressed worry that if the plots are allowed to see the light of the day, it will result in anarchy, with a price many generations after will continue to pay for.
“Aware that the judiciary is the only institution empowered by law to adjudicate over post election matters.
“Concerned that some politicians have made comments that indicate their grievance over the last elections. If this development is left unchecked, we might be sliding into irredeemable anarchy,” Idem said.
Contributing to the motion, Sergius Ogun, (Edo PDP) said the security agencies should do their work, adding that if one is asking for a different government not known to law, it is a treasonable felony.
“Year in, year out in this house we budget billions of naira to the office of the NSA and other security arms. Is it not a shame that the security agents would come out and say they have the names of people that have muted this type of government in this country? You will not arrest and prosecute them.
“You’re wasting our precious time telling us to condemn it. If this government is alive to its responsibilities this should not even be an issue that we will be dissipating energy on in this house. People are dying everyday in this country killed by bandits, killed by hunger. Go to hospitals people are not attending to. Children cannot even go to school. Do we even have a government in this country?
“If the government cannot perform between now and May 28 they should resign and go. Because this is not even an issue we should be discussing here. How can you wake up and tell us some people are debating the interim government. It is a waste of time for this parliament to even begin to discuss and debate a nonexistent issue.”
On his part, Ademorin Kuye (APC, Lagos) particularly frowned at the call by former President Olusegun Obasanjo for cancellation of the result coalition.
Kuye lamented that the alleged plot for an interim government is so bad that politicians now sponsor protests at the national assembly which he said leads to attacks on parliamentarians.
He said: “Even before our security agencies uncovered the plot, former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the letter he wrote to President Buhari condemning this free and fair election of 2023 and asking him to find a way of canceling without going to court.
“Who would have thought that somebody who had the benefit of free and fair election would allow for due process. Former President Donald Trump sponsored protesters as they are doing in Nigeria currently to go to the Congress and attack parliamentarians and that’s exactly what we are witnessing here.
“People are sponsoring protesters to come to the National Assembly and attack members. And nothing has been done till today. The motion is timely and must be discussed, a commission should be set up to investigate this matter.”
Also speaking, Sada Soli (APC, Katsina) said the motion was timely and apt, stressing that the main function of the state services is to protect and defend the country from domestic threats within the country irrespective of the scope.
“Our committee on National security should have briefed us behind closed doors, we shouldn’t have been talking about this here because it’s a national security issue. But since it has been brought to the floor, it’s timely because it affects Nigerians that we represent in this chamber,” he said.
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