By Anayo Okoli
UMUAHIA— CHAIRMAN of the South East Caucus of Inter Party Advisory Council, IPAC, Prince Emeka Okafor has condemned last week’s siege on the National Assembly by operatives of Directorate of State Service, DSS, describing it as “an aberration and a coup”.
Okafor also urged the leadership of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, to stop meddling into the leadership affairs of the Senate and allow the Senators to sort themselves out over who leads them as an independent arm of government.
According to the IPAC leader, who spoke to Vanguard, APC is overheating the polity with the way and manner the National Chairman is talking and beating drums of war over the removal of Saraki as if he is in a military regime, and urged him to allow the Senators to handle their affair in a very democratic way.
“I join my voice to condemn the action of the DSS. It is a political nonsense, an atrocity for this nation. It was undemocratic; simply put, it was a coup.
“If tomorrow the DSS operatives barricade and lay siege on Aso Rock, it simply amounts to a coup, no argument about that. So what they did at the National Assembly last week was a direct coup.
“We borrowed democracy from the Western World, but we are not emulating the way they practice it”, Okafor lamented.
He commended the acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo for the swift action taken to sack the former DSS director general, Lawal Daura, saying his action shows that “he is a leader and a lawyer who understands the implications of the evil act committed by the DSS director”.
“He used his powers well because as acting President he has the full powers of the President,” Okafor said.
On the impending leadership crisis in the Senate, the IPAC chairman called on the National Chairman of APC and the party to steer of the Senate and allow the Senators to sort themselves out.
“APC should stop heating the polity; the party should allow the senators to sort their problem as an independent arm of government. If they don’t want Saraki as the President of the Senate, they should allow the senators to do the needful by removing him legally. It is not the duty of the party chairman, the President or the Vice President to say they don’t want Saraki and remove him.
“No, it is the duty of the senators who elected him to also remove him if they wish and they must follow due process of the law to do that”, Okafor warned.
Speaking on the planned suspension of continuous voters’ registration, CVR, by INEC, he urged the commission not to suspend it but rather leave it permanently open except on election days, as people turn 18 years on daily basis.
He suggested to the commission to create permanent registration offices in all the council headquarters across the country to ensure that the exercise goes on all seasons