Hoodlums, fake journalists, scarlet ladies take over complex

By FRED ITUA 

The National Assembly, particularly the Senate, has been in the news for the wrong reasons of late. Its face-off with the executive over policy issues is often a matter of national discourse. Almost on a weekly basis, the Senate serves Nigerians a new menu of controversies.

However, recently, on March 20, 2017, the Red Chamber raised the alarm over the porous security in the National Assembly and warned that if urgent steps were not put in place, hoodlums could take advantage of the situation.

The Senate also expressed worry that lawmakers were unprepared to handle any fallout of an imminent terrorist attack at the National Assembly, with the footnotethat senators have never been tutored on how to handle such crises.

Senators who condemned the recent terrorist attack on the United Kingdom’s House of Parliament, called for tighter security within and around the National Assembly.

Senator Samuel Anyanwu from Imo State was the first to sound the alarm, when he raised a point of order. Relying on Order 43 of the Senate Standing Rules, Anyanwu called on the security apparatus of the National Assembly to step up their operations.

“I am worried about the security situation in the National Assembly. Sometimes, some of us stay here till 8pm. Around that time, we see all manner of people here and they bypass the security to come into offices here, and I am worried.

“One day, we may just be here and a bomb wpu;d go off. We need to call the people in charge of security here to take this issue very seriously. If what happened in the UK is allowed to happen here, there will be trouble. I have said my own.”

Leader of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, put the issue in a better perspective when he moved a motion to that effect. In his remarks, he condemned the terrorist attack in the UK.

Senator Mohammed Hassan from Yobe State, buttressed what Anyanwu observed. Hassan, complained that lawmakers have not been educated on how to escape or protect themselves in the event that there is a terrorist attack or a fire outbreak.

“As Senators, we have never been taught how to save ourselves in the event of fire or terrorist attacks. If a bomb goes off today, I am not sure any of us knows how we can escape from this building. We need to take this issue seriously,” he said.

Senator George Sekibo from Rivers State said the sole aim of terrorists is to frighten the legislature and prevent it from carrying out its functions. He noted that, at the peak of terror attacks in the UK, some MPs were unable to speak on the floor over fears that they could be attacked.

Sekibo said: “It is frightening when we hear terrorist attacks on legislatures. What happened in the UK is not the first. We need to ask what the terrorists want to achieve. They want to dismantle the legislature.

“If this place is bombed one day, some of us will be scared to speak our minds. When there was the issue of Boko Haram few years ago, some Senators could not speak against insurgency. 

“Every day, we get up to condemn people in high offices. We need to set up a process to protect ourselves. We were elected to speak for the people. We should not be scared.”

Beyond the alarm raised by the Senate, there are more security challenges within the expansive National Assembly complex. Day in, day out, there are reported cases of theft or security breach. However, not one culprit has been charged to court by security agents attached to the complex.

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For instance, security sources familiar with the recent developments in the National Assembly claimed that, between January and December, 2016, a 2003 Toyota SUV, a 1999 Honda Accord, a 2001 Toyota Camry and a 2003 Honda Civic were reported to have been stolen at the car park, outside the complex. 

Similarly, hoodlums who specialise in car theft have extended their trade to car battery theft within the premises of the National Assembly. The battery of a Honda Accord salon belonging to a photojournalist with The Sun Newspaper, Mr. Mudashiru Atanda, was stolen in October 2016, after fruitless attempts to steal the car.

According to Mr. Atanda’s account, “I parked my vehicle in the space allotted to journalists and legislative aides, but was shocked upon my return in the evening. From a distance, I saw the bonnet of my vehicle open.

“I knew something was wrong, since I did not leave it open in the morning when I drove in. When I opened the bonnet, I realised that my car battery was gone. I also discovered that attempts were made to open my car.

“I had to call my mechanic who brought another battery from his workshop in Nyanya before I could leave the place. I have heard similar stories, but I did not believe until that day.”

Similarly, policemen at the  National Assembly arrested six thieves who siphoned diesel from the heavy-duty generators at the annex thecomplex. The thieves were alleged to have stolen 11 25-litre-kegs and were caught at a point of loading into a car by an eagle-eyed officer on night duty who alerted others and promptly arrested them.

One of the oil thieves escaped arrest and was said to be on the run.

Two of the thieves are members of staff of the National Assembly, specifically Sergeant-At-Arms Department. The remaining five were recruited from Tipper Garage, a nearby heavy truck park.

It was also discovered that one of the two members of staff of the National Assembly who led the gang, invited five others from the tipper garage to accompany them on the act and they entered the complex around 4.20 am in the morning of Tuesday.

Within the hours of 8am-6pm daily, all manner of funny people invade the National Assembly, under different guises. Some of the invaders front as journalists, business people, relatives of lawmakers and contractors.

Unlike the usual tradition, where visitors are expected to be invited by a lawmaker or a staff of the National Assembly, these invaders bypass these processes put in place. 

In collaboration with some National Assembly security officers, the invaders come into the National Assembly, sometimes, without the accreditation tags. They sometimes find a way to manipulate their way into the building, while some others who are unlucky, lurk around the car parks, waiting for lawmakers to ambush them.

Lawmakers, while approaching their cars, are usually ambushed by the invaders who come up with different complaints. Sometimes, it takes the intervention of security officers who usually stand aloof to set the lawmakers ‘free’.

That is not all. Women of easy virtues also ply their trade in the National Assembly. At the moment, security agents in the National Assembly, do not condone indecent dressing. Ladies who put on skirts above the knee level, are denied access into the building.

But some ladies have come up with ways to beat the restriction. Whenever they are coming into the building, they dress decently, but hide their ‘business’ attires inside their handbags.

As soon as they gain access, they rush to the female restroom and remove their decent attires, in exchange for the skimpy dress. Fully kitted in their seductive wears, they move from one office of a lawmaker to another, looking for victims.

To be fair to security agents, they sometimes descend on these girls, but they always find a way to evade them.