Police Teargas Lawmakers In Attempt To Prevent Tambuwal From Entering National Assembly

There was commotion at the National Assembly on Thursday as a plot to stop the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, from entering the assembly complex failed.

Riot policemen   tear-gassed angry lawmakers, who were protesting against the development.

Although the general belief was that the security operatives were deployed in the assembly to prevent Tambuwal from   presiding over Thursday’s “special plenary,” The PUNCH gathered that it was to stop some   lawmakers, especially those in the All Progressives Congress Caucus,   from   tabling a motion for President Goodluck Jonathan’s impeachment.

The drama started as early as 6am when heavily armed policemen and hooded Department of State Service operatives blocked all the gates to the National Assembly.

They conducted searches on the vehicles of Senators, House   members, workers and visitors to the complex, all in a bid to stop the speaker from entering the premises.

Tambuwal arrived around 10.47am to meet the blockade. He managed to pass through the first gate after the security personnel asked for his identification.

But, on reaching the main entrance gate, he was stopped by the policemen who were   led by a top officer from the   Federal Capital Territory Police Command.

Angered by the police action, many APC lawmakers in the speaker’s company became agitated and demanded explanations from the police.

At this point, Tambuwal stepped out of his car and introduced himself to the officer as “Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the speaker of the House of Representatives.”

But   the   officer,   who kept pressing his mobile telephone buttons, replied, “wait, wait, wait for me.”

He eventually made a call and later allowed the speaker to be sneaked in through a side gate.

However, the gate remained shut against all other members, most of whom were APC members.

This further infuriated the lawmakers, who began to shake the gate violently in a move to pull it down.

Realising it would be a Herculean task, they resorted to scaling the gate to the main complex.

Among those who scaled the   gate were the Minority Leader,   Femi Gbajabiamila; the Deputy Minority Leader, Abdulrahman Kawu; the Chairman, House Committee on Public. Accounts,   Solomon Olamilekan ; the Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs,   Victor Ogene; Bimbo Daramola and   Babatunde Adejare.

When the policemen realised that locking the gate yielded no results, they started throwing tear gas canisters at the lawmakers, including Tambuwal.

Twice, canisters landed right in front of the Speaker as he walked, shielded by his colleagues to the entrance of the lobby.

At the lobby, the enraged lawmakers, practically pulled down its doors down as they forcibly guarded Tambuwal into the House for proceedings to begin.

They chanted, “Make way for the Speaker, ” make way for the Speaker,” as the police threw more tear gas canisters right inside the lobby.

Many people ran for their lives, struggling to breathe.