President Muhammadu Buhari
Sixteen
senators and members of the House of Representatives from Rivers State
on Tuesday petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over alleged
interferences by security agencies in the hearing of cases before the
state election petition tribunal.
The lawmakers singled out the “State
Security Services” and the “Nigerian Army” as security agencies the
President should call to order to forestall a possible “injustice” in
the prosecution of the cases.
Among the petitioners were Senator George Sekibo and Mrs. Betty Apiafi, both of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The petitioners complained to Buhari
that soldiers and the Department of State Services operatives had
allegedly aligned with the All Progressives Congress to appear before
the tribunal to testify.
They appealed to the President to halt
the trend in order not to soil the integrity of his administration and
his promise to be fair to all Nigerians.
Part of the petition read, “Your
Excellency, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, we bring
above actions of your officers to your notice and pray that you caution
the Director, SSS, and Chief of Army Staff and indeed all other security
agencies to desist from meddling with the electoral process, which
presently is before the tribunals.
“Our
institutions, particularly security institutions, should not only be
incorruptible and apolitical, but should be seen to be incorruptible and
apolitical.
“We trust on your timely intervention.”
The lawmakers referred Buhari to an
earlier July 23 petition, where they raised a similar complaint over the
alleged harassment of Independent National Electoral Commission
officials and judicial officials by security operatives.
The petitioners added that it took the intervention of the Senate before the DSS operatives stopped the reported harassment.
However, they stated that the interferences had resumed with the involvement of soldiers, who now testified before the tribunal.
“It took the intervention of the Senate
to make the SSS realise that they were acting ‘ultra vires’ their powers
under the National Security Agencies Act Cap. N74.
“They admitted and indeed under the
enabling statute, they have no business interfering into electoral
matters,” the petitioners said.
The petitioners feared that the aim of the security agenc
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