Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said yesterday that the invasion of the homes
of senior judicial officers by the State Security Service was a disorganised
and worrisome act. According to him, the clampdown is a duplication of the
function of other anti-corruption agencies, such as the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, and promised sweeping reforms to prevent its recurrence.
Dogara made the observations when he
inaugurated a House committee to investigate the clampdown and its aftermath.
He said: “It is untidy, it seems, to have multiple agencies exercising similar
functions. The EFCC already handles issues of corruption and economic crimes in
Nigeria,”
Mr. Dogara said. “Should the State Security
Service also be charged with the same functions?” Scores of SSS operatives
swooped on the homes of judges in a coordinated raid across the country on
October 7. The raid dragged until the next morning, on October 8, before news
of the raid filtered to Nigerians.
“The activities of the State
Security Service of late have raised concerns in the Nigerian polity as to the
propriety of the conduct of officials of the service and whether their actions
are consistent with the law setting it up.
“It is in this regard that I enjoin
this committee to make relevant findings of fact that will enable the National
Assembly initiate the necessary amendments to the National Security Agencies
Act —and even the Constitution where necessary— to ensure conformity with the
constitutional design and framework that envisage that federal legislative power
should be domiciled in the National Assembly and not shared with the executive
in the manner provided under the Act,” Dogara said.
He said Buhari’s administration was
exploiting a decree promulgated by the last military junta, led by Abdulsalam
Abubakar. Abubakar, through an instrument in 1999, expanded the role of SSS to
include other functions as dictated by the head of state. But Dogara questioned
the validity of instrument since the NSA Act was amongst the four extant laws
under the Transitional Provisions an Savings component of the Constitution.
He said: “The National Security Agencies Act
is specifically protected by Section 315(5) of the Constitution as it cannot be
altered like ordinary Acts of the National Assembly. It has the same alteration
procedure like the Constitution as laid down in Section 9 (2) thereof.’’ He
charged lawmakers serving in the committee to answer all questions that stemmed
from the action of the SSS and recommend all necessary means of forestalling a
recurrence, including a possible amendment to the Constitution.
Source: Vanguard
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