Ekiti Assembly Invasion: Lawmakers Storm Abuja, Says DSS Action About 2018 ...Ask Buhari To Order Release Of Arrested Members

By Lere Olayinka

Members of the Ekiti state House of Assembly on Thursday stormed Abuja the federal capital territory and asked President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the Department of State Services (DSS) to release four of their members detained by the service since last Friday.

The DSS operatives had reportedly invaded the state House of Assembly

complex in Ado Ekiti and whisked away the four members to Abuja and

said to be acting on the order from above.
Briefing newsmen at the National Assembly complex in Abuja, the

Chairman, Ekiti House Committee on Information, Honourable Gboyega

Aribisogan, said the call for the president to direct the release of

the detained legislators has become imperative because the DSS would

not embark on such action without presidential approval.

According to him, "Like we have maintained plotters of evil against

the government of Ayodele Fayose and by extension the people of Ekiti

State will not get our support.
"We, members of the State House of Assembly are prepared to spend the

rest of our tenure in DSS cell, instead of plotting against our leader

and mentor, Governor Ayodele Fayose", he maintained.

Speaking further, he said that, "Gone are those days in Nigeria when

impeachment notices against governors were signed on the table of the

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and

this time around, if the DSS is programmed to play the role played by

the EFCC under former President Obasanjo, it will fail".

"Also, if this harassment and intimidation is about 2018, we wish to

state unequivocally that we in the PDP are fully on ground in Ekiti.

We are not playing diaspora politics as being done by the APC and

Nigerians should be rest assured that the APC will be defeated once

again".
"We won’t be intimidated by any agency of the Federal Government, the

DSS inclusive.
"We have also been told that some of us have been slated for arrest

and detention and it is on this note that we have come to inquire from

the DSS those of us they still want to arrest so that we can turn

ourselves in without giving them the stress of coming down to Ekiti.

"The DSS can also go ahead and publish the names of our members that

they want to arrest so that we will know who among us to bring to

Abuja.
"Alternatively, the DSS can keep the entire 26 members of the Ekiti

State House of Assembly in their custody for as long as they desire so

that it will be easy for them to call anyone of us for questioning at

any time of the day", he stated.