Akwa-Ibom Lawmakers Threaten To Sue DSS

Members of the Akwa-Ibom State House of Assembly have vowed to take the Department of State Services, DSS, to court if the agency fails to apologise for raiding the Government House in Uyo last week.

The lawmakers gave the DSS a seven-day ultimatum to tender an apology or face litigation.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja at a news conference, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Anikan Okon, described the incident as unlawful and an embarrassment to the state.

Okon called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly to probe action of the Nigeria’s secret police.

The Speaker said the DSS went too far in violating Governor Emmanuel Udom’s immunity as imbedded in the Constitution.

“We also invite President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly to launch proper investigation into the ridiculous action of the SSS.

“We are shocked that the SSS which is currently purging officers it claimed to have shown unconcealed partisanship should descend so low to the extent of staging a coup d’état on our governor, simply because he belongs to an opposition party,” Okon said at the news conference.

He added that, “Despite the fact that the President, his vice as well as state governors enjoy constitutional immunity, the Akwa Ibom State governor, Udom Emmanuel, has been singled out and stripped of this right, which is provided for him under the law.

“We are firm in the belief that if the raid on the Hilltop Mansion was not an act of felony, persecution and political vendetta, the DSS would have declared their mission before unleashing terror on innocent workers of Akwa Ibom State Government and or openly declare to the authorities in the state what they found and what they took away from our Government House.”