NASS invasion: Nigeria ‘retrogressing democratically’, says Mantu

Sat, Aug 11, 2018 | By publisher


Politics

A former Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu, has said that the siege to the National Assembly by officers of the Department of State Services is an indication that Nigeria is “retrogressing democratically.”

According to him, it is a sacrilegious act for DSS operatives to invade NASS and prevent legislators from performing their duties, stressing that their action “has actually portrayed Nigeria in a very bad light across the world and has taken us back to the dark ages.” Speaking during the 2018 Leadership Impact and Sustainability Awards programme organised by the CEO Clubs Network Nigeria in Abuja on Friday, Mantu, who received an award at the event, said what happened at NASS was shameful. He said, “What happened at the National Assembly on Tuesday morning was highly unfortunate. It is not something that one can politicise.

“As long as you are a Nigerian, anything that is going to embarrass the nation and give us a bad image in the international community should be avoided whether we are in the opposition or the ruling party.

“After about 18 years of uninterrupted democracy, people would have expected that democratic cultures and principles should have been deepened in our system. But for people to see what is happening now, they are definitely very disappointed.

“Instead of making progress, we are retrogressing.”

Armed and masked operatives of the DSS had laid siege to the National Assembly on Tuesday morning. – Punch

– Aug. 11, 2018 @ 12:49 GMT |

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