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The House of Representatives has condemned in strong terms, calls for an interim government in the country and cautioned aggrieved politicians not to heat up the polity but wait the outcome of litigations on the just concluded elections.
The House also urge security agencies in the country to be on the alert to forestall the possible breakdown of law and order.
This was a based on a motion of urgent public importance by Hon. Unyime Idem on Tuesday at plenary on the recent revelation by the Department or State Services that some people were plotting an interim.government a d working on o abort the inauguration of the new government on May 29.
The lawmaker sited that the part 1 Section 132 of the 1999 Constitution as amended allows for change of leadership through the ballots and a four year tenure of office for the President after each election cycle.
He added that the idea of an interim government is undemocratic, unconstitutional, and unknown to the laws of the land as a court of competent jurisdiction had in time past so declare.
“On Wednesday, March 29, 2023, the State Security Service issued a warning on some individuals who are allegedly plotting to install an interim Government in Nigeria”, he said.
According to Hon. Idem, if the plots are allowed to see the light of the day, it will result in anarchy, with a price many generations after us will continue to pay for.
“The Judiciary is the only institution empowered by law to adjudicate over post election matters. Some politicians have made comments that indicate their aggrieviance over the last elections”, he asserted.
He further stated that if this development is left unchecked, “we might be sliding into irredeemable anarchy”.
Contributing to the debate, Hon. Jimoh Ibrahim, said it was satanic and devilish for anybody to have thought about an interim government.
He stated, “How can someone Say they don’t want the elected representatives to be inaugurated?”
Hon. Ademorin Kuye believes the idea of an interim government was first muted by former President Olusegun Obasanjo who, in his letter asked the President to cancel the Presidential election.
He warned that advisories from the DSS should not be taken lightly and that they were existential threats to democracy in Nigeria which must not be allowed to come to reality.
Kuye recalled that even in the US, there had been such threats to derail democracy when former President Donald Trump reportedly “sponsored” demonstrators to go to the Capitol and attack legislators.
“We shouldn’t wait until something happens before we begin to take necessary actions”, he added
Chairman of the House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli Jibia said, “the motion is timely, and the DSS merely performed its statutory function by giving Nigerians and the government ‘heads-on, issuing warnings and advisories.
“Who will swear in an interim government? Who will protect it, the police or the military? We should look at this motion with a sense of responsibility and love for this nation.”
In his contribution, Hon Julius Ilhonvbere said the House has a responsibility to o protect and defend democracy.
Hon. Sa’ad Abdullahi (APC, Bauchi) said it was wrong to suggest that there was no evidence of people calling for an interim government when one of the Vice Presidential candidates openly said on national television that the newly elected government should not be inaugurated.
But Hon. Sergius Ose-Ogun(PDP, Edo) and Ossai Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta) asked the House knot to adopt the motion because it was a waste of time discussing what does not exist.
They queried the DSS for coming out to say that they suspect some people plotting to install an interim government without making any arrest, from Delta State, urged the House to throw out the motion.
Ose-Ogun said, “How can you wake up and tell us that some people want to derail democracy, yet you have not arrested or named the suspects?”
Ossai Nicholas Ossai who said the action of the DSS was “speculative”, argued that what the agency was expected to do was to name those it claimed were calling for an interim government.
“Does it mean that the DSS is speculative? The DSS chief can’t name or arrest anyone? As a legislature, we can’t discuss speculation or rumours’, Ossai insisted.