A Second Republic lawmaker, Junaid Mohammed, has alleged that pressure is being put on President Muhammadu Buhari to reinstate sacked Director General of the Department of State Services, Lawal Daura.
Daura was sacked by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on August 7, while President Buhari was on vacation.
This followed the invasion of the National Assembly by hooded operatives of the DSS acting on the instruction of Daura.
He has since been arrested and in detention as revealed by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.
Speaking in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, Mohammed said what transpired in the National Assembly when the DSS operatives prevented lawmakers, staff and visitors to the complex from entering was unfortunate.
Mohammed, who granted the interview before the return of President Buhari from his 10 days working vacation in the United Kingdom, said it was also intriguing that anything that concerns the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, becomes a crisis.
He said: “What happened was very unfortunate and whichever side you want to blame or give credit to, it has really reduced our country, our democracy to that of a banana republic and the fact that since the event happened, there has been no statement, except the one which came from the office of the Acting President, denying any involvement in what happened.
“Now, this Lawal Daura has been arrested and all the noise about searches being conducted in his house or houses either in Abuja or other places.
“What happened or did not happen to him is a story for another day.
“As far as I am concerned, the event itself has been a great disservice to this country and as I said, it has reduced us to the place of a banana republic which is very, very unfortunate.
“This democracy has cost us so much in terms of money, in terms of labour, in terms of political argumentation for it to be seen to be threatened this way by a gangster and a few of his service men holding huge Israeli guns, it is really unfortunate and it speaks volumes about the kind of government we are running and the kind of leadership we have.
“Since the event happened and the dismissal and arrest of Lawal Daura there has been no statement from Buhari himself, only guess work.
“There is also the spin that what (Yemi) Osinbajo did, he did it with the knowledge and blessings of Buhari.
“There is an ethnic attempt by those who are related to Buhari, who are from Daura, who must be related to Lawal Daura, who now want to travel to the United Kingdom to ask Buhari to reverse himself and virtually bring back Lawal Daura and then sack the National Security Adviser who was supposed to be Lawal Daura’s boss but who he never respected and who he was not even in speaking terms with.
“You can see that the whole thing now is becoming a typical Nigerian football game where everybody kicks it the way he likes.
“It is very unfortunate and it is more or less heading towards a climax of the kind of Presidency we chose for ourselves in 2015 and the kind of situation Nigeria now finds itself.
“It speaks volumes about the incompetence and the irresponsibility of this Presidency, the ruling party and the main opposition party and all seems to be a bloody mess.
“If you recall, like I told you before the elections and thereafter, that there is no difference between the ruling All Progressives Congress and the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party, which are in fact two sides of the same coin.
“This is now becoming absolutely clear.
“This kind of two-party system and close to 100 others calling themselves political parties being registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission, will not serve our democracy well.
“We, as Nigerians, will have to start thinking about a way out.
“I have had occasions to talk to people in the media to say look, since this Saraki fellow sneaked into the Senate under the cover of darkness to cut a deal with the PDP, the Senate has known no peace.
“When you undermine the Senate, you essentially undermine the two chambers of the National Assembly.
“Why is it that every time anything concerns Bukola Saraki it becomes a crisis.
“Why?”
