Majority leader of the Plateau state house of Assembly, Daniel Naanlong has said that the house is not under siege.
Speaking to Voice of Nigeria in Jos Mr. Naanlong said the management of the house noticed the presence of security personnel within the premises of the assembly which raised some questions but “as I speak to you now the house is not under siege, members are free to come and go but the Plateau state house of assembly is on recess “.
The majority leader said the relationship between the executive and legislature is very cordial and it is in order for there to be some disagreements among family members which are always eventually resolved. He said ” we each have responsibilities to fulfill to the people of Plateau state and I don’t think anyone of us is infringing on the rights of the other to function”. We are not in conflict with one another the executive and legislative have a enjoyed a long working relationship and when issues come up we find a way to resolve it.
On the two weeks ultimatum given to the governor by the Plateau state house of assembly Naanlong said ” let me make it very clear that the house of assembly that I know the 24 of us there has never been anytime anywhere any day that the house perceives or conceives the idea to impeach the governor, we do not I repeat we do not have the intention to impeach the governor. What you are seeing playing out in the public, there has been pressure from our constituents in respect of insecurity in the state in recent time, there is the misconception that the governor can hire and fire within the security architecture as the chief security of the state with powers to do and undo but the constitution that prevents governors from having control of security makes them handicapped as protocol must be followed for the security agencies to act “.
Naanlong adds that ” we, know the relevant provisions of the constitution we only make appeals as resolutions of the house are advisory and appeal in nature it is not a directive either is it a law but of course under the compelling situation that we are in the state there was need for the assembly to speqk with a strong language for our constituents to know that we have been taking that we have engaging the security and collaborating with the executive to find lasting solutions to the security situation but I tell you it is a friendly relationship it is not an attempt to impeach the governor in two weeks”.
On efforts of the security agencies to restore peace Naanlong Daniel said security agencies are trying but their best is not good enough as they fail to respond to early warnings before some of the attacks occured “there is every need for us to strengthen our security in terms of their training in terms of the gadgets they need in terms of intelligence gathering and more personnel that can be visibly seen so it can boost the confidence of communities to believe that government is doing everything possible to see that they have the best and can sleep with their two eyes closed”.
Speaker of the Plateau state house of assembly Nuhu Abok Ayuba during a television interview said the house was under security siege to which the State commissioner for information Dan Manjang said he was unaware of the development.
Ime N
