DSS, Police occupy National Assembly

Police at national assembly

The Police and operatives of the Department of  State Services have occupied the National Assembly Complex shutting all entrances to the premise and preventing workers from gaining entry.

The main entrance close to the Eagle Square was also barricaded with patrol vans.

However, power and water supplies to the complex which were shut down on Monday by protesting workers have been restored.

Banks, restaurants and vendors and other business centres in the complex remain shut.

Lawmakers and their aides are allowed into the building while workers are kept out.

Senator Barnabas Gemade entered the building at 9:32am.

It was also observed that the Senate and House of Representatives chambers have been opened for plenary but the sergeants-at-arms who usually man the entrances and operate in the chambers are not on duty.

Policemen and DSS operatives could be seen at strategic locations in and around the building.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly clerk Mohammed Sani-Omolori who is at the centre of the crisis walked in at 9:42am. He declined to speak when approached by journalists.

The security operatives also frisked journalists, construction workers, vendors and a few who they felt should be allowed in.

Assembly workers under the arm of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria had begun a four-day strike on Monday, shutting down nearly all activities in the complex..

However, leaders and management of the National Assembly had held an emergency meeting on Monday night, after which they directed the police and the Department of State Services to secure the premises ahead of President Muhammadu Buhari’s presentation of the 2019 Appropriation Bill on Wednesday.