Nasarawa Government Decries Attack On Assembly, Calls For Investigation

Nasarawa State Government on
Wednesday condemned the attack on the
state House of Assembly by irate youths on
Tuesday in Lafia. The Commissioner for Information and
Ethical Re-Orientation, Hamza Elayo, said in
a statement in Lafia that the disturbance
was regrettable. “The government of Nasarawa State
condemns in strong terms the unfortunate,
unprovoked and unwarranted disturbance
of Tuesday Aug. 27 at the premises of the
Nasarawa State House of Assembly by yet
to be identified hoodlums,” he said. Elayo dissociated the government from the
disturbance and expressed its sympathy to
the speaker and members of the assembly
over the incident. He said it was undemocratic for any group
of persons to embark on violence in
expressing its feelings, saying that the
assembly had the constitutional right to
invite the governor to appear before it. He also noted that at the session, the
governor and assembly members had an
enlightened interaction which
demonstrated democracy in action. Elayo called on security agencies to
investigate and punish those found to have
been directly involved and their supporters. Elayo also warned that government would
not condone any act capable of derailing the
country’s democracy and causing
disharmony among the people of the state. He reiterated government’s determination
to promote and maintain peaceful co-
existence among the citizenry and sanction
those who threatened the unity of the
people, irrespective of their status in the
society. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls
that hundreds of youths on Tuesday
besieged the assembly when Gov. Tanko Al-
Makura honoured the assembly’s summon
to explain his alleged failure to implement
some of its resolutions. The youths were, however, dispersed by
armed policemen who fired tear gas at
them. (NAN)