Lawal Daura, director-general of the Department of State
Services (DSS), is expected to appear before the senate on Thursday to clarify
the role of the security oufit in matters of the Rivers state election
tribunal.
The DSS has reportedly detained Gesila Khan, resident electoral
commissioner of INEC in the state, over the 2015 general election. Some members
of INEC in Rivers and also the tribunal have also been allegedly arrested by
the secret police.
The development prompted members of the Rivers state house
of assembly to urge the upper chamber of the national assembly to look into the
matter. Commenting on the issue in Abuja on Wednesday, Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani,
speaker of the state house of assembly, appealed to the senate to save the
judiciary from losing its independence.
“The DSS purports to be acting on some
pre-arranged petitions from persons who are directly interested in the outcome
of the various election petitions from Rivers state,” he said. “We make bold to
say that they lack the power or the authority to invite any judicial officer
for questioning concerning their handling of election petitions.
” On his part,
Samuel Anyanwu, chairman of the committee which has been assigned to
investigate the issue, said there ought not to be interference with the
judiciary under any guise. “The independence of the judiciary is a very serious
pillar in the dispensation of justice,” he said.
“That is why the committee
takes the allegation of intimidation of tribunal members very seriously. If
the judiciary is intimidated, then the independence is compromised.”
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