Removing Speaker’s Security Was The Right Thing To Do, Obanikoro Says

The former Minister of State for Defence, Mr. Musiliu Obanikoro has lauded the withdrawal of the security detail of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal by the police.

Obanikoro stated this on Sunday, November 2, during an interview on Channels TV to address the issue of Tambuwal’s defection.

The Lagos State governorship aspirant also criticized Tambuwal for wanting to “eat his cake and have it”.

Obanikoro said:

“There is no surprise in that. We knew he was going to go, it was just a question of when and we needed for him to officially stand up and own up to the fact that his body is somewhere else and the body is just with us (PDP) and we glad that finally he has let the cat out of the bag.”

“I believe that the most honourable thing for him to have done is to resigned and then cross over to the other side and remain there. You don’t have to be a speaker to function in the National Assembly” he added.

He also stated that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) might have lost the man but they had no intention of losing the position.

“The rule is very clear; you cannot be in a minority in the House of Representatives and become the presiding officer,” Obanikoro said.

“Because what is going to happen right now is that the members of our party (PDP) will not sit back and allow him to preside. Tambuwal should do the needful and save himself the embarrassment and save the institution the crisis that will follow this situation that he has created,” he added.

Obanikoro also said that the police had acted “rightly” in withdrawing Tambuwal’s security detail while urging the men of the force to be “proactive” in carrying out their duty.

Tambuwal defected from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday, October 28 and reportedly had his security detail withdrawn at about 12 midnight on October 30.