Ahead of the visit of the National Assembly fact-finding committee to Ekiti State, some workers of the House of Assembly are being tutored to lie against the Department of State Services (DSS).
The Senate has raised an ad hoc committee to investigate the purported invasion of the Assembly complex on March 4 as alleged by the lawmakers, who claimed that some DSS officers shot sporadically into the air and abducted at least two of them.
But some civil servants working in the Assembly denied knowledge of any invasion by DSS officers either during the working hours or after close of work on the said day.
A source in the Assembly told our reporter yesterday that the Clerk, Tola Esan, held a meeting with some categories of staff where they were tutored to bear false witness against the DSS that the “invasion” really happened.
Those summoned to the office of the Clerk include all the 12 directors, unit heads, the sergeant-at-arm and some security men.
The source said: “It is true that the Clerk summoned a meeting in his office at about 9am yesterday and the purpose of the meeting was to coerce us to tell those coming from the National Assembly that the invasion really happened.
“We were told to tell the panel that the Assembly complex was invaded by DSS officers and that they shot into the air and left through the back of the House of Assembly Service Commission office, which is the next building to the Assembly complex.
“The fact-finding committee is due in the state either today or tomorrow. That is what they want us to tell the committee even though we know that there was no invasion at all.”
Another source said: “The information is true, that was what we were told to tell those people coming from Abuja at the meeting held inside the Clerk’s office.
“In fact, the security agencies in the House are not happy with the development because they enjoy good relationship and inter-service synergy with the DSS.
“The police, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and DSS officers are not happy with the plan to force the innocent civil servants to testify on what did not happen.
“The security men working the Assembly are not happy with the development; they were highly infuriated because they are not happy to falsely indict the DSS.
“This is politics taken too far; I want to confirm that the authorities of the Assembly have no evidence whatsoever to substantiate their claim of the purported invasion.
“They have no audio, video, photo or electronic evidence and why are they conscripting civil servants to tell lies against the DSS? The Civil Service rules clearly forbid dragging civil servants into politics.
“We should not be involved in politics and we are not interested in their politics because bearing false testimony is against the conscience of any God-fearing person.”
Source: The Nation
Source: The Nation