National Assembly management has described as untrue reports that surfaced online that masked operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS yesterday barricaded the gates to the National Assembly complex, shutting out lawmakers.
The legislative body also called for the investigation of the originator of the misleading tweet.
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The management, through a statement made available to our correspondent by the Director of Information, Agada Rawlings, said the response to the report is to clear the doubts, concerns and anxiety in the public domain that the, “National Assembly, the symbol of our hard-earned democracy, is not under siege by the DSS or any security agencies of government.”
The statement added that the attention of the management had been drawn to an unverified video trending on social media tweeted from the Twitter handle account of one @Chukwuebuka, alleging the siege of the National Assembly complex by officers of the DSS.
The statement read;
The reposted unverified video clips were a reported incident that took place in 2018 at the main entrance gate leading into the National Assembly complex, which is presently under reconstruction and near its completion for commissioning.
It is therefore intriguing to understand what motivates this mischief marker set out to achieve with the repost, gauging the political mood of the country and the fourth coming general elections.
The National Assembly also urged its staff and the general public are to discountenance the said:
Unverified malicious, mischievous and misleading reposted video as fake news in its entirety, as the National Assembly members currently on recess and staff are not under any siege by the DSS.
It added that the new Clerk of the National Assembly, Magaji Tambuwal, and his management team are fully in-charge, focused and determined to achieve their set goals in line with their core mandates to motivate the workforce to provide the expected support services to the leadership, members, Federal Government, and the general public.
The statement added;
The management equally wishes to extend its esteemed appreciation and gratitude to the National Assembly leadership, members, top government officials, security agencies and the general public, who through phone calls shown concerns and solidarity.
It is expected that the relevant security agencies should further investigate the user of Twitter handle account to forestall future abuse and spreading of misinformation into the media space capable of creating panic, mischief and anxiety leading to break down of law and order as this repost, may have to be intended.
