16th February, 2023
By Femi Ogunshola
The management of the National Assembly has dismissed reports that masked operatives of the Department of State Services barricaded the gates to the assembly complex on Wednesday, shutting out lawmakers.
The clarification was detailed in a statement issued by Mr. Agada Emmanuel, the Director of Information National Assembly in Abuja on Thursday.
A tweep identified as @chuwuebuka shared a video on his Twitter account, alleging the siege of the National Assembly complex by the DSS.
Reacting, Emmanuel averred that the video was misleading and fake news in its entirety, stressing that the National Assembly members are currently on recess and staff is not under any siege by the DSS.
“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.
“The main entrance gate is presently under reconstruction and near completion for commissioning,” he said while condemning the motive behind the video.
According to him, the new Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Sani Tambuwal, and his management team are fully in charge, focused and determined to achieve their set goals in line with their core mandates.
He stated that such misinformation was capable of causing panic, mischief, and anxiety, which could lead to a breakdown in law and order, as this report may have been intended.
Therefore, he urged security agencies to investigate the use of the Twitter handle account to forestall future abuse and spreading of misinformation in the media space.