The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has defended his decision to attend church services with armed security operatives attached to him.
Dismissing online complaints that his decision amounted to an abuse, Dogara, on Wednesday, called on those that are not comfortable with the presence of his security details at church services to ask the Federal Government to withdraw them.
As long as he remained the Speaker, the lawmaker told his critics, he would always go to church with the operatives.
“The day Dogara goes to church, he will have no security. At the moment, it is the Speaker and not Dogara that you see,” he fired back.
According to him, his official status demands that he goes everywhere with the full complement of security.
Distinguishing between his person and the office, he tweeted, “The Speaker must always have full complement of security wherever he goes but not Dogara. The nation provides security not Dogara. Tell Nigeria the Speaker needs no security.”
His critics had, earlier in the week, bombarded him with questions on why he attended church services with armed security personnel. According to them, the decision is an abuse of his official privilege and a demonstration of unbelief in the power of God to protect him even in His presence.
“Whether you are a Speaker or not, you do not need security escorts to go with you to a house of God, unless you have unbelief,” Fadipe Adeoye, a self-acclaimed social critic, tweeted.
“Why do you have to go to church with armed security men? Does that not mean that you do not feel safe in the house of God?” One Dayo Aiyetan also asked Dogara.
Tweeting on @abneroke, another social media commentator said the abuse of official facilities had become a disturbing feature in Nigeria’s public sector. Abner Oke said the only way the government could check the practice was to compel office holders to pay for official facilities whenever they used them for personal assignments.
However, some fans of the Speaker have stoutly defended his decision on the matter. Some of them, in fact, encouraged him, noting that religious houses in the country have become increasingly unsafe.
This is not the first time Dogara would face a social media backlash with critics on issues relating to religion. Critics attacked him last year when he claimed in Jerusalem that the Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose’s prayer helped him to win the speakership race.
Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, has scored some points on social media for stopping officers and men of the force from accessing individuals’ mobile phones without proper authorisation.
In a circular posted on the force’s website on Tuesday, the IGP warned that his men who engaged in the “illegal mobile phone checks” would face disciplinary actions.
Arase added, “The privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone conversations and telegraphic communications is hereby guaranteed and protected.”
The online document added, “This circular is sequel to reports made to the Complaint Response Unit by citizens, especially from Lagos, Oyo, Ekiti, Delta, Rivers and Edo states, of alleged indiscriminate checking of personal information such as emails, text messages and other forms of communication contents on personal mobile phones by some officers under the pretext of looking for fraudsters.
“The CRU enjoins members of the public not to engage in any form of conduct that could resort to the use of any form of force by a police officer. Rather, the CRU should be contacted in respect of any police/citizen contact that is not satisfactory to them.”
Online comments monitored on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms said the decision was an indication that the force was beginning to take public complaints seriously.