Pandemonium in NASS as Rep, aides assault FRSC official

Posted by admin House, Legislature, Senate Saturday, June 2nd, 2012

There was confusion at the lobby of the National Assembly in Abuja on Friday as a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Ibrahim Olaifa, and his aides manhandled an official of the Federal Road Safety Corps.

The offence of the FRSC official, Mr. Mediel Jerry, was that he reportedly clamped Olaifa’s car for parking at an unauthorised area in the complex.

The car, a 2011 Honda Accord marked MHR 100, was parked at the entrance to the lobby linking the Senate and House chambers.

The security division of NASS had disallowed parking in front of the lobby, a new security measure taken in the wake of recent threats in the country.

Findings indicated that security officials and traffic control personnel at the NASS were under an instruction to clamp any vehicle that breached the rule.

The vehicles of several lawmakers and top officials of the NASS are frequently clamped for disregarding the rule. Olaifa is a member of the Accord Party representing Oluyole Federal Constituency.

His political aides immediately crowded the FRSC official, claiming that there was no intention to park the car in the security area.

His aides punched and shoved Jerry mercilessly in front of the lobby in the presence of the lawmaker.

When the beating became too much for the FRSC official, he ran into the lobby, seeking help from policemen and other security officials.

Olaifa’s aides ran after the official, shouting, “Thief, thief, thief.”

The aides caught up with Jerry, punched him the more and got some buttons removed from his uniform.

They were about to drag him out of the lobby, insisting he must unlock the clamp when a plainclothes female police officer came to his rescue.

“Stop, stop,” she ordered the aides.

It was at this point that Olaifa started telling his aides to stop the beating.

The lawmaker pointed fingers at the official, whose face had swollen up, demanding explanations for clamping his car.

Some members of the FRSC, who were alerted to the development, rushed to the lobby and took Jerry to the police unit at the National Assembly to lodge a complaint.

The same aides also rained abuses on journalists for daring to come to the scene to find out what happened.

One of the aides, a heavily built lady, tried to assault the reporters.

Olaifa threatened court action when his views were sought over the incident.

“Go and publish whatever you like; I will go to court and you will be hearing from my lawyer if it is not the truth.

“I know Punch and I have been in relationship for a very long time.

“Write whatever you want to write,” he added.

The shouting at the lobby caused confusion as many staff members and security personnel rushed to the place, thinking that there was a major security scare.

When contacted, the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, blamed the beating on the political aides and not Olaifa.

-Punchwp_posts