SAN FRANCISCO, April 19, (THEWILL) – The Nigeria Police Force said it had recovered the Mace stolen from the chambers of the Senate by unidentified persons.
A statement by the Deputy Force Spokesman, SP Aremu Adeniran, said that the mace was abandoned under the flyover before the city gate in Abuja where a passerby saw it and alerted the police.
He said that following the ugly incident, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris had ordered the FCT Police Command to beef-up security at the National Assembly.
He said that investigation into the incident was still ongoing to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The deputy spokesman commended Abuja residents, especially motorists, for their cooperation during the rigorous stop and search operation for the recovery of the mace.
Adeniran said that the commitment of the police to guarantee protection of lives and property and sustain democracy in the country remained unequivocal and unwavering.
Meanwhile, the deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has briefed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on the invasion of the Senate.
After meeting with Osinbajo, Ekweremadu told reporters: “I am sure you are aware of the Senate invasion today and we have to come and brief the Vice President because the President is not in town.
“It was appropriate for him to know what transpired because we are in a democracy; we are all in one government and it is the responsibility of the President or the Vice President to ensure that there is law and order in the country.
“And once we have this kind of major development it is important that he is briefed at the earliest opportunity. Since the Senate President is out of the country, it is my responsibility to come over and brief the Vice-President.
“He has sympathised with us over what happened and he is going to join forces with us to ensure that we get to the root of the matter to make sure that this will not happen again.
“For us it’s a threat to our democracy, the invasion of the parliament is not acceptable to any person, it’s not acceptable to me, it is not acceptable to the Vice-President, it is not acceptable to my colleagues, I believe it is not also acceptable to the President.
“So those who acted this script must be on their own. All we need to do as a country is to ensure that this is forestalled and I want to appeal to the media to help us discourage this kind of brigandage so that people have to behave in a very responsible manner.”
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