National Assembly Locked Down, Armed Men Take Over

The National Assembly is reportedly locked down and workers, guests have been denied entrance to the complex.

The inauguration of the 8th National Assembly is scheduled to hold today, June 9 and its now hanging in the balance due to this, The Nation reports.

The Senate is billed to conduct the exercise by the Clerk of the National Assembly before the House of Representatives.

All access gates were locked and security operatives were said to be manning them, preventing workers and guests of lawmakers that were at the National Assembly early this morning from gaining entrance to the complex, though no lawmaker was seen around the gate.

Armed policemen and Department of State Services (DSS) has taken over the entire area of the first gate.

According to one of the security men, the closure of the gates was on the orders of the commissioner of police, though he did not give any further explanation.

He however, said the gates will be opened by 7a.m. but 30 minutes after the said time, the gates were still locked.

It was learnt that a meeting scheduled with President Muhammadu Buhari for 9.00am today might be responsible for the lockout.

Journalists who were able to find their way into the complex before it was locked were driven out by security men that claimed that the inauguration would not take place.

Meanwhile, latest reports reaching us indicates that the inauguration of 8thNational Assembly has been shifted.

The governors of the All Progressives Congress recently called an emergency meeting to find ways of settling the major crisis in the party over the choice of new leaders for the position of Senate President and Speaker House of Representatives.

Election of principal officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives was scheduled for today and reports had surfaced yesterday that Saraki boycotted a meeting called by the vice president, Yemi Osinbajo  and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to broker peace among the contenders for the Senate presidency ahead of the election.