It was like a scene from a Hollywood movie. Shortly after the Senate and the House of Representatives adjourned their proceedings and the lawmakers returned to their respective offices yesterday, word started going round that a bomb had been planted in the National Assembly Complex. Soon, the “news” started spreading through phone calls, text messages and BlackBerry messenger.
Within a few minutes, the lawmakers abandoned lawmaking to obey the first law of nature. The entire complex went into a frenzy as everyone – lawmakers, staff members of the National Assembly (NASS) and visitors – started running towards the main gates in a bid to escape to safety.
Lawmakers who were attending committee meetings fled the meeting halls while shouting on top of their voices into their cell phones, calling on their drivers to take them out of the complex. Pandemonium broke out; there was almost a stampede.
Those who had managed to get to their exclusive parking lots sped off towards the main gates, while staff members and visitors without cars ran out as fast as their legs could carry them. In the next few minutes, both the parking lots for lawmakers and those for staff and visitors to the complex were empty.
The deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, was among those who rushed out and made towards their official cars in a bid to escape to safety. On sighting reporters taking pictures of the fleeing lawmakers and staff, however, Ihedioha turned and dashed back to his office.
A meeting of the Ad-hoc Committee on Concession Agreements of the Ministry of Finance ended abruptly. Participants fled the committee room as soon as they got wind of the bomb scare.
When contacted, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Business and Rules, Sen. Ita Enang, told LEADERSHIP that he was in his office when somebody came and told him to leave the building. He said: “We heard some people coming to knock on my office door and asking my staff and I to leave the building and, before we could ask him what the problem was, he had left for the next office.
“I tried to get an official confirmation but there was none. When we looked out, we saw that people were going out in droves from the complex. There has not been any official explanation about what happened. We only learnt of a bomb scare.
“I don’t think the National Assembly security services could have made any official confirmation because they might not have had enough information on what happened. I also think that some persons might have raised a false alarm as they normally do in some places.
“But since it is a security matter, you have to take it seriously. Whether it is a rumour or not, you just have to run and you do not claim it is false when you are not in a position to confirm its authenticity or fault the person who gave you the information.”
But the sergeant-at-arms to the National Assembly, Col. Emeka Okere (rtd), said the bomb scare was unfounded. Okere, who addressed journalists later in the evening, said security operatives were still hunting for the person who initiated the rumour.
He said: “There was nothing of that sort. Someone raised a false alarm. It is unfounded and we are looking for the person who raised it. Nobody was caught with anything, neither was any bag found anywhere.
“We deployed our men to search all over the place but nothing was found to that effect. A similar false alarm was raised at the federal secretariat recently.”
The chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Matters, Hon. Zakari Mohammed, who briefed reporters alongside Okere, appealed for calm, saying that the assembly was safe.
Since after the August 26 bombing of the United Nations building, security at the National Assembly has been beefed up. Except cars belonging to lawmakers and top management staff of the Assembly, all other vehicles are denied entry, while visitors are thoroughly frisked before being allowed into the complex.
The National Assembly is said to be one of the areas targeted by Boko Haram, a terrorist group that has claimed responsibility for several bomb attacks in the country.
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