On Friday, the Department of State Service (DSS) manhandled two senior National Assembly staff members in Abuja, causing chaos.
Trouble began when two staff members, John Nnadi of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) and Chris Odoh, a Deputy Director, attempted to pass through the gate connecting the Senate’s new facility and the White House.
Eye witnesses said the staff simply flashed their ID cards, while the DSS operatives had asked them to identify themselves properly.
Following this, the DSS halted their movement and manhandled them in the process.
Efforts to stop the DSS from manhandling the staff proved abortive as more personnel joined to physically deal with the staff.
An eyewitness said the DSS personnel forcefully dragged Nnadi and Odoh to their office within the National Assembly Complex, a development that attracted the attention of passersby and staff of the United Bank Bank for Africa (UBA), Senate Committee on Public Accounts and journalists from the Senate Press Centre whose offices were along the way.
Angered by the embarrassing treatment, staff of the National Assembly from various offices at the White House including the Mace bearer in the Senate, gathered in front of the DSS office and threatened to take the matter up if their colleagues were not released.
But the DPO in the National Assembly, Alex Annagu and Deputy Clerk to the Senate (Legislative), Mrs Ilobah Isabella, hurriedly rushed to the scene to calm frayed nerves.