Drama as soldiers stop and search Speaker Tambuwal’s car with anti-bomb detectors

Soldiers in Kaduna State, at the Hotel Seventeen, venue of the international conference on security and development challenges of pastoralism in West and Central Africa, humiliated the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, by insisting that his official vehicle must be searched before he would be admitted into the conference venue.

This made the security details attached to Tambuwal to protest but the soldiers stood their ground. Some of the soldiers were said to have.insisted that they were acting on "orders from.above."

Angered by the conduct of the soldiers, the Speaker came out of the car and trekked into the venue while other VIPs including governors, who attended the conference were allowed into the hotel without being stopped.

A source, who witnessed the drama, said, "The convoy was driving to Hotel 17, the venue of the conference. The soldiers sighted the speaker's convey and picked out his car, insisting that it must be searched.

"They asked him to wind down his window glass. The speaker was shocked that even after recognising him, the soldiers still said they wanted to search his official car."

His Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Imam Imam, confirmed the incident and described it as unusual for security operatives to search a staff car belonging to the speaker.

He said the soldiers subjected the Speaker's car to a search, using anti-bomb detectors, saying, "if the number four citizen of this country can be subjected to such treatment, only God knows what will happen [to an ordinary man]."