The National Assembly has announced heightened security measures around key areas of its complex in Abuja ahead of lawmakers’ resumption from their annual recess on October 7.
The new development was made known on Thursday via an internal memo issued by the Office of the Serjeant-at-Arms and addressed to the Chairman of the Senate Services Committee.
According to the communication, access to certain strategic locations, including the Senate Chamber, the main gangway, and the corridor leading past the Senate President’s office, will now be restricted to senators and members of the House of Representatives only.
The memo, dated October 2 and signed by Brigadier-General Etido E. Ekpo (retd), stated that “all aides or personal assistants would not be allowed into the said corridor.” Lawmakers were also advised to communicate the new directive to their aides ahead of the resumption date.
The tightened security comes just days after Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, regained access to her office in Room 205 of the Senate wing, six months after it was sealed following her controversial suspension by the Senate leadership. Speaking after security personnel and the Serjeant-at-Arms formally unsealed the office, Akpoti-Uduaghan described the experience as “a test of resilience against injustice.”
Both chambers of the National Assembly had initially adjourned plenary on July 24 until September 23 for their annual two-month recess. However, in a brief statement issued last month, the Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, announced that the resumption date had been shifted to October 7.
