Former Speaker Ghali Umar Na’Abba said he was invited by the Department of State Services (DSS) based on a misunderstanding of the words he used in the media last week.
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Na’Abba, a co-Chairman of the National Consultative Front, had criticised the Muhammadu Buhari led government in a press conference and on a television interview for its handling of the country.
Na’Abba described the country as a failed state and said Nigerians have a right to self- determination.
The former Speaker, who spent the afternoon at the DSS National Headquarters in Abuja, where he had been invited for questioning over his comments, said there were no problems with the visit.
Na’Abba however told reporters late Monday evening after he left the DSS office he stood by his words.
He said he was questioned for over two hours.
“I did not disown anything I said. I will never mince my words. Whatever I see as the truth I say it.
“And that is what I said in my interview and said during the press conference. And I can never say anything that is not the truth,” he said.
He continued: “What happened was there were certain words that appeared in my address and interview which needed some clarifications and which clarification, I made.
“We were both satisfied with what happened. We advised one another. The DSS have their own job and their own experience. I too have my own vocation also have my own experience. And we felt highly enriched by our experiences.
“That is how things are supposed to be. It went successfully. I enjoyed my stay there. I had no problems with the way they received me.
“In my address I used the words ‘failed state’ and ‘self determination’. When we say out words, what we mean may be different from what other persons perceive and that was what happened.
“Self- determination simply in our own context means Nigerians must be allowed to live the way they want to live.
“It does not mean the mean dismemberment of the country. A lot of times from security point of view when you say self- determination it is meant that it is the dismemberment of the country, which is not so. This needed clarification.
“Failed state is any state that cannot provide a lot of services. What happened was that in their own opinion I did not use the words appropriately and it is only human to use words not appropriately and I told them that what I meant there is that the indices that characterise a failed state are prevalent with us.”
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