The former vice-president of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has called on president Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Police Force under Mr Idris Ibrahim, to stop the persecution of the leadership of the National Assembly.

In a message he posted on facebook, Atiku said that the news of the sieges on the residences of Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, is both troubling and unsettling.

The full statement issued by him which he personally signed read:

“The news of the sieges on the residences of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, is both troubling and unsettling. No democratic nation ought to treat the leadership of its Parliament like common criminals in the course of a political disagreement.

I remind the powers that be that on August 31, 2013, when Senator Bukola Saraki walked out of the Peoples Democratic Party and began the process of joining the All Progressives Congress, there was celebration in their camps.

I also remind them that their electoral victory, which they have so badly mismanaged today, would not have been possible without the Senate President.

Power is transient and is also a trust that should only be used for the good and advancement of the people one leads and not for the persecution of real and imagined political opponents.

I therefore call for the lifting of the sieges on the persons and homes of Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu by security forces.

I remind President Muhammadu Buhari of his public words of solidarity to Senator Saraki after his ordeal of malicious prosecution, which thankfully was brought to a halt by the Supreme Court, and I urge him to live up to those words today and always, the statement added.