Outspoken senator representing Bayelsa
East Senatorial District, Senator Ben Bruce has been blocked from
exchanging pleasantries with President Muhammadu Buhari at the
Presidential Villa in Aso Rock on Monday, May 30, 2016.
It is presumed that the order to block
Ben Bruce from greeting the president came from Buhari as other members
of the Nigerian National Assembly who attended a dinner to mark the 2016
democracy day were allowed to greet the president without any security
blocking them.
Senator Ben Murray Bruce is a chieftain
of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the main opposition party in
Nigeria and has been vocal in his criticism of the Buhari
administration. On Sunday, he tweeted that Buhari has spent his first
year in office offering excuses.
Ben Bruce took to Twitter, where he has a
large following and has stood out as the most influential PDP senator
on the micro-blogging website to explain what happened at the villa.
“I was at the Presidential villa today.
Went to the President’s table. DSS wouldn’t allow me greet him but let
another Senator greet him,” he tweeted.
“My critics say I shouldn’t criticize
the president openly, so I go and meet him one on one and I’m blocked.
Am I not a Nigerian citizen?
“If PMB’s handlers selectively block access to him, he runs the risk of being surrounded only by sycophants!
“I have nothing against the President, however, nobody is too important to be criticized and my mouth will never be silenced!”
Ben Bruce tweeted a criticism of the president few hours before the
dinner. “It’s ‘fantastically corrupt’ that Nigeria maintains a 10 plane
Presidential fleet whereas the PM of a rich nation like UK flies
commercial!”
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