Sacked staff of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) yesterday barricaded all the gates of the National Assembly Complex and barred senators, members of the House of Representatives, legislative aides and others from getting access.

The NIMC staff, in their hundreds, stormed the National Assembly Complex as early as 8am to protest their dismissal. About 4,600 of them were reportedly dismissed.

Some of the protesters told Daily Trust that they kept vigil near the legislative complex on Monday night to get access yesterday.

Security men on duty watched helplessly as most of the stranded legislators returned home and many workers parked their cars outside the complex and resorted to trekking to their respective offices.

The protesters were seen displaying placards bearing inscriptions such as "NIMC DG must go," "NIMC DG is deceiving Nigerians," "Onyemenam is enemy of progress," among others.

Their leader, Ushe Fidelis, said they were protesting the plan by the management of NIMC to recruit 18,600 after dismissing 4,600 staff.

The protesters rejected entreaties by the chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence and National Intelligence, Senator Mohammed Magoro and the Vice chairman of the Senate Committee on National Identity and Population, Senator Abdulmumuni Hassan.