More reactions have continued to trail the invasion of the Senate chamber by hoodlums on the entourage of suspended Senator Ovie Omo-Agege last Wednesday, with many arguing that it was another plot to instigate the removal of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki. The Senate was thrown into turmoil last Wednesday while it was preparing for plenary, when Omo-Agege led some hoodlums into the Senate chamber to snatch the Mace which is the symbol of authority of the National Assembly.
The mace had since been recovered by the Police on the street of Abuja as Omo-Agege has denied any involvement in the act which the Senate spokesperson, Abdullahi Aliyu Sabi, described as treasonable. Former Senator Victor Lar, who represented Plateau South at the Senate, believes there is an official complicity in the whole scenarioleading to the invasion of the Senate chamber and subsequent carting away of the Senate mace. He said, “There are at least five diff erent gates you pass through before entering the Senate chamber; are you saying no one saw the Senator under suspension and the hoodlums as they headed into the chamber and alerted the security operatives?
“It has also raised question about the dependence of the NASS on the executive arm, because we can’t claim to be an independent arm of government making independent decisions that are supposed to checkmate the executive arm and then we have civil servants from the executive arm working with the NASS and sabotaging the National Assembly,” Lar said. Similarly, a former Nigerian Ambassador to Cameroun and present National Vice Chairman of the PDP, Emmanuel Njiwah, said he strongly believed there is more to the issue than meets the eye.
In his reaction, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Abdullahi Jalo described the invasion as an affront on democracy, “it amounts to a coup d’état as the removal of the symbol of authority means overthrow of the legislature. It is indeed a treasonable act. Aminu Yakudima, a veteran journalist also described the invasion of the Senate as a national disgrace and a slap on Nigeria’s democracy. He also faulted the constitution of the Parliamentary Support Group for President Buhari, describing it is an unconstitutional group whose existence is alien to the constitution and rules guiding the activities if the Senate.
