Trouble looms in Senate over mace theft report

Signs that the eight Senate may end up in crisis has emerged in Abuja with the call by Senator Isah Hamma  Misau (PDP Bauchi Central), that report of Ad-hoc committee that carried out investigation on the invasion of Senate and mace theft on I8th April , 2018 , should be considered .

The National Assembly had in April last year after the mace theft saga in Senate, set up an Ad-hoc committee under the Chairmanship of the deputy Senate Leader, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah (APC Kebbi South) to carry out thorough investigation on the ugly incident and recommend appropriate sanctions for whoever found to have been involved .

Though Senator Ovie Omo -Agege (APC Delta Central), believed to have facilitated the invasion, refused to make submissions before the committee when invited on account of litigation he slammed on it and the Senate over the matter, but  the committee went ahead to carry out the investigation , report of which has not been submitted since then .

But when information filtered out last week that the committee’s report will be laid and considered this week, Omo-Agege secured an injunction against that from Abuja High Court in Bwari on Monday this week.

Condemning Omo-Agege’s action in a personally signed statement issued in Abuja Wednesday, Senator Misau said the Senate leadership should ignore him by taking action on the report before the 8th Senate winds down in the first week of next month .

According to him, Omo-Agege is running helter- skelter  to frustrate the report because of his direct involvement in the disgraceful  act which however must be resisted by the Senate by getting the latest order he got from the court vacated and  considering the report .

He said: “The court cannot stop the legislature from the performance of its constitutional duties. Some hoodlums attacked the Senate chamber on live television during plenary and inflicted injury on workers on April 18, 2018.

“The leadership set up an adhoc committee to investigate what happened and recommend measures to prevent a recurrence and months after the committte had submitted its report, a Senator rushed to court when he heard that there was a push for the report to be considered before the life of the present Senate expires. He wants to prevent the report of the committee from being considered. In fact, his action has shown the reason why the Senate should actually go ahead and consider the report and act on it, no matter the odds.

“Omo-Agege has dared the Senate. Now, he should face the music. I blame the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki for delaying on the consideration of the report. The Eighth Senate is winding down and the general view of members is that before we leave, all outstanding reports should be considered and acted upon. If Omo-Agege does not have any hidden agenda, why is he seeking to stop the consideration of the report,  after all, he was given fair hearing to state his own case before the panel?

“He is probably running helter-skelter now because he wants to become Deputy Senate President and he knows that if we adopt the recommendation of the committee, the outcome will affect his ambition. 

“This is the reason why people should always consider the future implications of their actions”.

Senator Misau is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy and one of the die hard supporters of the Senate President , Bukola Saraki from the take off of the eight Senate in June, 2015 till now .

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