The Senate yesterday resolved to extend the time of its investigative panel probing alleged assault of a woman at an Abuja toy shop by Senator Elisha Abbo.
The Upper Chamber agreed to extend the two weeks earlier given to the Senator Samuel Egwu-led committee by one week.
Egwu told the Senate that Abbo informed the committee that he was constrained to speak to the committee because the issue under investigation was already in court.
The panel chairman said the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Commissioner Adamu Ciroma gave the same response.
He also said the “victim of the assault” and the owner of the shop did not respond to the committee’s investigation.
Egwu said: “I am standing here as chairman of the committee to seek additional time to submit our report.
“It is because of the sensitivity of the work of this committee, the incident, the interest of our members and even the public to know whatever happened we ask for this extension.
“When we set out to do this investigation, we invited all the people that are involved. We invited firstly our colleague.
Read Also: Senate Committee on Slapping
“In the cause of our interaction, he made it clear to us that he had been invited by the police where he was detained for 24 hours and thereafter charged to court.
“The case is already in court and it is subjudice. He cannot give us any information in order not to be subjudice.
“Thereafter, we invited the police and the FCT police commissioner, who came and told us that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) asked him to investigate the matter. He also told us that the case is in court and is subjudice. Therefore, he cannot give us further details.
“After that, we also invited the lawyer to the victim, who also repeated the same thing. We tried to reach the victim herself and equally the shop owner. They never showed up.”
Egwu sought the leave of the Senate to grant the committee an extension until the police finished its case.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan said the Senate investigation was not a criminal probe.
He said: “Let me clarify this: we are not investigating a criminal matter. We are investigating a misconduct.
“The Senate is not investigating what the police are investigating. The senator who raised the point of order came under privilege. This privilege is about the senator’s misconduct that could be attributed to everybody as a senator or the entire Senate.
“We have different tracks in this.”
The Senate President told Egwu that he was asking for an extension of time.
He said: “We cannot go and sit until the police finish their investigation. What they are investigating is maybe something criminal in nature.
“We will give you an extension of time, but we cannot stop our activities that until the police finish their court case.”
The committee was inaugurated two weeks ago and was due to present its report this week before the extension.
Leave a Reply