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Tag: Mace theft

  • Senate Invasion: ‘Suspend, prosecute Omo-Agege, six others’

    The report of the Ad Hoc Committee investigating the incidence of the Senate Chamber invasion was considered Tuesday and 10 of the 11 recommendations were approved and adopted by the lawmakers.

    The report which was laid in the House Tuesday by the joint Chairperson of the Committee Hon. Betty Apiafi on Wednesday 5th July, 2018 and considered in the Committee of the Whole Tuesday asked for “the immediate suspension of Sen. Ovie Omo- Agege for 180 Legislative sitting days in line with Section 14(2) of the legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, 2017.”

    Read Also:Senate seeks probe of murder of nine police officers in Abuja

    Other recommendations asked for the “immediate prosecution of Senator Omo- Agege and the 6 other suspects for treasonable felony, assault occasioning harm, conspiracy to steal and actual theft of the mace, the symbol of authority of the Parliament;

    “That Senator Omo- Agege be prosecuted for incitement and breach of peace in the Chamber of the Senate and contempt ex- facie;

    “the prosecution of Senator Omo- Agege and the six others for obstructing and assaulting officers of the National Assembly in the course of their duty contrary to section 14(1)(C)  of the Legislative Houses ( Powers and Privileges) which states ‘Any member of a Legislative House who assaults or obstructs any officer of the Legislative House while in the execution of his duty shall be guilty of contempt of. Legislative House’ and should be dealt with in accordance with the provision of the law;

    “That the Nigeria Police’s preliminary investigation on the issue should be concluded to allow for prosecution.”

    The recommendations further state ” that the management of National Assembly should, as a matter of urgency, review the existing Security Operational Procedure  and indeed the entire Security architecture with a view to improving  the capacity of the Sergeants- at- Arm to enable them take the lead in providing security and encouraging synergy among other agencies to assist in complimentary roles;

    “And introduce electronic gate screening mechanism with capacity to automatically process authorized persons to Jain access into and out of the National Assembly Complex.

    “That members should accord the Security Operative the required courtesy and cooperation to enable them discharge their responsibilities effectively and efficiently.”

    The report commended the House of Representatives, the international community, the media and other well- meaning individuals for their show of support in the side of Senate when “democracy was threatened”.

    It also recommended for special compensation staff of the Senate Chamber namely Sandra Davou, Chuks Egemuka, Hussaini Yuri, as well as  Timothy Omale and Jacob James Idoko of the House of Representatives Chamber ” who did their best to retrieve the Mace but were overpowered by the thugs.

    Finally, the report commended the Deputy Senate President and the entire Senate “for refusing to be intimidated by the invasion and upholding their oath of office as prescribed in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended.)”

    Recall that on April 18, 2018, a set of thugs gained entry into the Senate chamber while it was in session and carted the mace away. The Mace was allegedly seen some days later around the Abuja City gate

    The National Assembly thereafter set up an ad hoc committee with Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah and Hon. Betty Apiafi as co- Chairmen to investigate the circumstances surrounding the theft of the Mace and come up with recommendations.

     

     

  • Mace theft committee indicts Omo-Agege

    THE National Assembly ad hoc joint committee probing the theft of the Senate mace has concluded its sitting and may likely lay its report in both chambers today.

    The Nation learnt that Senator Ovie Omo-Agege was indicted by the report, with the committee headed by Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah and Betty Apiafi rooting for a suspension and possible prosecution.

    A source close to the committee revealed that the panel may be basing its recommendation on relevant potions of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges)  Act,  2017.

    “Contrary to a recent court pronouncement that the National Assembly has no power to suspend its members, the committee was convinced that Omo-Agege had breached sections of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges)  Act,  2017,” the source said.”

    Section 14(2) of the Act states : “Where a member commits a contempt of the Legislative House, the Legislative House may by resolution reprimand such person or suspend him from service of the Legislative House, without pay, for such a period as may be determined by the House, but not to the end of a legislative session”.

    Section 15 states : “A suspended member of the Legislative House under Section 14(2) of this Act,  shall not enter or remain within the chamber or its precincts while the suspension remains in force.”

    The source said: “After an extensive investigation and questioning of different security agencies and staff of the National Assembly, the committee allegedly found a glaring connection between the senator’s appearance on the said date and the disappearance of the Senate mace and therefore may be asking for a 180 days suspension for him.”

    Besides,  it was learnt that the committee may go further to ask for the prosecution of the lawmaker for Treasonable Felony.

    On April 18, 2018, some thugs gained entry into the Senate Chamber while it was in session and carted the mace away.

    The mace was found some days later around the Abuja city gate.

    An ad hoc committee was then set up to investigate the circumstances surrounding the mace theft and come up with recommendations to forestall a future reoccurrence.

     

     

  • Senate Mace theft: Police still on trail of eight suspects

    •Wounded female Sergeant-at-arms discharged from hospital
    •Saraki returns from US, takes charge

    The Police are still working round the clock to arrest the eight men who, on Wednesday, stormed the Senate chamber and ran away with the mace.

    The suspects were allegedly brought to Abuja from Delta State.

    A monitoring committee raised by the Inspector-General of Police to probe the matter has retrieved the video clips of the invasion for analysis.

    It is expected that the video clips will assist in tracking down the suspects.

    The monitoring committee is headed by a Commissioner of Police.

    Although the National Assembly has a Close Circuit TV (CCTV) system, it was unclear yesterday if the device was working at the time of the incident.

    The committee may be required to give its opinion on the CCTV system as part of its findings.

    A female Sergeant-at-arms, Sandra Davou, who was injured in the process of resisting the hoodlums and was subsequently hospitalized, has recovered.

    She was let home on Friday.

    Sandra was slapped, beaten, and pushed to the floor and chairs smashed on her head.

    The Senate is insisting that the culprits be brought to book.

    The Nation gathered in Abuja yesterday that detectives are on the trail of the suspects.

    Heads of security units in the National Assembly may be quizzed by the police in the course of the ongoing investigation.

    A source said yesterday that the police are determined to get to the root of the invasion.

    “The Monitoring Committee has retrieved video clips of the invasion and a forensic analysis will be done accordingly to identify the culprits,” the source said.

    “The team might also review the CCTV in the National Assembly if it was functional at that time. Some heads of security units and Sergeant-at-arms are expected to interact with the police investigators.”

    A principal officer in the Senate said the Red Chambers expects that having made “our position known to the Presidency, it must fish out the suspects. Anything short of arrest of the suspects will not augur well for the Executive-Legislature relationship.

    “Some Nigerians have done well by providing information on some of the suspects. Their list was all over the Internet based on the video and photographs of the incident. There were even photographs of some of the suspects in chains which were widely circulated.

    “So, left to me, Nigerians and the media have done 50 per cent of the job for the police. We expect swift investigation or else we will be sending a wrong signal to the outside world.”

    Sergeant-at-arms Sandra Davou is now celebrated as a heroine in the National Assembly following her confrontation with the hoodlums.

    An eye witness to the incident said: “When the thugs invaded the chamber, she confronted them. But she was slapped, beaten, and pushed to the floor with chairs smashed on her head.

    “She fought gallantly but the thugs overwhelmed her. She has been discharged from hospital. We are all expecting her on duty from next week.”

    Senate President Bukola Saraki who was on an official assignment in the United States of America (USA) during the attack is now back in the county.

    He has since been briefed about the situation and “he has taken charge,” a ranking Senator said yesterday.

    He added: “The appropriate response of the Senate to the invasion and theft of the mace will be known from this week.”

    The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu had spoken with the media on Wednesday after briefing Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    He said: “For us it’s a threat to our democracy, the invasion of the parliament is not acceptable to any person, it’s not acceptable to me, it’s not acceptable to the VP, it’s not acceptable to my colleagues, I believe it’s not also acceptable to the president. So, those who acted this script must be on their own.

    “All we need to do as a country is to ensure that this is forestalled, and I want to appeal to the media to help us discourage this kind of brigandage so that people have to behave in a very responsible manner.

    “Police is still investigating, we are going to find out the details of those who aided him to come in and then some of them, I believe, have been arrested and we will get to the root of the matter.”

  • Mace theft: Senators plot Omo-Agege’s total shut-out

    There were indications yesterday that the Senate would not allow Senator Ovie Omo-Agege to return to the chamber any time soon, following Wednesday’s invasion by thugs who also snatched the mace.

    Although Omo-Agege has denied any relationship with the perpetrators of the act, many of his colleagues appear not to be convinced by the senator’s defence.

    Consequently, they are pushing for his suspension for the rest of the legislative days of the 8th Senate.

    The fate of the former Chairman of Northern Senators Forum, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, is also shaky as he was said to have been put on the spot at an executive (close) session on Thursday where senators also identified five reasons why thugs invaded the hallowed chamber.

    Although Adamu was said to have fought back and stoutly defended himself against the accusations levelled against him, the senators were unanimous in their decision to get to the roots of the invasion and enhance the security situation in the National Assembly.

    The senators may also demand Omo-Agege’s prosecution after its internal investigation and the outcome of the findings of the Nigeria Police and the Department of State Security Service.

    A principal officer of the Senate said: “The coincidence between Omo-Agege’s entry into the chamber and the invasion by the thugs was more than met the eye.

    “Most of us are of the opinion that our colleague desecrated the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly.

    “We have resolved that we will not allow him to resume sitting in the chamber under any excuse.

    “Once a Senator is suspended rightly or wrongly, he or she has no business in the chamber.

    “The coming of Omo-Agege on Wednesday was an affront.

    “His suspension might be unfair, but he should not have fought his way into the chamber.”

    Another Senator said: “Some of us have demanded for outright suspension of Omo-Agege for the rest of the legislative days in the 8th Senate.

    “Actually, Omo-Agege was to be suspended for six months but the head of one of the security agencies prevailed on the leadership of the Senate to reduce it to 90 days.

    “Now, with the desecration of the chamber by thugs, we believe he has no business in the 8th Senate anymore.”

    At a stormy session on Thursday, the Senators were able to identify five accumulated factors which accounted for the invasion of the Senate chamber.

    The reasons are as follows:

    • Continuous fallout of June 9, 2015 election of principal officers
    • Suppression of dissenting voices in the Senate
    • Rating of some Senators higher or lesser than others by the Senate leadership
    • Existence of caucuses and unfair ban on Parliamentary Support Group which is pro-President Muhammadu Buhari
    • Alleged lack of fairness by the leadership of the Senate

    According to investigation, the Senators bared their minds at an Executive Session on Thursday to conduct a post-mortem on what went wrong.

    It was learnt that the star of the session was Sen. Kabir Marafa (Zamfara) who opened up on many issues affecting the unity of the Senate.

    Others who spoke were  Senators Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa), Dino Melaye (Kogi), Ogola Foster (Bayelsa), Senate Leader Ahmad Lawan and the Deputy President of the Senate,  Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the session.

    A ranking senator said: “At the session, Senators put Abdullahi Adamu on the spot. He was accused of making his residence available for meetings by members of the Parliamentary Support Group of which Senator Omo-Agege is its secretary.

    “But Adamu said he had no hand in the invasion of the chamber.

    “He also said the PSG is a caucus group outside the chamber as it is the case with the Like Minds (supporting Saraki), the Unity Forum, the Northern Senators Forum and others in the Senate.

    “He said parliamentary caucus is legitimate all over the world.”

    It was gathered that Senator Marafa stole the show when he said all senators were guilty of the mess the Senate has found itself.

    He picked on Adamu, saying: “Some of you in this PSG today abandoned the Unity Forum to support Saraki’s emergence as Senate President. When it was convenient, you opened doors for Saraki.

    “This same Senator Adamu was once with Saraki and at a point spoke against President Muhammadu Buhari. I belonged to the Unity Forum, I did not work for Saraki but he appointed me a strategic committee chairman.

    A Senator from the North-West said: “At the session, Senators backing Saraki spoke and those who belong to the left wing. We all focused on how our chamber became polluted with vested interests.”

    Asked of Adamu’s fate, the Senator added: “It is still shaky, we do not know what they will do to him.”

    “We cited the fact that the Senate leadership has some favourites through which motions were usually imposed on members.

    “The Senators tagged Like Minds behind Saraki would have met before any sitting and they will just ride us roughshod in the Senate.

    “Those in Like Minds do not allow alternative views in the Senate. Once a Senator speaks against a motion Saraki and his ‘boys’ are interested in, you are tagged as anti-leadership in a Senate that we are all equals.

    “For instance, we condemned Omo-Agege’s behaviour, but some of us suspected that he acted out of frustration.

    “When the debate on Order of Elections was on, Omo-Agege called for a division but he was ignored by the Senate President.

    “Yet after this same Omo-Agege apologised for expressing his dissenting views, he was suspended through a script already acted by the Like Minds.

    “The Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges has been doing a hatchet man’s job.

    “Some Senators said the way out is to return the Senate to a chamber of equality, robust debates, accepting the reality of dissent views and allowing caucuses to exist and fairness to all.”

    Another Senator said: “Well, some of our colleagues expressed regrets that some Senators have been made lesser than the other.”

    On his part, Senator Dino Melaye pointed accusing finger at the PSG for the invasion of the chamber.

    In a fit of anger, he added: “They still had a meeting yesterday (Wednesday).”

    The Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan, was said to have appealed for calm, understanding and tolerance.

    But Senator Ogola Foster redirected the session to the issue of the invasion of the chamber.

    He said: “We should face the reality. Someone desecrated the Senate chamber. We must investigate it and take appropriate action.”

    The Deputy President of the Senate, Dr. Ike Ekweremadu, took time to listen to all views and expressed the resolve of the Senate to protect the nation’s democracy.

    A senator from the South-East said: “Although we did not arrive at any resolution at the Executive Session, Ekweremadu’s address later on the floor was a summary of what transpired.

    “We want an investigation into the invasion, and the law must take its course.”

  • Mace theft blessing in disguise, says senator

    Senator Abu Ibrahim (APC-Katsina South) has described Wednesday’s invasion of the Senate chamber by hoodlums as a “positive development”.

    He stated this yesterday while he fielded questions from State House correspondents in Abuja.

    Some hoodlums had on Wednesday entered the Senate chamber during plenary, attacked some persons and made away with the mace.

    The legislator, however, observed that the attack was a blessing in disguise as the incident revealed the security lapse at the assembly.

    “Obviously, what has happened is a concern to every Nigerian politician. But, at the same time, we have to accept in Nigeria or all over the world politics sometimes can create a situation of this kind of what happened.

    “But this has given us two opportunities: one, to look at the security of the National Assembly itself whereby I think Nigerian National Assembly is the most insecure assembly I have seen in my life.

    “Wherever I went to, there was good security. You can’t just go in, you cannot access, you cannot go to officers.

    “But now if you go to our offices, like my office, yesterday there were over 50 people waiting for me, and I didn’t give anybody an appointment.

    “So, this has probably influenced us in the leadership to sit down and critically examine the security of the National Assembly itself. So, it is a positive development.”

    He said the second `benefit’ of the Mace saga was that members of the Senate became more united, and they renewed their pledge to abide by the constitution and rules of the National Assembly.