The Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State has urged the police to thoroughly investigate the circumstances and the personalities involved in the recent invasion of the Senate chambers and the stealing of the mace by suspected hoodlums.
The Ogun PDP said that the matter should not be swept under the carpet or treated with kid gloves.
The state Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Ogun, Bolaji Adebiyi, said in an interview with our correspondent in Abeokuta that anyone found culpable in the invasion of the Senate chambers and the stealing of the mace should be made to bear the full weight of the law.
The Ogun PDP described the action of the suspended senator, representing Delta Central Senatorial District, Ovie Omo-Agege, to have led thugs into the upper chamber of the National Assembly to seize and cart away the mace as barbaric.
The Senate had suspended Omo-Agege during a plenary session for 90 legislative days over his remarks on the Electoral Act Amendment bill, which allegedly breached the privilege of the
lawmakers.
But the Ogun PDP, through its spokesman, Adebiyi, deplored the incident, saying, “It was a shame of the 21st century that a senator could lead thugs into the chamber to take away the mace, which is the symbol of parliamentary authority.”
The party, however, commended the police over Omo-Agege’s arrest and urged the Force to carry out proper investigation into his alleged involvement in the matter in order to serve as a deterrent to others.
The PDP, which lamented the porous security at the Senate chamber, said that the carting away of the mace by the hoodlums was a fallout of the political rift between the lawmakers of the All Progressives Congress supporting President Muhammadu Buhari and those backing the leadership of the Senate.
The party said, “It is shameful, barbaric, that in this 21st century, hoodlums will find their ways into the hallowed chamber of the National Assembly and forcefully eject the mace, which is the symbol of the parliamentary authority and make away with it in daylight.
“It is a shame on our nation that the security apparatus at the National Assembly is so porous that some unscrupulous elements would invade it and make away with the mace. It is also an indication of the dangerous political game that is happening between the APC members of the National Assembly.
“The desire of the National Assembly to reorder the sequence of election in 2019, and if you recall, Senator Omo-Agege was part of the pro-Buhari senators, who were against that reordering by the leadership of the Senate. So, it was not unusual to have fingered Senator Omo-Agege as the mastermind of this shenanigan.”
The PDP further said, “The arrest of Senator Omo-Agege is in order and it’s right he has been fingered as the mastermind. So, it is only the matter that has been taken up for investigation and if he is found to be culpable, then the full weight of the law should be brought upon him to serve as deterrent to others.”
