|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Senate on Thursday suspended the senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District, Ovie Omo-Agege, for 90 legislative days.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker is one of the Pro-Buhari senators who walked out of the Senate following the adoption of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, which they alleged was targeted at President Muhammadu Buhari.
Although the Samuel Anyanwu-led Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions recommended his suspension for 181 legislative days, Senate President Bukola Saraki, however, pleaded for leniency and asked his colleagues to reduce it to 90 days, which was adopted.
The upper legislative chamber also disbanded the Parliamentary Support Group (Senate) for President Muhammadu Buhari and asked the embattled lawmaker to withdraw the lawsuit already instituted against the Senate.
Until his suspension, Omo-Agege is Secretary of the group.
Although he apologised for insinuating that the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which reordered sequence of elections, was targeted at the President, he, however, approached a lawcourt to get a restraining order against any move to suspend him.
Consequently, this angered the panel, which observed that as a member of the Ethics Committee, the senator should have known better not to drag the institution to court.
“That after the Distinguished Senator had apologised, he and Senator Abdullahi Adamu published an advert in the Vanguard Newspaper with the heading, Parliamentary Support Group (Senate) for President Muhammadu Buhari, suggesting that the Senate was polarised.
“That the Committee is of the opinion that the action by Senator Ovie Omo-Agege of going to court after apologising to the Senate was totally unacceptable, especially as an experienced lawyer and member of the Committee who is conversant with the modus operandi of same, and therefore, must be punished to serve as deterrent to others who might contemplate taking the Senate to court over its internal matters,” the report read.
With this development, he becomes the second lawmaker to be suspended in the Eighth Senate; the first being the sacked Senate Leader, Ali Ndume who was suspended in March 2017.
The committee said Omo-Agege’s suspension will serve as deterrent to other senators who might contemplate taking the Senate to court over its power to regulate its internal matters.
Coincidentally, Omo-Agege is a member of the committee.
Eight out of 13 members of the committee signed the report.
