Members of House of Representatives on Tuesday called for immediate arrest and prosecution of Ovie Omo-Agege, senator representing Delta central, for 180 legislative days over the invasion of the Senate.
The Committee in its report accused Omo-Agege and the six thugs of committing “treasonable felony, assault occasioning harm, conspiracy to steal and actual theft of the mace”, the symbol of authority of the parliament.
The hoodlums who inflicted various degrees of injury on the Sergeant-at-Arms staff who were on duty at the Senate chamber were allegedly led by Omo-Agege who attended plenary on that fateful day, despite being on suspension.
According to Betty Apiafi, chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Omo-Agege should be “prosecuted for incitement and breach of peace in the Chamber of the Senate and contempt ex-facie; the prosecution of Sen.
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(1c) 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 the Legislative House’ and should be dealt with in accordance with the provision of the law.
The Parliament also urged that the Nigeria Police’s preliminary investigation on the issue should be intensified with a view to bringing those found culpable into custody; the Legislative Houses (Power and Privileges) Act should be amended to clearly vest the power of maintaining peace and order within the Chamber and precincts of Legislative Houses in the Sergeant-At-Arms of any Legislative Houses.
The House also adopted the Ad-hoc Committee’s recommendation 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 Sergeant-At-Arms 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 gain access into and out of the National Assembly Complex; members should accord the Security Operative the required courtesy and cooperation to enable them discharge their responsibilities effectively and efficiently.
The parliament also applauded the House of Representatives, the International Community, the Press/Media and other well-meaning individuals and groups for their show of support on the side of the Senate when democracy was threatened; and proposed special compensation staff of the Senate Chamber, namely Sandra Davou, Chuks
Egemuka and Hussaini Yari 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.
Similarly, the House 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).
On his part, Nkem Abonta (PDP-Abia) proposed the retraining of the sergeant at Arms at the National Assembly in order to conform with what is obtainable in other security compliant Parliaments.
In his remarks, Zakari Mohammed (APC-Kwara) wondered why a Senator that is suspended would be admitted into the premises of National Assembly by the Sergeant at Arms in the first case under any guise; no excuse is good enough for such security breach. If the Sergeant at Arms cannot protect them as Legislators in the premises of the
National Assembly, then there is really cause for concern. He proposed identification cards with smart chips that would deny access to suspended Individuals.
