Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and the coup de théâtre

By Ahmed Suleiman

In a show of apparent audacious and unabashed move, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege representing Delta Central Senatorial District and in a commando style with hoodlums stormed the Senate while plenary was ongoing, carting away the mace which is a sign of authority tells once more the division, precariousness and appalling state we are bedevilling as a nation. We are now in a stage where lawlessness is overtly executed by those who are presumed to be lawful citizens. This unprecedented show of lawlessness is not unconnected with Senator Ovie Omo-Agege's suspension. No matter the position or grievance, you don't take the law into your hands.

Concerns were raised about the befuddled Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who was suspended by the Senate for 90 legislative days on April 12, 2018. Senate leadership gave reason why the Senator representing Delta Central was sanctioned "for taking the senate to court" and "smacks of gross indiscipline, which should not be condoned by the upper chamber." In some quarters, the belief was that the Senator was suspended over his opposition to the election reordering bill and his support for the activities of the Parliamentary Support Group for President Buhari.

Reports have it that the hoodlums who accompanied the suspended Senator to the hallowed chamber are from his state. The suspects are said to be five in numbers and their names reportedly disclosed as Tuoyo Mabiaku (Warri North LGA), Peter Orede (Warri South LGA), Blessing Edjeke (Abraka In Ethiope East LGA), Lucky Okomu (Oghara in Ethiope West LGA) and Prince Enayemo (Ughelli South LGA). The suspects reportedly left the National Assembly with the mace in a black Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV).

While it is crystal clear that some people are obviously dissatisfied and disappointed with the leadership of the Senate, there is utmost concern that our nascent democracy is suffering and having a huge setback, and a nation that is still crawling and finding it difficult to stamp its feet on the sands of time. Senator Ovie Omo-Agege's show of shame should be condemned in strong and unequivocal terms by all plausible individuals, groups and institutions. Such shenanigans are not only treasonable but disgraceful and dangerous.

Leaders cannot continue to display ineptitude and false claims to the youths who still hope to be quintessential leaders of tomorrow someday. Progeny and posterity will never forgive nor forget anyone who in a willful manner disrupt and disturb the plenary in the Senate by attempting to stage play anarchy into the polity.

For a Senator representing his constituency to have acted like a bear with a sore head depicts a man who has been frustrated, knocked-down-drag-out and possesses a belligerent attitude calls for acute retrospection. You don't take the law into your own hands by throwing caution to the wind. Like Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States warned that "Patriotism means to stand with the country. It does not mean to stand with the President." Senator Ovie Omo-Agege is dead wrong to have flouted the law.

Even albeit, the left over good impression we have is deliberately tarnished by ulterior motives and moves by an aggrieved member of the Senate. This obviously shows that there is a scarce unity among them and the leadership of the Senate must address this with utmost seriousness.

Like Murphy's Law which aptly corroborates that "if anything can possibly go wrong, it will go wrong." The kamikaze attack is highly uncalled for and uncouth in a country where there is rule of law. Our democracy and rule of law should be firmly established and upheld by all and sundry.

In this wise, the mastermind and the perpetrators of the orchestration must be punished to serve as deterrent to would be attackers in the future. We cannot continue in this Trojan horse way and expect different results. The faux pas virtually vitiates our collective reasoning and unity as a nation.