THE insurrection which occurred at the Senate on Wednesday was scripted to effect a change of leadership at the upper legislative chamber led by its President, Bukola Saraki.
The chamber was invaded while plenary was on with the mace which symbolizes the power of the Senate carted away unchallenged in a broad daylight by some hoodlums believed to be working for a suspended senator, Ovie Omo-Agege.
After the mace was taken away and normalcy returned, lawmakers present at the premises continued their plenary with a replacement for the item stolen.
This saw the Senate ordering the police and other sister agencies to within 24 hours find and return the stolen mace.
The police in the early hours of Thursday claimed the mace was found under a bridge in Abuja.
Hours after this announcement, the police brought the mace to the National Assembly and handed it over to the leadership of the chamber.
A report on Vanguard has hinted how the failed plot to oust the leadership of the Senate led by Bukola Saraki was hatched.
Mr Saraki had suspended Senator Omo-Agege who belongs to the Buhari Parliamentary Support Group, over his comments on the resolution of the house concerning the amendment of the 2010 Electoral Act which sought the change of election sequence. This group was recently disbanded by the president of the Senate.
The aggrieved lawmakers who are loyal to the President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly convened at an Abuja residence of a former governor presently serving in the Senate. Their plot was to use the suspension Omo-Agege to effect a change in leadership thereby recalling the suspended senator.
The paper from its findings reports that 15 lawmakers of the chamber stirred the conspiracy with the aim of provoking a confrontation that would have led to a pandemonium which would at the end trigger a change in the leadership of the Senate.
Their plot, however, failed as three pro-saraki senators, who the dissenting senators hoped to trigger a fight that would have led to the pandemonium, were absent at the sitting when the fortuity for them to strike came up.
The three Senators hoped to have engaged the invaders if present at the plenary on the said day are; Senators Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West); Enyinnanya Abaribe (PDP, Abia South) and Obinna Ogba (PDP, Ebonyi). The expected clash if occurred would have led to the invasion of the Senate chambers by security services.
“To achieve the dual purpose of removing the Senate leadership, especially with the absence of the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who is on an official trip to Washington, USA, and the reinstatement of Senator Omo-Agege, it was concluded that the mace should be forcefully taken away,” the paper quoted it’s sources as saying.
“The calculation of the plotters was that some hot-blooded Senators like Senator Dino Melaye and Senator Obinna Ogba would not allow the mace to go without making serious trouble. In the process, there would be fisticuffs and pandemonium in the red chamber.
“The mace would not only be taken away, but the armed invaders would use the opportunity to deal with some ‘heady’ Senators’, including the presiding officer, Ike Ekweremadu. However, it happened that Senators Dino, Ogba, and Enyinnaya Abaribe were not on in the chamber when the assailants came.
“I am thanking God that Dino was not around because by the time he came he was so angry that the thugs were allowed to go away with the mace. He was saying that they would have killed him with the mace that Wednesday,” the source said.
It was further gathered that the expectation was that following the mayhem a motion for adjournment of the sitting to allow heads to cool would have followed.
The plan was that after the adjournment, the group of 15 senators would return to the Senate chambers with the mace earlier grabbed and hold a sitting during which they would have suspended the Senate leadership and elected another leadership.
The first task after that would have been to lift the suspension on Senator Omo-Agege.
It was nevertheless gathered that the Divisional Police Officer of the National Assembly was not taken into confidence of the plot to invade the National Assembly.
The DPO, it was learned, was sold the dummy that the Shiites who had been protesting in Abuja were coming to the National Assembly that day. It was when he went to organise reinforcement for the National Assembly that Senator Omo-Agege came in.
Before Omo-Agege came in, a senator from the North-Central and a key leader of the Buhari Parliamentary Support Group to which Omo-Agege belongs had stepped out to make a call.
“We suspected that he went to inform the group that the DPO had left and that they could come,” the source added.
THEY ARE ONLY WASTING TIME — Saraki
Reacting to the development, the Senate President, Sen Bukola Saraki, cautioned those behind the saga, spoiling for change of leadership.
Saraki, who was represented by Sen Ben Murray-Bruce at TheNiche 4th anniversary lecture, said this in Lagos on Friday.
“What happened was a disgrace and did not make any sense. Looking at it critically, they were working for change in Senate leadership, but they left what they were supposed to do and engaged in the undemocratic act.
“If you want to impeach a President all you need to do is to put it to vote and the majority will have their way instead of stealing the mace.
“Come to think of it, behind us is where President lives. So to escape through the back where the President leaves considering the presence of security agents gives room for many questions that need answers.
“There will be no regime change. They are only wasting time. Source: https://www.headlineng.com/mace-theft-plotted-oust-saraki/lalasticlala |
