₦airaland Forum

Nigerians have continued to condemn the verbal attack on Senator Smart Adeyemi by Senator Oluremi Tinubu after the former lamented the threats posed by the growing insecurity in the country.

Adeyemi is the senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District while Oluremi Tinubu represents Lagos Central Senatorial District.

Both lawmakers are members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The plenary session on insecurity last week which lasted for over an hour had lawmakers complaining about the insecurity in Nigeria and proffering possible solutions.

Adeyemi was one of the contributors to the debate during which he spoke passionately for over five minutes, describing the current state of insecurity in Nigeria as the worst so far.

But Tinubu seemed disgusted by Adeyemi’s comments.

“I’m a party man and I’m supporting APC but it has gotten to a point that as supporters we cannot keep quiet,” Adeyemi had said.

“This is the worst instability we are facing. In fact, this is worse than the civil war.”

While Adeyemi continued venting his anger at the “killing, maiming, insecurity in the country,” Tinubu who sat beside the senator interjected.

“Are you in PDP? Are you a wolf in sheep’s clothing?” Tinubu said, rebuking the lawmaker.

Adeyemi, however, ignored his colleague and fellow party member, stating that there were lots of misinterpretations of what was happening in the country. See Also Sahara Reporters Are You In The PDP, Wolf In Sheep's Clothing? – Remi Tinubu Tackles Senator Adeyemi For Complaining About Insecurity 0 Comments 5 Days Ago

When SaharaReporters reached out to Adeyemi for his reaction to what Tinubu said, he declined to comment on the issue.

Meanwhile, many Nigerians did not find the statement credited to Tinubu funny.

They lambasted her on social media platform Twitter, saying she is more concerned about the 2023 elections than talking about tackling the insecurity in the land.

However, this is not the first time the ordained pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God would be involved in a controversy since becoming a Senator in 2011.

2015: TAKING OVER DEPUTY SENATE PRESIDENT’S SEAT

In 2015, Tinubu raised a storm at the senate when she sat on the chair meant for Ike Ekweremadu, the then Deputy Senate President.

The former Lagos State First Lady, who wanted to second a motion on the approval of the Lagos state development policy operation loan, earned the rebuke of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators, when she stood up to speak while standing in the Deputy Senate President’s corner.

Naturally, this forced her to second the motion from another seat, complaining that her microphone was faulty.

She however returned to the seat of Ekweremadu, who was not present at plenary, after she had seconded the motion.

Tinubu sat giddily in the Deputy Senate President’s seat, intermittently conversing with Aliyu Ndume.

2016: FIGHT WITH DINO MELAYE

In July 2016, there was an altercation between Tinubu and Senator Dino Melaye from Kogi state which saw both lawmakers calling each other names and charging at each other.

According to reports, those who witnessed the incident, which occurred during a closed-door meeting held by the senators, said trouble started when Melaye urged the Senate to descend heavily on members who had offered to serve as prosecution witnesses in the ongoing forgery case against the then Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ekweremadu.

“You should go and tell those who sent you that nobody, I said nobody, no matter who he is, can ever control this Senate,” Melaye was quoted as saying as he pointed at the affected senators, his face contorted in rage.

But when Tinubu was recognised to speak, she rose, and said, “I’m just wondering why whenever Senator Dino speaks in this chamber, he is always threatening people and behaving childishly and at times like a thug.

“I think he needs to know that every senator here represents their constituencies. And that there is no need to threaten anyone.

“We are seeking and working towards reconciliation, yet you are busy issuing threats.”

One of the sources said at this point, Melaye jumped up from his seat and charged towards Tinubu, saying, “Look this is not Bourdillon (referring to the famous Lagos residence of Mrs Tinubu’s politician husband). I will beat you up, ….. impregnate you and nothing will happen.”

Witnesses said as Melaye charged towards the Lagos senator, other senators, especially those from the South-West geopolitical zone, waded in and shielded Tinubu from attack, and then calmed her down.

2016: ALLEGED ATTEMPT TO SLAP ANOTHER SENATOR

Melaye in 2016 also alleged that Tinubu almost “slapped Senator Rafiu Ibrahim” and got away with it.

Ibrahim was elected to the Senate under the platform of the APC from Kwara South in March 2015.

“I know a former member of the National Assembly, who had to go to one of today’s cabinet members to report her, that the next time she was rude to him, he would damn the consequences and take her to the cleaners. I also know that Mark as former Senate President avoided her like a plague.

“Did anyone see how she charged Senator (Musiliu) Obanikoro when she objected to his nomination as minister? Instances abound and these are unbecoming incidences that should not be found in anyone’s character file. But that’s who she is. It will take a ‘real man’to brush aside such invective and pretend an encounter ever took place with her. That’s where Dino missed it. But Remi can be such a menace.

“The same woman almost slapped Senator Rafiu Ibrahim and nobody demanded an apology /response from her or the entire Senate. Why now? The same woman deliberately sat on the Deputy Senate President’s seat to cause uproar yet, nobody demanded an apology from her. Why now?” Melaye had said.

2019: THREATENED ‘intimacy gadget SENATOR’ WITH SUSPENSION

In July 2019, Tinubu had an open confrontation with another colleague of hers, Elisha Ishaku Abbo from Adamawa state.

Abbo, who was caught on camera assaulting a woman in an Abuja intimacy gadget shop, hadappeared before a Senate committee set up to investigate the incident.

The Adamawa senator said he had refused to allow journalists to interview him over the matter, and did not understand why he came in for the hearing to be “ambushed” by journalists.

Insisting that the hearing be done privately, Abbo had said “I am not addressing the camera, I am not addressing the press.”

Before being allowed to explain this, Tinubu told Abbo he was new in the Senate and could not tell the committee how to handle the hearing.

“You are just joining us. We have a procedure and we are also under law. What we are doing, we are doing as a legislature. You don’t come in here when we invite you, despite you being our colleague, you are on the other side now,” she had said.

“Everybody requires a fair hearing, what is going on with you affects us as a body. You don’t come in here and dictate to us the procedure we are supposed to adopt. You don’t dictate to us, because you undermine us by even trying to do that. You haven’t even listened to us, even if we are going beyond what you expect, you can stop us.

“Do you want us to protect you, or do you want us to defend you, or you want to be on your own? Do you realise that the Senate when we constitute this, whatever the law gives, we can also suspend you?”

Interrupting Tinubu with a protest, Abbo said the senator should not threaten him with suspension.

“Are you threatening me with suspension?” he asked.

“I am a senator like you, I won’t sit here and you threaten me with suspension. With all due respect, you cannot threaten me with suspension, I take exception, ma’am.”

AfonjaConehead:
She needs a big bang theory

2mercy:
However, this is not the first time the ordained pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God would be involved in a controversy since becoming a Senator in 2011.

NwaNimo1:
ok