The Senator representing Katsina South Senatorial District in the national assembly, Abu Ibrahim has described the invasion of the senate chamber by hoodlums believed to be working for embattled Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (APC, Delta Central) as a “positive development”.
Speaking with journalists on Friday after the Jumm’at prayers at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the lawmaker said the attack was a blessing in disguise as the incident has exposed some of the pertinent issues which the lawmakers need to discuss frankly.
“Obviously, what has happened is a concern to every Nigerian politician. But at the same time we have to accept in Nigeria or all over the world politics sometimes can create a situation like what happened.
“But this has given us two opportunities; one, to look at the security of the National Assembly itself whereby I think that the National Assembly is the most insecure assembly I have seen in my life. Wherever I went to there was good security, you can’t just go in, you cannot access it; you cannot go to officers.
“But now if you go to our offices, like my office yesterday (Thursday), there were over 60 people waiting for me and I didn’t give anybody any appointment.
“So, this has probably influenced us in the leadership to sit down and critically examine the security of the National Assembly itself. So, it is a positive development,” he said.
He also said the mace theft was beneficial for it has made the senators more united stressing that “they have renewed their pledge to abide by the constitution and rules of the national assembly.”
He added that the incident has afforded the senators opportunity to ask themselves questions on what happened and why it happened.
“Secondly we sat at executive session as senators, we asked ourselves what happened and why. And we told ourselves the truth.
“We even pin-pointed culprits in what led to this and we came out with a promise that everyone of us will support and abide by the provision of the constitution. “Our rules in the National Assembly in the Senate and obviously we accepted that we are all senators, the same rank, elected by our people and we have the same rights and privileges. Therefore, this is the second benefit if we can call it benefit of what we saw two days ago,” said Ibrahim.
Speaking on the activities of the Buhari Support Group, he said the group would be inaugurating its offices in Edo, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states on Monday. He said the group’s campaign buses would also be inaugurated at the same time.
“We are not banned, but we sat and agreed that an association must have a limit,” he added.
Meanwhile, the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC ), Mr. Ayuba Wabba, has described the invasion of the senate by thugs as a “security breach” and called for investigation to ascertain the culpability or otherwise of the security agents attached to the national assembly.
“The invasion of the hallowed chamber of the Senate on Wednesday by hoodlums and miscreants who carted away the mace and other paraphernalia of authority is a violation of the sanctity of the Senate and constitutes a threat to our democracy. “It represents a throwback to those dark old days we are better off without. It is equally a sad commentary on the quality of representation. We therefore condemn it in its entirety.
“We similarly invite all who love Nigeria to rise and condemn this crude and sordid act or conduct. “As a house packed full of representatives from different parts of the Republic, there are bound to be differences of opinion, tactics, strategy and even conflicts but these are expected to be resolved in a dignified manner befitting of men and women of character and learning! It is for this reason that there are rules of engagement that every member is made to understand as a precondition to swearing in. “It is in consideration of this that we consider what has happened as a big anomaly. We do also believe that the National assembly security apparatus should be called to question for laxity or compromise,” he said.
