By Haruna Salami
The Nigerian Senate, on Tuesday, said it will not delve into the alleged indictment of the Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege since it has not been brought before it formally.
Spokesman of the Senate, Godiya Akwashiki, while briefing newsmen on Tuesday said the case of Senator Omo-Agege was not the same as that of Senator Elisha Abbo, where the Senate set up an ad-hoc committee to probe alleged assault of a Nigerian lady, March, 2019.
Omo-Agege is being accused of indictment by a county court in the United States of America in 1996 for felony.
A coalition of nine civil society organisations had at a press briefing led by Solomon Adodo, asked Omo-Agege to resign his position as DSP within 72 hours.
At the expiration of the ultimatum, the coalition marched to the office of Department of State Security (DSS) in protest urging the DSS to investigate and prosecute the Deputy President of the Senate since his colleagues had refused to take any action.
On his part, Omo-Agege, through his media adviser, Yomi Odunuga, dismissed the allegation, describing the coalition as “an unscrupulous band of mischief makers seeking to mislead gullible people with lies and propaganda by calling for the immediate resignation of the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, over a spurious and malicious allegation”.
Senator Akwashiki, in his briefing, said, “the Senate won’t probe the alleged indictment of the DSP because it didn’t happen here. The case of Senator Abbo is clearly different, even though they are all senators”.
According to Akwashiki, “a motion has not been raised on the floor of the Senate and there is no pending petition from anyone that is before the Senate. I only got to read it in the media, just like any other persons read it”.
The Senate spokesman later refused to entertain further questions on the matter, saying, “I am not the spokesman of the American Embassy. I am not the spokesman of the DSS or the judiciary, which is an arm of government. I’m the spokesman to the Senate and to the best of my knowledge; the matter has not been brought to the Senate yet”.
