Senator Solomon Ewuga (APC-Nasarawa state), who was identified as a sponsor of the Ombatse Cult group responsible for the killing of several security agents and recommended for prosecution by the Justice Joseph Fola Gbadeyan-led Commission of Inquiry, has faulted the report of the panel, saying he is being witch-hunted.

Ewuga told newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja that though he was yet to see the report, he was surprised that the governor of the state, Tanko Al-Makura, has not only read the report but has come out with appropriate punishment within two days.

He expressed surprise that a panel, which invited him as a witness and not as an accused, could find him guilty of an offence without giving him the opportunity of fair hearing.

“The report was handed in on Friday (last week) and it is a six-volume report. The fact that the White Paper is already out indicates premeditation. It was an ingenuous thing to have read those volumes and to decipher the appropriateness of the punishment or otherwise within two days,” he said.

Speaking further, he said: “I have not seen the white paper and the panel’s recommendation, but whatever my response is today is based on what I saw in the media. First on AIT on Monday and then on the pages of newspapers on Tuesday.”

While distancing himself from the alleged financing of the activities of the Ombatse group, the lawmaker said he was being witch hunted for being politically active in the state, describing the accusation of financing the group as ‘curious’.

The report, submitted by the panel was set up by Nasarawa state government to look into the Alakyo killings of May 7, 2013.

The report indicted Ewuga, Joseph Kigbu and Nathaniel Agyo Mesa, members of the House of Representatives, Zakariya Zamani Alumaga, Mohammed L. Agu, Zabura Musa akwashiki, Felicia E. Samuel, Joseph Gabi, Saleh Angulu, Village Head of Angwan, Yakubu Agyaragu and Yohanna Labaran Envoh, for being financiers, sponsors, promoters and supporters of the outlawed Ombatse Cult group.